Where, when, weather and TV<\/p>\n
Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas<\/p>\n
When: Saturday, Oct. 4, 6:30 p.m. central time<\/p>\n
Weather: Sunny, high of 91; temperature likely dropping through the 80s during the game<\/p>\n
TV: SEC Network (Tom Hart, play-by-play; Jordan Rogers, analyst; Cole Cubelic, sideline)<\/p>\n
How they got here<\/p>\n
Texas A&M (4-0)<\/p>\n
Beat UTSA 42-24<\/p>\n
Beat Utah State 44-22<\/p>\n
Beat Notre Dame 41-40<\/p>\n
Beat Auburn 16-10<\/p>\n
Mississippi State (4-1)<\/p>\n
Beat Southern Miss 34-17<\/p>\n
Beat Arizona State 24-20<\/p>\n
Beat Alcorn State 63-0<\/p>\n
Beat Northern Illinois 38-10<\/p>\n
Lost to Tennessee 41-34 (OT)<\/p>\n
Texas A&M offensive depth chart<\/p>\n
QB: #10, Marcel Reed<\/a> (6-1, 185, R-So.) <\/p>\n #16, Miles O\u2019Neill <\/a>(6-5, 220, R-Fr.) <\/p>\n #13, Brady Hart<\/a> (6-4, 195, Fr.) OR #9, Jacob Zeno<\/a> (6-2, 215, Gr.) <\/p>\n RB: #8, Le\u2019Veon Moss<\/a> (5-11, 210, Sr.) <\/p>\n #4, Rueben Owens II<\/a> (5-11, 215, R-So.) <\/p>\n #5, Amari Daniels<\/a> (5-8, 197, R-Sr.) OR #23, Jamarion Morrow<\/a> (5-9, 205, Fr.) OR #22, EJ Smith<\/a> (5-11, 211, Gr.) <\/p>\n WR: #7, KC Concepcion<\/a> (5-11, 190, Jr.) <\/p>\n #18, TK Norman<\/a> (6-0, 182, Fr.) <\/p>\n WR: #1, Mario Craver<\/a> (5-9, 165, So.) OR #2, Terry Bussey<\/a> (5-10, 195, So.) <\/p>\n #0, Izaiah Williams<\/a> (5-11, 185, R-Fr.) <\/p>\n WR: #3, Ashton Bethel-Roman<\/a> (6-0, 185, R-Fr.) OR #2, Terry Bussey (5-10, 195, So.) <\/p>\n #11, Kelshaun Johnson<\/a> (5-11, 168, Fr.) <\/p>\n TE: #17, Theo Melin \u00d6hrstr\u00f6m<\/a> (6-6, 257, R-Jr.) OR #87, Nate Boerkircher<\/a> (6-4, 250, Gr.) OR #84, Amari Niblack<\/a> (6-3, 235, Sr.) <\/p>\n #88, Micah Riley<\/a> (6-5, 257, R-Jr.) <\/p>\n #21, Kiotti Armstrong<\/a> (6-5, 275, Fr.) <\/p>\n LT: #60, Trey Zuhn III<\/a> (6-6, 319, Gr.) OR #76, Reuben Fatheree<\/a> (6-7, 333, Gr.) <\/p>\n #79, Lamont Rogers<\/a> (6-6, 337, Fr.) <\/p>\n LG: #71, Chase Bisontis<\/a> (6-5, 315, Jr.) <\/p>\n #73, Ashton Funk <\/a>(6-6, 322, R-Fr.) OR #77, Tyler Thomas<\/a> (6-4, 329, Fr.) <\/p>\n C: #54, Mark Nabou<\/a> (6-3, 322, R-So.) OR #60, Trey Zuhn III (6-6, 319, Gr.) <\/p>\n #61, Koli Faaiu<\/a> (6-3, 333, Sr.) <\/p>\n RG: #55, Ar\u2019maj Reed-Adams<\/a> (6-5, 325, Gr.) <\/p>\n #52, Blake Ivy<\/a> (6-3, 336, R-Fr.) <\/p>\n RT: #78, Dametrious Crownover<\/a> (6-7, 336, Gr.) <\/p>\n #70, Robert Bourdon<\/a> (6-6, 318, R-Fr.)<\/p>\n Mississippi State defensive depth chart<\/p>\n JACK: #44, Branden Jennings<\/a> (6-3, 240, R-Sr.) OR #8, Malick Sylla<\/a> (6-6, 255, Sr.) Injury update<\/p>\n Will be added after the SEC reports are released at 7 p.m. central time Wednesday.