The Appalachian State Mountaineers (0-1) and Texas A&M Aggies (1-0) meet Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook‘s lines around the Appalachian State at Texas A&M odds, and make our expert college football picks and predictions.
The Mountaineers were involved in one of the crazier games you’re going to see. Appalachian State and visiting North Carolina went up and down the field in a wild App State 63-61 loss in which UNC outscored the host 40-22 in the 4th quarter. The Mountaineers had a chance to tie it late on a 2-point conversion, but just came up short.
The good news is that the Mountaineers ran for 288 yards while passing for 361 yards. The bad news is App State’s D allowed 215 yards on the ground with 352 yards through the air.
The Aggies defense was a little more effective last week, pitching a shutout in a 31-0 win over FCS Sam Houston State, one of the top programs at the subdivision level. A&M was good for 387 passing yards, and you can expect QB Haynes King and the Aggies to come out looking to strike early.
Texas A&M is No. 6 in the AFCA Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports.
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Appalachian State at Texas A&M odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 6:23 a.m. ET.
- Money line (ML): Appalachian State +600 (bet $100 to win $600) | Texas A&M -900 (bet $900 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Appalachian State +17.5 (-105) | Texas A&M -17.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 53.5 (O: -112 | U: -108)
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Appalachian State at Texas A&M picks and predictions
Prediction
Texas A&M 48, Appalachian State 17
Money line
Texas A&M (-900) will cost 9 times your potential return, or $100 for every $11.11 won. There is just no value in making those kind of bets, especially over the long term.
AVOID.
Against the spread
TEXAS A&M -17.5 (-105) is a much better play laying the points. Sure, Appalachian State proved last week that it had a powerful offense, but that was also against a subpar North Carolina defense.
As mentioned, A&M pitched a shutout last week against a top-tier FCS team. The Mountaineers will be able to score here, but their defense proved they cannot stop anybody, either.
Look for A&M to amass plenty of points here and grab its first cover of the season after a near-miss last week.
Over/Under
OVER 53.5 (-112) appears to be a rather low number considering Appalachian State was involved in a game last week with 124 combined points. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen on a regular basis. However, A&M does have a balanced offense capable of exploiting App State’s weaknesses for plenty of big plays, especially in front of a raucous 12th man crowd.
Appalachian State won’t be nearly as effective on offense against Texas A&M, but the defense needs to show a vast improvement before it’s time to consider Under bets in Mountaineer games again.
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