10 Things for Tuesday
Here’s your pre-Mizzou dose of TTFT:
1. The Aggies are ranked third in the first College Football Playoff poll, which is fine. It’s the highest Texas A&M’s ever been ranked in the CFP era. Still, in spite of that, the Aggies got some bulletin board material from CFP committee chair Mack Rhoades, who told ESPN that A&M’s defensive performance put them behind Ohio State and Indiana. He also referred to Marcel Reed as “Marcus Reed”.
With the way Mike Elko motivates, I bet those comments will be printed and posted in the locker room by tomorrow morning.
2. In corresponding with one of the guys from the Missouri site for our 5 Good Questions series (come back tomorrow, kids), he described Mizzou’s post-Alabama games as “rock fights”. That’s a pretty good analysis if you look at it from a scoring standpoint. The Tigers went to double overtime to beat Auburn 23-17, then lost to Vanderbilt 17-10. Their point totals have dropped in each conference game, from 29 to 24 to 23 to 10.
3. One of the biggest storylines in this game is Missouri’s quarterback situation. True freshman Matt Zollers will get the nod after Beau Pribula was hurt against Vandy two weeks ago. Zollers has been effective in limited playing time (20-29, 213 yards, 2 TD), but he hasn’t faced a defense like A&M’s yet. Mizzou has had trouble giving up sacks (92nd nationally), and that was with the mobile Pribula at quarterback. Zollers is supposedly less of a runner than Pribula, and he’s facing the team with the most sacks per game in the nation. That’s a pretty harsh welcome to the starting lineup.
4. It amazes me what betting “experts” say in game previews, and it amazes me even more that people seriously listen to them and put their money down on their “expertise”. For example, I read one Texas A&M-Missouri preview today where the author said “this is a decent spot for (Pribula) to get back on track.” Pribula has been out for two weeks. Another said A&M’s offensive line might be in trouble if Blake Ivy was out. That’s not an oversight, that’s malpractice.
5. The key to Missouri’s offense wasn’t Pribula, though he would certainly help. It’s running back Ahmad Hardy, who already has 937 yards rushing on the season. But he’s had some tougher sledding as of late as the SEC schedule kicked into high gear. After rushing for 250 yards against Louisiana, 138 against South Carolina and 130 against UMass, he rushed for 52 yards against Alabama and 58 on 24 carries against Auburn before bouncing back with 97 yards on 20 carries against Vandy. If the Aggies can put the clamps on Hardy, then things swing considerably in Texas A&M’s favor.
6. While Mizzou’s scoring totals have been going down as the SEC schedule has progressed, A&M’s have been going up. The Aggies have gone from 16 to 31 to 34 to 45 to 49. I don’t think they’ll come close to 49 against Missouri’s defense, but that’s the direction you want to be going.
7. I want to divert from our normal areas of discussion to talk about the best coach Texas A&M currently has: volleyball coach Jamie Morrison. Morrison has not only resurrected the program, but he has taken it to levels it’s never been to before. The Aggies are ranked sixth in the latest polling, the highest in program history. It may have had its biggest win last Friday when they beat No. 2 Texas at Reed Arena. Morrison is not only a strong recruiter and a good tactician, but he truly loves the game and wants to see it thrive. It’s hard not to root for a guy like that — and it’s also hard not to root for his team.
8. My first take on Bucky Ball: there’s a lot of good things that we saw in the 98-68 win over Northwestern State, but they’re still having growing pains. They got a little frenetic at times and may have over-passed some, but they can shoot, have guards who attack the basket and they play defense from one end line to the other. They need a little more size, but the return of Mackenzie Mgbako in a few weeks should help in that department.
9. So, after saying that they had growing pains and need to work together more to tighten up their overall game, the Aggies still scored more points than the 2024-25 team in any game. That’s a cause for optimism right off the bat, because their scoring totals will likely go up as they gel as a team.
10. Spanish sharpshooter Ruben Dominguez might be the best shooter A&M has had since…I don’t know. Josh Carter, maybe? For an Aggie to go 4 for 7 from 3-point range is unheard, especially under the last guy. And that was in his first game in the U.S. What’s he going to do when he actually gets comfortable?
