What is the story about?
Game
one is in the books, and a far from perfect had a pretty near perfect result, as the Aggies walked away with a 50-0 win to begin the 2026 season against the Missouri State Bears.
Let’s look at this week’s salient stats.
Salient Stats
- 0: Second-half sacks surrendered by Texas A&M. After seeing Marcel Reed sacked on consecutive plays in the first half, it was easy to hit the panic button. So seeing the OL seem to settle in (aided by some personnel changes) and look much improved in both run blocking and pass protection in the second half.
- 5: Straight TD drives stretching from the last drive of the 2nd quarter to the second drive of the 4th quarter. There certainly was a time, as Missouri State suddenly started moving the ball down just 12-0 in the second quarter, that things felt very uncomfortable. So A&M to finally settle in and go on five consecutive touchdown drives was just what the doctor ordered, taking control of a game that they should have controlled from the outset.
- 12th: Man Kickoff Team makes an appearance. Heck, if David Olano will keep putting the ball through the back of the end zone every time, we could play the 12th Man Kickoff time full time!
- 13: A&M players who had a catch or a carry. Good to see the ball get spread around, and good to see backups get reps. Tons of talent on display for this team.
- +25:30: A&M’s time of possession advantage. Geez. Flat out, A&M was good at sustain long drives and Missouri State couldn’t stay on the field for long at all for much of the night. If you wanna know a great, old school way of winning a football game, nearly tripling your opponents’ TOP is a great way to do it.
- 67: Yards given up by the Texas A&M defense (the fewest they’ve given up this century). I don’t care who the opponent is, giving up less than 70 yards (and pitching a shutout to boot) is dominant defense. Elite defense, even. You can never say anything with 100% certainty after a game against a cupcake opponent, but this defense answered every question we had going in and them some.
- 125: Yards gained back backup A&M running backs. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
- 107,782: The largest season-opening crowd in Texas A&M history. At a place known for its fan support, any time you can set a record, it’s impressive, especially for a game that didn’t have a lot of hype other than it being the season opener. Aggie fans never cease to amaze.