<\/p>\n Texas A&M statistical leaders<\/p>\n Passing: Reed, 73-121 (60.3%), 1,076 yards, 9 TD, 2 INT<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill, 4-7, 101 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT<\/p>\n Rushing: Moss, 54 carries, 307 yards (5.7 YPC), 5 TD<\/p>\n Owens, 18 carries, 136 yards (7.4 YPC)<\/p>\n Reed, 32 carries, 119 yards (3.7 YPC), 1 TD<\/p>\n Receiving: Craver, 24 catches, 477 yards (19.9 YPC), 4 TD<\/p>\n Concepcion, 20 catches, 340 yards (17 YPC), 3 TD<\/p>\n Bussey, 8 catches, 97 yards (12.1 YPC), 1 TD<\/p>\n Mississippi State defensive statistical leaders<\/p>\n Tackles: Smith, 28<\/p>\n Manning, 27<\/p>\n Three players with 23<\/p>\n Tackles for loss: Tillman, 2.5<\/p>\n Reed, Bledsoe and Thomas, 2<\/p>\n Sacks: Reed, 2<\/p>\n Tillman, Anderson and Thomas, 1<\/p>\n Interceptions: Seven players with 1<\/p>\n Forced fumbles: Williams, 2<\/p>\n Ray and Johnson, 1<\/p>\n Head to head: Texas A&M\u2019s offense vs. Mississippi State\u2019s defense<\/p>\n CategoryTexas A&MNational\/SEC rankCategoryMississippi StateNational\/SEC rankScoring offense35.8 PPG 19th\/4thScoring defense17.6 PPG 32nd\/9thTotal offense463.8 YPG 23rd\/6thTotal defense305.6 YPG 33rd\/8thRushing offense169.5 YPG 61st\/10thRushing defense135.4 YPG63rd\/11thPassing offense294.3 YPG 23rd\/6thPassing defense170.2 YPG 73rd\/12th3rd down conversion %30.6%125th\/16th3rd down conversions defense32.4% 32nd\/7thFirst downs92 68th\/11thFirst downs allowed88 71st\/12thRed zone offense100%1st nationallyRed zone defense76.9% 28th\/3rdSacks allowed\/game1.5\/game52nd\/10thTeam sacks\/game1.4\/game 106th\/12thTackles for loss allowed\/game3.75\/game19th\/4thTeam tackles for loss\/game4.8\/game 97th\/12thTurnovers318th\/3rdTurnovers forced104th\/1stTurnover +\/–184th\/10thTurnover +\/-+614th\/2ndTime of possession30:2364th\/11thTime of possession26:43122nd\/15th<\/p>\n What Texas A&M wants to do<\/p>\n Stay balanced between the run and the pass. You can\u2019t do it better in that category than they did last week, when they split their 414 total yards right down the middle at 207 each.<\/p>\n Mississippi State\u2019s stats look good, but they\u2019re skewed by the blowouts of FCS Alcorn State (a bad FCS team, at that) and North Illinois (just flat bad). Southern Miss and Arizona State both had over 300 yards of total offense, and Tennessee went for 466 last weekend. Alcorn had 131 yards of total offense and Northern Illinois had 267. Arizona State ran for 282 yards, while Tennessee threw for 335. So there\u2019s definitely some opportunity for the Aggie offense here.<\/p>\n The Aggie offensive line pushed around Auburn\u2019s front, which is very similar to State\u2019s in terms of size, last weekend and Le\u2019Veon Moss rushed for a career high 139 yards (while missing more than a quarter puking). The Bulldogs are missing their best defensive tackle, Will Whitson, after he suffered a season-ending injury against Arizona State. He still leads them in tackles for loss (4.5) and sacks (2) in spite of only playing in less than two full games. So it would certainly make sense for the Aggies to line up and go right at State the way they did against Auburn, which had done a far better job statistically to this point against the run, only to have A&M gash them for nearly four times their previous season average.