Saturday morning in College Station #7 Texas A&M and #10 Miami play at Kyle Field in the opener of the triple-header. The winner heads to the Cotton Bowl to face the CFP betting favorite, Ohio State. It’s amazing that neither of these teams has won their current conference since joining. What’s even more jarring at the degree of underachievement of these 2 programs is that they have combined for all of 1 appearance in their conference championship games.
Series record: Miami leads the series 3-1 and holds a 1 game winning streak in the series.
Last meeting: In 2023, the Canes beat the Aggies 48-33 at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami forces 3 turnovers and 41 points over the last 3 quarters to start the end of the Jimbo Fisher era.
Here’s one little tidbit from the game’s write-up: The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Colbie Young hauled in six passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.
Gambling degenerate facts: Caesar’s has Texas A&M as a 3.5 point favorite (essentially, home field) with a money line of -175 and a point total of 51.5.
How should a refugee watch this game: Whoever wins this game needs to come out of this game healthy to make Ohio State strain in Dallas. Both of these teams have the talent to make a run, so this game could be fun tot watch.
I know there will be a faction of refugees who are going to hate watch Carson Beck. I get it. His departure from Athens left something to be desired, and I think we can safely say both sides are better off for the decision he made.
Interesting statistic: 29.94% and 22.73% (3rd down conversion defense for Miami and Texas A&M, respectively)
Both of these teams get after the passer when they get you in 3rd and long. That’s the reason I believe either of these teams could be a problem for the Buckeyes. They force the QB to get rid of the ball quickly and then tackle the receiver before the sticks. The winner of Saturday’s game will be the team that stays in front of the chains and out of 3rd and long.
Early outlook: I’ve been struggling with a real feel for this game. Which Texas A&M team shows up on Saturday? The one that went into Notre Dame and won or the one that fell behind South Carolina 30-3 or completely faceplanted under pressure in Austin? A&M has a running game to lean on and a couple of dynamic playmakers on the outside. Miami has a QB that has played in a number of big games over the last 3 years (with mixed results). The Canes have a serious threat on the outside in Malachi Toney. Both teams have ferocious defensive lines.
I’m probably going to regret what I’m about to type, but I believe this game comes down to QB play. Give me the guy who has played in a lot more of these games and environments. Miami gets it done, but I would take the under as a betting man.
Final Score: Miami 24, Texas A&M 20
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Top notch title. Never thought about that, but for two blowhard fanbases, they ain’t done shit in a long, long time.
Have either even played in the conference championship game?
1 total – Miami lost badly to Clemson. I believe that was CMR.
I’ll root for Miami because Beck is the QB, and I have no love for the Aggies. If I’d have been Beck, I’d have taken the money and run. Life is too short to pass up an opportunity like that.
A more important question brought up by this story is: Will Colbie Young be able in the bowl game to play or is he done?
There is something Magic Mike creepy about this. Maybe it just me.
For as conservative a place at A&M is, it’s nice they found a way to embrace the LGBTQ community on their campus.
If I didn’t know better I would not believe this to be real. I mean even the entire crowd bends over to this for what reason are they bent over?
It looks like SNL makes a LGBTQ football skit.
It’s hard to find a more conservative group and yet this is their call to battle? Maybe they are behind never allowing Georgia to play at their place.
What’s with all the strange gyrations? It looks like they’ve been drinking magic mushroom tea.
Tejas Cult & M might be in the SEC, but they ain’t no SEC. Would love to see Da U put up more points and commit more personal fouls than they did in the 1991 Cotton Bowl…
Miami scores late to win but present no threat to tOSU.
If this game is close late, Beck will throw a pick. Then, blame someone.
I tend to agree with this. I don’t blame people for not hating Beck, but I’ve never been able to wish him well since he left UGA the way he did. Personally, I’d rather see an SEC win than the ghost of UGA QBs Past. Let ’em know that UGA is the standard, and if you leave, you pay the price. As always, YMMV.
I honestly think Beck was heading to the NFL and made that decision to leave UGA. Then Miami threw a Lambo-load of money at him (more than he would’ve gotten in the NFL) so he pivoted. I’d have done the same. He earned DGD status from me for sticking around for 5 years and not getting the start over some rinky-dink walk-on.
Totally fair. I disagree, but understand that there are a lot of UGA fans that feel this way about him.
Yeah, if he hadnt hurt his arm he was gone no matter where we ended up in playoffs.
Yeah, I don’t think people are putting enough concern on the interception issue.
I agree EE. I also think Miami’s offensive line can bully A&M but we will see I guess.
I think home field will play a significant role. I think Miami can be rattled and I know Beck can be. I don’t hate Beck or the U, so it really comes down to wanting the SEC to show well as far as who I would like to see win.
I wish Carson Beck no ill will unless of course we play Miami.
He was a DGD during this time in Athens and I think his “drop” (pun intended) in play last year was due to the fact that Bowers and McConkey were tearing up the NFL as rookies.
I also wonder if he originally hurt his arm in the GT game on the hail mary play where he basically had the same thing happen to him then that happened again in the SEC Championship.
I believe that the ND game may have turned out differently if Beck had been healthy but he wasn’t. I thought Gunner played as well we could expect for someone starting their first game ever.
As far as him leaving, Beck knew he wasn’t going to play in the CFP and he was seeking medical advice with the intention of entering the draft. I suspect the coaching staff did not expect that Beck would stay at the collegiate level. They began to construct things for the 2025 season with Stockton at QB. So when Beck and his team realized his NFL stock was falling even faster due to the injury, it was probably too late to come back to Athens.
Just reading the tea leaves, I also wonder if the coaching staff thought that Beck might go to the NFL and might have been ready to move on to Gunner for 2025. The team’s excitement that Gunner was going to play the second half of the SECCG and the playoff game said a lot (to me) about how perhaps the team felt about the two quarterbacks.
I don’t really know how I feel about this game. While I think the home field is a definite advantage for A&M, I just think that Miami may be better on both lines of scrimmage and I think that Beck is a better QB than Reed. And not to go all transitive property, but Miami looked better against Notre Dame than A&M did and Miami crushed UF worse than the score indicated holding them to less than 150 total yards, no 3rd down conversions, and seven first downs. A&M beat UF 34-17, but gave up over 300 yards of offense to UF even though UF was something like 10% on 3rd down conversions. Granted, Miami played both those teams in September and A&M played ND in September and UF early October and lots has changed since then. I also don’t think that Miami will be bothered by the 11 AM kick because they played 3 or 4 noon kicks this season.
All that said, this will be the best front seven that Miami’s offense has faced this year and on third downs A&Ms front seven is just nasty (though I think that Notre Dame’s defense is better as a whole than A&M’s). My further unease about Miami is that they didn’t really face anyone of consequence the entire season outside of Notre Dame and the losses to Louisville at home and SMU weren’t good at all (and barely beating a dreadful FSU team where they gave up 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter). Miami avoided Clemson, Georgia Tech and Virginia as well (counterpoint…A&M didn’t play Georgia, Alabama, or Oklahoma this season and needed a miraculous offensive and defensive second half to overcome a 30-3 halftime deficit to beat South Carolina 31-30 at home).
Again, just don’t know how I feel about this one. My gut tells me that it is close either way with the winner getting a 3 to 6 point win late.
great headline
cue the donkeys fighting over a turnip… fucknuts will smoke either of these teams and i hate to say that
The nuts beat Texas by 7 and missed a 27 yard gimme field goal to lose to Indiana. That doesn’t inspire fear for me. I haven’t see this version of tOSU play championship football yet. I’m hoping they go quietly into the loser column. Nothing but bad thoughts toward that team and its fans.