The Most Surprising Thing About Texas A&M's Performance vs. Missouri State

With less than a minute left in the first half of Texas A&M’s inaugural contest of the 2026 season against Missouri State, the Aggies were very much in control. Missouri State had absolutely nothing going on offensively as the A&M defense continued to stand tall time and again. There wasn’t a single person inside Kyle Field who believed the Bears had a realistic shot to come away with the upset win.

At the same time, however, the Aggies were only up 12-0.

It wasn’t until a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mario Craver with 29 seconds remaining in the second quarter that Texas A&M went up by three scores. The Aggies scored a touchdown on their opening possession but played with their food for the next half-hour, failing to find paydirt on three consecutive possessions before finally breaking the drought with a field goal and the aforementioned touchdown.

Nothing seemed easy, and that was quite surprising given that this Aggies offense possesses some extremely potent weapons and was facing a Missouri State squad that isn’t necessarily expected to be a juggernaut in Conference USA.

Early Growing Pains for Texas A&M

Sep 5, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) runs the ball during the first quarter against the Missouri State Bears at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It’s easy to discount these struggles as growing pains. In fact, that’s probably what some of them were.

Texas A&M is breaking in new offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins after Collin Klein left to take the head coaching job at Kansas State, and there are some fresh faces on the offensive line still looking to get their feet wet with the team.

Still, it was expected that Texas A&M would light the world on fire, not punt on two consecutive drives and fumble on another. Yes, the 50-0 final score ended up leaving all this discourse looking a bit silly, but the struggles can’t be discounted as absolutely nothing.

Aggies Find Their Rhythm After Halftime

Sep 5, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Mario Craver (1) receives a pass during the third quarter against the Missouri State Bears at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One thing to note is that some of the offensive simplicity could be explained by purposefully rudimentary play-calling. Texas A&M is not stupid, and it wouldn’t willingly put too much of the good stuff on film before tougher tests against Arizona State, LSU and the rest of the difficult schedule that lies ahead. All the Aggies needed to do was rely on their talent, and that was more than likely going to be good enough to take down Missouri State.

The problem is that some of that talent was missing for much of the first half. Marcel Reed showed flashes of brilliance with both his arm and his legs, but it was somewhat concerning that he had to scramble as much as he did given the quality of the opponent. The offensive line allowed back-to-back sacks on one possession, committed back-to-back holding penalties on another and generally had trouble allowing the offense to settle into a rhythm.

As the game progressed and everybody got more comfortable, the receivers gradually made larger impacts and everything came out in the wash. Texas A&M finished the night scoring touchdown after touchdown and racking up huge gains both on the ground and through the air.

That response should alleviate most of the concern, but the first-half struggles are still worth monitoring. Arizona State will present a much more arduous task next week, and the Aggies can’t afford to spend another half playing with their food before finally figuring things out.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google