Next week, for the sixth time ever, Texas A&M will link up with the University of Miami in a game many feel is the best matchup of the opening round of the College Football Playoff. Both the Aggies and the Hurricanes enter the Playoff on the heels of successful regular seasons where they both were ranked in the top 10 a majority of the season.
Each won at least 10 games despite not playing in their conference championship games, but had losses to Louisville, SMU and Texas combined. For A&M, the Playoff is the ultimate opportunity to rewrite the ending of its season after playing the worst game of its season against in-state rival Texas in its last regular-season game.
Here are 3 things A&M needs to do to beat Miami and win the first CFP game in the program’s history.
1. Marcel Reed must be a true dual-threat QB
After being kept under wraps most of the season and instructed to try to do more damage with his arm than his legs, A&M star quarterback Marcel Reed will need to be deadly with both now that the Playoff is here.
In games against Utah State, Arkansas, LSU and Missouri, Reed was able to produce explosive runs and complete multiple explosive passes while throwing for multiple touchdowns, which all resulted in Aggie wins. When Reed is causing havoc on the ground and in the air, A&M’s offense seems to go to another level as it averaged 44 points a game in those games and won 3 of the 4 games by 17 points or more.
With Reed already declaring he’ll be returning to Aggie Land next season, having big performances against Miami and other teams in the Playoff will go a long way toward helping him become a more dangerous quarterback going forward.
2. Texas A&M’s defensive line must outplay Miami’s offensive line
If recent history is any indication of the future, A&M should be fine after 2 weeks off, as both times after byes this season the Aggie defense has responded with dominant performances, holding opponents to 10 and 17 points.
This is a trend which must continue, as the A&M defensive line, led by SEC Defensive Player of the Year edge rusher Cashius Howell and senior defensive end Dayon Hayes will be tasked with pressuring and making plays against Miami quarterback Carson Beck. Although A&M tied with Oklahoma with 41 sacks for the national lead, getting to Beck won’t be easy. The Miami signal caller was sacked only 9 times this season and plays behind a very good offensive line led by junior right tackle Francis Mauigoa who earned All-ACC honors this season.
Mauigoa sits as one of the top-rated linemen in the nation and is expected to enter the NFL Draft after the season. He is projected as a can’t-miss first-round draft pick. The winner of the Howell and Mauigoa battles will play a big in the outcome on who advances to the second round of the Playoff. The Aggies need Howell to be disruptive early and often as he has recorded a sack in 8 of the Aggies 12 games and has produced multiple sacks in 3 games this season.
Even more telling, Howell produced at least 1 sack in every SEC game except for A&M’s loss in the season final against Texas.
3. The A&M offense must produce explosive plays
If A&M wants to beat Miami or any other elite team in the CFP, it must continue the trait of consistently producing explosive plays on offense like it has done a majority of the season.
After getting a season-low 2 total explosive plays against Texas, A&M must find ways to put first-team All-SEC wideout KC Concepcion and third-team All-SEC Mario Craver in better positions to make explosive plays in the passing game and returning start running back Le’Veon Moss in the running game.
The Aggies will need Concepcion to keep producing as he finished the regular season with 12 total touchdowns, the most among SEC receivers, in the process becoming the first A&M player in the modern era to score via rush, reception and punt return in the same year. A&M produced an average of 6 explosive plays game this season and will probably need at least 4 to 5 to beat Miami.
Moss, who has been injured since October, is expected to return in the CFP to boost a pedestrian A&M running game. If he’s able to return to form, Moss will open the Aggies’ entire offense, as his physical running style often leads to explosive plays in the run and pass game, which allows the offense to go to another gear.
Miami will be difficult opponent for A&M, but if the Aggie offense is able to revert to form while its defense continues playing with the physicality it has brought all year, the Aggies should be able to punch their ticket to Cotton Bowl next weekend.
Kendrick E. Johnson writes for various national outlets such as High School on SI, Yardbarker, ESPN Andscape and MMA Weekly. He is an independent print journalist, sports television reporter and multimedia journalist who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, WWE and over 75 world championship boxing and UFC Fights nationally. Johnson has also covered every prep sport possible in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all across the great state of Texas. He’s done numerous 1-on-1 interviews with some of the biggest names and personalities in sports from Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry and Shaq on the basketball side to Jon Jones, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on the combat sports side and John Cena, Jey and Jimmy Uso and Charlotte Flair in WWE.
