Missouri Tigers at Texas A&M Aggies, Kyle Field, College Station, TX
Saturday, October 16, 2010, 12:00 pm Eastern, TV: Fox Sports Net
Opening Line: Texas A&M -1 1/2
Current Line: Texas A&M -3
Opening Total:54 1/2
Current Total: 55 1/2
Money Line: Texas A&M -155 / Missouri +135
Odds taken from Bookmaker Sportsbook and Casino.
Coach Gary Pinkel leads his undefeated 5-0 Missouri Tigers into College Station to take on the 3-2 Texas A&M Aggies. Missouri starts of a challenging 4 game stretch with 3 out of the 4 games on the road at Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Texas Tech all sandwiched around a home game vs Oklahoma. Texas A&M has lost 2 stright, after starting off 3-0. The two lossesd were narrow defeats at Oklahoma St 38-35 and in Dallas against Arkansas 24-17. Missouri opened conference play last week with a 26-0 shutout of Colorado. Missouri has struggled against the spread recently the week after playing a conference rival. In the last 3 years Missouri is 4-13 ATS after playing a conference rival and only 1-8 after a conference win. Missouri has won 3 out of the last 4 straight up vs the Aggies but the teams haven’t played since 2007. With this game hovering around the key number of 3 be sure to view our college football odds page so that you can compare lines from multiple sportsbooks and get the best number on the game.
Missouri is outscoring their opponents 35-11 and are outgaining them 414-318. The Tiger defense has forced 14 turnovers and 13 sacks so far this season. The Tigers are giving up more than 60 penalty yards a game along with 9 turnovers of their own. The strength of the offense is quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Gabbert injured his hip last week, but is expected to play this week. The hip is sore but Gabbert said he can play through it. He missed most of the 4th quarter in the blowout of Colorado, but the tigers had the game well in hand. Gabbert has thrown for 1230 yards, 7 TD’s and 3 interceptions, and has completed 67% of his passes so far. The Tigers run for 147 yards a game led by Henry Josey (31 carries, 226 yards, and 4 touchdowns) and De’Vion Moore (36 carries, 196 yards, and 3 touchdowns). Though three other Tigers have at least 12 carries and a touchdown run. Gabbert throws to two main receivers, T.J. Moe (44 catches, 479 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Michael Egnew (39 catches, 350 yards and 3 touchdowns).
The story for the Aggies this season has been turnovers and sacks. The Aggies have turned the ball over 18 times alreaqdy this season (second worst in the nation) and have been sacked 16 times. They have outgained their opponents 473-312 and outscored them 35-21, yet they are still only 302 because they can’t make-up for the mistakes against good teams like Oklahoma St and Arkansas. The fact that they still had chances to win both of those games speaks volumes about the talent on both sides of the ball for the Aggies. The Aggies are especially good at stopping the run, giving up only 81 yards a game on the ground. The Aggies have forced 12 turnovers of their own. Quarterback Jerrod Johnson looks brilliant sometimes but makes horrible throws at other times. He has thrown for 1,486 yards with 13 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. The Aggies rush for jsut over 170 yards a game, led by running back Christine Michael who has 99 carries for 507 yards and 4 touchdowns. The top two receivers are Jeff Fuller ( 34 catches, 503 yards, and 6 touchdowns) and Ryan Swope (29 carries, 294 yards and a touchdown)
Texas A&M might have some problems with the speed of Missouri. I saw this Texas A&M team in person a couple of weeks ago when they played at Oklahoma St. It might not translate to television, but the Aggie offense is pretty slow moving and will struggle against quick teams like Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri. The Aggies absolutely must protect the ball better if they hope to compete with those teams. This is Missouri’s first game outside of the state of Missouri this season, so that could be a factor. Both of these teams need a victory in order to avoid falling behind in the conference standings. Missouri needs to avoid looking ahead to Oklahoma and Nebraska whom they play in the next two weeks.
Maddux Sports has crushed the books so far this college football season and is releasing a 20 unit game of the year play this Saturday. Get these winning picks on our college football predictions page of the site.
