With the GameDay crew on hand Saturday, it’ll be a good old-fashioned SEC showdown when No. 11 Texas A&M (7-2, 4-2) travels to Oxford to take on No. 12 Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2). They’ll kick it off at 7 p.m. ET with major bowl implications for the winner, which still has an outside shot at winning the West and moving on to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.

The Aggies are looking to extend a 4-game win streak and knock off their 3rd AP top-15 team on Saturday, having already turned away then-No. 1 Alabama, and then-No. 12 Auburn last week.

Here are 5 reasons that will happen.

1. Matt Corral isn’t 100%

The Ole Miss quarterback was last seen hobbling through a lackluster 27-14 victory over Liberty last Saturday. His ankle injury continues to nag him, though he insists on playing through it. In the age of “opting out,” give him credit for soldiering on.

The Heisman Trophy front-runner explains that he is “hurt” and not “injured.” But the Rebels will need an “unhurt” Corral if they stand a chance against the Aggies on Saturday.

A big part of Corral’s game is his ability to run with the football. He leads the Rebels in rushing. But on a sore ankle, he ran the ball a season-low 6 times and gained only 9 yards against Liberty. He rushed just 10 times in the previous game against Auburn. Prior to that, Corral was averaging just over 14 rushes per game.

2. Aggies will run all over the Rebels

Texas A&M ranks 10th in the nation averaging 5.43 yards per carry this season. Head coach Jimbo Fisher has found a combination that works along the offensive line and together it is providing running lanes for Isaiah Spiller and Devon Achane.

There isn’t a better duo in the SEC. They have combined for 1,579 yards already. Each has scored 5 TDs. As a pair, they are averaging 6.6 yards per carry. They are, in a word, unstoppable.

In 3 consecutive games, the Aggies have rushed for 215-plus yards for the first time against SEC opponents since the 2016 season. In 3 games this season, both rushed for 100-plus yards. The last time Texas A&M had 2 backs rush for 100 yards in 4 games of the same season was in 1990.

Spiller needs 127 yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark for the 2nd consecutive season. He has 16 100-yard games for his career, the most by an Aggie since Greg Hill (1991-93) piled up 18 100-yard games.

3. Defense still wins championships

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to score points on this defense. The Aggies rank 2nd nationally in scoring defense, giving up just 14.7 points per game for the season. The resurgent group has allowed just 2 touchdowns in the past 3 games.

Much of that success is due to the ability to reach the opposing quarterback. The Aggies rank 13th in the nation, averaging 3.1 sacks per game. Senior DL Tyree Johnson has recorded 7 sacks over the last 4 games while junior DL DeMarvin Leal has 5.5 sacks to his credit this season among 8.5 tackles for loss.

4. Fast start

The Aggies have been famously fast starters under Fisher. And those quick starts have paid dividends. Texas A&M is 25-4 under Fisher when scoring first and are a perfect 23-0 when leading after the first quarter.

During the current 4-game winning streak, all against SEC competition, the Aggies have outscored the opposition 55-10 in the 1st quarter.

5. Seth Small the scoring machine

We’ll just call him the “X-factor.” Ever since his game-winner against Alabama, it seems only right that Small should be figured into any conversation about winning football games.

He is the Aggies’ all-time leader in field goals made (67) and ranks 7th on the SEC all-time list. Small needs just 10 more points to catch 2011 Lou Groza Award winner Randy Bullock (2008-11) on the Aggies’ all-time scoring list.