CFB Preview: Texas A&M’s Home Finale Saturday Against Western Carolina

Saturday, the Texas A&M Aggies will welcome the Western Carolina Catamounts under the lights of College station.

The Aggies (6-3) are coming off of a home loss to Auburn 26-10. In this game, Aggie alum Johnny Football was in the house, but he wasn’t the the big quarterback news for A&M as the starting quarterback Kyler Murray was hit hard on a quarterback keeper and did not return to the game with an undisclosed injury allowing Jake Hubenak took over. But it should also be noted that the Murray was not on point while healthy as he threw three interceptions before leaving the game. Through their last five games though, the Aggies’ quarterback’s were a problem in their performances throwing a combined three touchdowns and eight picks as previous starter Kyle Allen started to share snaps with Murray more frequently, so this injury could cause a bit of a stir.

A&M’s running game was good in the loss though with Tra Carson gaining 109 yards. Auburn’s was just a whole lot better with 311 total rushing yards for the night. This is a testament for the Aggies’ worst rushing defense in the SEC allowing 218.3 yards on the ground per game. But on the flip-side, Auburn has the worst total defense in the SEC and the Aggies could not take advantage only scoring one touchdown and gaining 303 yards in the game.

Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin recognizes the disappointing loss, and says the best thing to do is get back on the field. This is not only true in the perspective of a team getting back at it, but also because the Aggies are facing a SOCON (Southern Conference) team in the Western Carolina Catamounts.

The Catamounts (6-3) have faced of with a SEC opponent this season already in the Tennessee Volunteers where Western Carolina lost 55-10. They are coming off of a 48-10 victory over the Furman Paladins  where quarterback Troy Mitchell gained 305 yards in the air and three touchdowns. Their ground game too wasn’t so shabby with Detrez Newsome received 184 yards. But this team is really up and down though as just the week before, they lost to the Chattanooga Mocs 41-13. In this game, Mitchell threw for 178 with a TD and INT. Mitchell was also the team’s rushing leader for the game with 57 yards.

This match-up between the Aggies and the Catamounts is on Texas A&M’s senior night for the seniors who started their freshmen year in the Aggies’ inaugural season in the SEC. Sumlin sees this group of guys as an important one for the team and wants this win to put a strong finish to their careers at A&M and will hopefully set the pace for the rest of the season.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 and can be seen on ESPN U.