Rece Davis, Pete Thamel reveal picks for Texas A&M at Missouri

On Saturday, No. 3 Texas A&M will invade Memorial Stadium for a showdown against No. 22 Missouri. On the College GameDay Podcast, ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Rece Davis revealed their predictions for the pivotal SEC matchup.

“It’s hard to envision them mustering an upset,” Thamel said. “But, look, at this point, who would’ve thought Missouri’s still got top-20 team and still a path, conceivably, to the postseason there. But, they’d have to show something. I will say this: [Matt] Zollers looked pretty good when he went in and slung it around in the last game.

“The Missouri staff has had a week to, you know, to kind of get him ready a little bit, settle him in. So it’ll be interesting to see, against Mike Elko and Jay Bateman and that defense, how the Tigers do. But, I’m gonna go with A&M. I just think it’s too much to ask.”

In Missouri’s 17-10 loss to Vanderbilt in Week 9, Tigers starting quarterback Beau Pribula suffered a dislocated ankle. Pribula, who transferred to Missouri from Penn State ahead of the season, was having an excellent season.

True freshman QB Matt Zollers replaced Pribula after he left the game with his injury. Zoller completed 14-of-his-23 pass attempts for 138 yards and a touchdown, without throwing an interception.

Nonetheless, the Aggies’ defense will put the inexperienced gunslinger to the test. Rece Davis isn’t confident Zollers will be able to lead Missouri to victory.

“Zollers looked really good. I think he’s going to be really good for them, but it’s a lot to ask,” Davis said. “A&M has won games in a variety of fashion. They won a slugfest against Auburn. They’ve won a couple of high-scoring games against Arkansas and against Notre Dame. That’s really the mark of a good team—an elite team—I should say.

“They can beat you in a variety of ways. … Missouri is a good team. Even with the backup quarterback, Missouri can win. I just can’t quite bring myself to pick against A&M the way they’re playing right now.”

In Texas A&M’s last outing, it dominated LSU in a 49-25 blowout. In the win, Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed shined, recording two passing touchdowns, while notching two scores with his legs as well.

Sitting at 8-0, Texas A&M hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. On Saturday, Missouri will look to pull off the upset as it takes on the Aggies at 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will air live on ABC.