We are officially on the doorstep of week 5 of the 2022 college football season, As the Aggies are preparing to take on the 3-1 Mississippi State Bulldogs at their always very loud and intimidating domain, Davis Wade Stadium.
Texas A&M is coming off of their thrilling 23-21 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks last Saturday night in a game that would have had the Aggies trailing with nearly a minute left in the fourth quarter if it wasn’t for a Cam Little field goal miss now coined the “oink doink” by those more clever than myself.
Going into the matchup with Mississippi State, The Aggies are playing their first game this season without senior wide receiver Ainias Smith after his devastating season-ending injury in the second half of the Arkansas game, which no matter how you spin it will present a challenge for an offense that hasn’t moved the ball as effectively as they’ve wanted to in four games played. With that, here are a couple of areas of concern I have for Texas A&M going into this weekend:
Texas A&M wide receivers vs. Mississippi State secondary
Earlier this week, I briefly discussed the Bulldog’s pass defense ranked within the Top-50 in the FBS. While facing a secondary that isn’t ranked in say the Top-10, the Aggies still struggled in the passing game against an Arkansas pass defense that before the game, was ranked as the worst in the country, out of 131 teams. What worries me even further is the previously mentioned fact that star slot wide receiver Ainias Smith is out for the season, and aside from senior wideout Jalen Preston who is low on the depth chart, the current starting receiver group is exceptionally talented but very young and inexperienced. However, As Aggies quarterback, Max Johnson is starting his third consecutive game, the hope is that he began to develop a repertoire with his core receiver group.
Bulldog’s quarterback Will Rogers vs. Texas A&M’s defense
If you don’t know about Mississippi States’ starting quarterback, junior Will Rogers by now, I regret to inform you that he could be in for a consecutive huge passing day unless the Aggie defense, which has been quite impressive so far, strategically prepares for head coach Mike Leach’s new age Air Raid offense, putting a ton of pressure on Texas A&M’s linebackers and secondary.
With veteran corners, Myles Jones and Jaylon Jones protecting the boundary, defending the intermediate zone which Leach will likely try to attack throughout the game means that linebacker Chris Russell, who had the best game of his career against Arkansas last Saturday, paired with the always reliable nickel corner Antonio Johnson and outside linebacker Edgrerrin Cooper will be a couple of names to watch.
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