2026 Mizzou Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 6: Texas A&M

In 2024 and 2025, blowout losses to Texas A&M served as crushing blows to Missouri's goals for the season. In 2026, the Tigers will look to turn that trend around by earning their first win over the Aggies in over a decade in what could be a crucial moment of the season.

Texas A&M's win over Missouri in Week 11 of the 2025 season was just another stepping stone for the Aggies on their first trip to the College Football Playoff. The season was another huge step in the upward trajectory that head coach Mike Elko has led over his first two seasons.

The offseason was, mostly, a win for the Aggies, with Elko managing to bringing in one of the top-rated transfer portal classes in the country, a group that includes multiple players that already have starting experience in the SEC.

That replenished roster will make a trip to Columbia in Week 6 of the season. Here's an early look at how the Tigers match up with the Aggies.

Missouri Early Opponent Preview Series: Arkansas-Pine Bluff | Kansas | Troy | Mississippi State | Florida

Offense

Nov 8, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) throws a pass during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Texas A&M offense has had no problem running all over Missouri defense in the last two matchups. In 2025, the Aggies gained 464 yards while scoring 38 points. In 2024, they scored their SEC-highs in both yards, 512, and points, 41, against the Tigers.

Former offensive coordinator Collin Klein, who has been able to expertly scheme against the Tigers dating back to his stint as Kansas State's offensive coordinator, left Texas A&M's staff this offseason to become Kansas State's head coach. 2026 will mark the first year he doesn't coach against Missouri since 2021.

Holmon Wiggins, who served as the program's co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2024 and 2025, was promoted to replace Klein. Prior to his time at Texas A&M, Wiggins served as the served as the assistant head coach under Nick Saban at Alabama.

No matter any possible schematic changes, the most important question the Texas A&M offense faces in 2026 is the level of play quarterback Marcel Reed will bring to the field.

Reed was an elite player at times in 2025, completing 234 of his 377 pass attempts (62.1%) for 3,169 yards and 25 touchdowns. He added 493 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 104 carries.

"He (Reed) is playing at a really, really high level," Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a press conference before facing the Aggies in 2025. "Distributes the ball really well, not only vertically, but horizontally. And then, man, his added dimension when he runs is really, really impressive. It's got some Lamar Jackson-esque type qualities to it."

But, Reed didn't play at the same elite level in the most important games and moments of the season. He threw 12 interceptions on the season, the second most amongst starting quarterbacks in the SEC. Two of those turnovers came in the Aggies' Playoff loss to Miami.

Reed will again have an elite group of pass catchers, with the Aggies' offense featuring one of the best wide receiver corps in the country. Though the group lost KC Concepcion, Alabama transfer Isaiah Horton, one of the best available players at the position, joined the Aggies. That's paired with the speed of Mario Craver, plus the young potential of Terry Bussey and Ashton Bethel-Roman.

Nov 8, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Mario Craver (1) runs with the ball against Missouri Tigers cornerback Toriano Pride Jr. (2) during the second half at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

But where the Texas A&M offense has really hurt Missouri over the last two seasons is dominating in the trenches, and as a result of that, the run game.

The Aggies will not have the same continuity of talent along the offensive line that they had entering 2025, with four of their starters from the season being selected in the 2026 NFL draft. Center Mark Nabou Jr. is the only starting member returning to Texas A&M.

The Aggies did add some of the best portal options along the line though, including Wilkin Formby, a former starter at Alabama, and Tyree Adams, LSU's starting left tackle in 2025.

Defense

Nov 8, 2025; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Matt Zollers waits for a snap in the Missouri matchup against Texas A&M at Faurot Field. | Sam Simon/MissourOnSI

Elko also had to make an internal promotion at defensive coordinator after Jay Bateman made a lateral move to Kentucky. The Aggies promoted Lyle Hemphill from associate head coach for defense up to the coordinator spot. Hemphill previously worked on staff with Elko at Duke, Wake Forest and Hofstra. With the long close relationship with Elko, the DNA of the Aggie defense is expected to remain pretty similar.

Elko, who Drinkwitz has praised for his defensive scheming ability, is expected to continue to be Texas A&M's primary defensive play caller.

Elko's defenses overwhelm offenses with unpredictability and agressiveness, especially on third downs.

"So he's got a really good feel for how to attack you, and does a really good job of calling it and then adjusting his calls," Drinkwitz said of Elko's third-down packages. "And then, that's when it gets really challenging, is you felt like you had a really good plan, and he busts you in the mouth with something different.

The unit has virtually shut down Missouri's offense over the last two seasons. In both 2024 and 2025, the game against Texas A&M was Missouri's second-worst offensive performance of the season by total yardage.

But Missouri was able to find success in the run game against the Aggies in 2025, as was the case for most of the season for the Tigers. Jamal Roberts rushed for 110 yards on 17 carries while Ahmad Hardy added 109 on 13 carries. The same agressiveness the Texas A&M defense is predicated on can sometimes be exposed in the run game.

The Aggie defense lost some of its best players, such as edge rusher Cashius Howell and cornerback Will Lee III, this offseason, but did a fine job in the portal replacing their production.

At edge rusher, the Aggies added Anto Sako from Northwestern, who was rated by 247Sports as the 11th best player at his position in this year's portal cycle. At cornerback, Rickey Gibson II transferred from Tennessee. Gibson started throughout all of the 2024 season for the Volunteers, but suffered an arm injury in Week 1 that kept him sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Schedule

Both Missouri and Texas A&M will be coming off home games, with the Tigers set to host Florida, and the Aggies set to host Arkansas, in Week 5.

This will be the first big test of the season for Missouri. Earning a win in this one could be crucial hinge point for the Tigers, as it's right before arguably the most difficult stretch of Missouri's season.

After this game, Missouri will play at Faurot Field just once over the following 42 days, playing road games in Ole Miss, Arkansas and Georgia and taking a bye in 8. The only home game in that stretch for the Tigers is against Texas in Week 10.

Outlook

Ahead of the season, Missouri sits as 6.5-point home underdogs against the Aggies. If Texas A&M lives up to the expectations to be one of the top teams in the country, this would undoubtedly be one of the top wins on the season for the Tigers if they manage to pull off the upset.

Game Info

Date: Saturday, Oct 10
Time: TBD
TV: TBD
Location: Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri
Series history: Texas A&M leads 12-7

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