<\/p>\n State seems to be more of a bend but don\u2019t break defense, normally bringing four rushes and playing a lot of zone coverage. If they keep playing zone, that\u2019s what Marcel Reed and the Aggies will want. Reed has picked zone defenses apart this year, but has been a lot less effective against man coverage. Tennessee had two receivers go over 100 yards in their shootout win in Starkville, so while the Bulldogs have corners with size, they don\u2019t seem to feel comfortable leaving them on an island. That could open up some opportunities for Craver and Concepcion in the quick passing game in the deep middle, two areas where they have thrived this season.<\/p>\n How Mississippi State may try to counter<\/p>\n Keep forcing turnovers. The Bulldogs may not get a lot of pressure or tackles for loss, but they\u2019ve been incredibly opportunistic. Against Tennessee they recovered a muffed punt and picked off two passes and scored off of all three. If a ball gets tipped into the air, as Reed\u2019s pass to Terry Bussey was last weekend, there\u2019s a really good chance a Mississippi State player will be around it.<\/p>\n State is far, far better defensively compared to last year, but that just gets them to the middle of the pack. They\u2019ve had to adjust with the loss of Whitson and, if safety\/linebacker Isaac Smith can\u2019t play, they\u2019ll be down their best defender. <\/p>\n The Bulldogs make you work for anything you get. They don\u2019t give up a lot of big plays and keep things in front of them. They\u2019ve been pretty effective getting off the field on third down, while the Aggies have been horrible converting. If they can keep the A&M offense from picking up big plays on first and second down, then they\u2019ll be a little more creative and try to cause trouble for Reed. And if A&M goofs, the opportunistic Bulldogs will likely pounce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where, when, weather and TV Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas When: Saturday, Oct. 4, 6:30 p.m. central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[70361,70646,20643,70647,70648,70649,70650,70651,70652,40456,70653,70654,70655,70656,70620,70657,70658,70659,7,70660,40470,70661,70662,70663,70664,70665,70666,70667,70668,70669,70670,70671,58420,25581,42437,70672,70673,42438,15524,70674,15526,70675,70676,70677,70678,70679,49,48,70680,70681,70682,70683,70684,70362,70685,3260,70686,70687,70688,70689,25586,70690,70691,70692],"class_list":{"0":"post-413759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-amari-daniels-21-miami-central","9":"tag-amari-niblack-22-lakewood","10":"tag-armaj-reed-adams-20-desoto","11":"tag-ashton-bethel-roman-24-ridge-point","12":"tag-ashton-funk-24-tompkins","13":"tag-blake-ivy-24-clear-springs","14":"tag-brady-hart-26-cocoa","15":"tag-branden-jennings-21-sandalwood","16":"tag-brylan-lanier-21-paul-w-bryant","17":"tag-chase-bisontis-23-don-bosco-prep","18":"tag-cyrus-reyes-24-taylor","19":"tag-dametrious-crownover-21-grandview","20":"tag-deago-brumfield-21-la-salle","21":"tag-deonte-anderson-21-fort-meade","22":"tag-derion-gullette-23-teague","23":"tag-dwight-lewis-iii-21-fairborn","24":"tag-ej-smith-20-jesuit","25":"tag-elijah-cannon-24-coconut-creek","26":"tag-football","27":"tag-hunter-washington-21-katy","28":"tag-isaac-smith-23-itawamba-agricultural","29":"tag-izaiah-williams-24-carrollwood-day","30":"tag-jacob-zeno-19-john-jay","31":"tag-jahron-manning-22-brother-martin","32":"tag-jamarion-morrow-25-germantown","33":"tag-jamil-burroughs-20-mceachern","34":"tag-jaray-bledsoe-22-marlin","35":"tag-jayven-williams-22-baker","36":"tag-joseph-head-23-holmes-county","37":"tag-kalvin-dinkins-22-lake-high-school","38":"tag-kedrick-bingley-jones-20-providence-day-school","39":"tag-kelley-jones-23-clarksdale","40":"tag-kelshaun-johnson-25-hitchcock","41":"tag-kevin-concepcion-23-chambers","42":"tag-kiotti-armstrong-25-jasper","43":"tag-koli-faaiu-21-north-creek","44":"tag-kyle-johnson-25-bunkie","45":"tag-lamont-rogers-25-horn","46":"tag-leveon-moss-22-istrouma-senior","47":"tag-malick-sylla-22-katy","48":"tag-marcel-reed-23-montgomery-bell-academy","49":"tag-mario-craver-24-clay-chalkville","50":"tag-mark-nabou-22-odea","51":"tag-micah-riley-ducker-22-bellevue-west","52":"tag-miles-oneill-24-hun-school","53":"tag-nate-boerkircher-20-aurora","54":"tag-ncaa","55":"tag-ncaa-football","56":"tag-nevaeh-sanders-21-flint-powers-catholic","57":"tag-nic-mitchell-21-mandarin","58":"tag-red-hibbler-20-louisville","59":"tag-reuben-fatheree-21-foster","60":"tag-robert-bourdon-24-collierville","61":"tag-rueben-owens-23-el-campo","62":"tag-terry-bussey-24-timpson","63":"tag-texas-am-football","64":"tag-theo-melin-ohrstrom-22-clearwater-academy-international","65":"tag-tk-norman-25-carver","66":"tag-tony-mitchell-23-thompson","67":"tag-trevion-williams-22-crystal-springs","68":"tag-trey-zuhn-21-fossil-ridge","69":"tag-tyler-lockhart-25-winona-secondary-school","70":"tag-tyler-thomas-25-dickinson","71":"tag-zakari-tillman-23-florence"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
#37, Nevaeh Sanders<\/a> (6-4, 230, Gr.)
DT: #22, Kedrick Bingley-Jones<\/a> (6-4, 320, RS-Sr.)
#42, DJ Reed (6-4, 285, RS-So.) OR #25 Ray Thomas (6-4, 300, Gr.)
NT: #92, Jaray Bledsoe<\/a> (6-4, 315, RS-Jr.)
#35, Kalvin Dinkins<\/a> (6-2, 320, RS-Jr.) OR #88 Jamil Burroughs<\/a> (6-3, 330, RS-Sr.)
DE: #6, Deonte Anderson<\/a> (6-3, 280, RS-Sr.) OR #23 Trevion Williams<\/a> (6-4, 295, RS-Jr.) OR #27 Red Hibbler<\/a> (6-2, 275, Gr.) OR #46 Joseph Head Jr.<\/a> (6-4, 255, RS-So.)
DIME: #7, Zakari Tillman<\/a> (6-2, 235, Jr.) OR #16, Derion Gullette<\/a> (6-3, 240, RS-So.)
#11, Tyler Lockhart<\/a> (6-2, 225, Fr.)
MIKE: #40, Nic Mitchell<\/a> (6-2, 230, RS-Sr.)
#10, Jalen Smith (6-2, 230, RSo.) OR #0, Fatt Forrest (6-2, 235, RS-Fr.)
SAM: #2, Isaac Smith<\/a> (6-0, 220, Jr.)
#9, Tony Mitchell<\/a> (6-1, 215, Jr.)
CB: #20 Jett Jefferson (6-1, 190, Jr.) OR #4, DeAgo Brumfield<\/a> (6-0, 190, RS-Sr.)
#26, Dwight Lewis III <\/a>(6-1, 195, RS-Sr.)
CB: #1, Kelley Jones<\/a> (6-4, 195, RS-So.) OR #15, Jayven Williams<\/a> (6-2, 185, RS-Jr.)
#24, Elijah Cannon<\/a> (6-0, 180, RS-Fr.) OR #17, Kyle Johnson<\/a> (5-11, 185, Fr.)
S: #3, Brylan Lanier<\/a> (6-1, 190, RS-Sr.) OR #13, Jahron Manning<\/a> (5-10, 195, Sr.)
#28, Tanner Johnson (6-0, 185, RS-Jr.)
S: #21, Hunter Washington<\/a> (5-11, 200, RS-Sr.) OR #13, Jahron Manning (5-10, 195, Sr.)
#19 Cyrus Reyes<\/a> (6-1, 200, So.)<\/p>\n