Labor Day weekend is here, and a new college football season is already underway. College Football News predicts that on Saturday, Texas A&M will beat Rice 42-20. The official betting line has TAMU favored by 27 points.
Three SEC teams played Thursday night. South Carolina, considered by some to be the third best SEC team behind Alabama and Georgia, defeated North Carolina 27-10. In the first conference game of the year, two future Aggie opponents faced off, and Ole Miss was able to get by Vanderbilt in a close win (39-35).
Other SEC games that should be worth seeing are Alabama vs Virginia Tech, Georgia vs Clemson, LSU against TCU, and Mississippi State against Oklahoma State. I'll be pulling for LSU and MSU to stomp former Aggie rivals from the SWC and Big 12. USA Today predicts Alabama will win 40-17, Clemson will edge Georgia 41-38, LSU will beat TCU 24-17, and Mississippi State will lose to OSU 38-20.
Added 1:45 PM Saturday: At the half, the Aggies are ahead 28-21. Game is much tougher than I expected. In the early going, Rice looked unstoppable. The A&M defense firmed up in the second quarter, but still gave up an unnecessary seven points with only seconds left in the half. Manziel will presumably play in the second half, and the game may still be a blowout win. Right now, I don't see enough D to prevent Rice from scoring at least two, maybe three touchdowns, so covering the spread (27 points) will be an accomplishment.
Added 3:36 PM: Final score 52-31. From where I sat, the Aggie offense looked much more conventional when Joeckel was playing quarterback. More reliance on the running game. The RB who transferred from Oregon looks like a future SEC star. A number of players were benched for disciplinary reasons, and maybe the team will be better when they return. In my opinion, the A&M defense against Rice wasn't good enough to get the Aggies into the SEC title game, much less the national championship game. Rice gained over 500 yards with its power running game and a passing game that was adequate. Sumlin says fifteen true freshmen played against Rice, which probably was a factor in surrendering 31 points.
Added 10:08 AM Sunday: In the SEC games on TV yesterday, the winners were Alabama, TAMU, and LSU. Georgia lost a close one to Clemson, and Okie State thumped MSU. The scores predicted in USA Today were pretty close to the actual winning margins.
Three SEC teams played Thursday night. South Carolina, considered by some to be the third best SEC team behind Alabama and Georgia, defeated North Carolina 27-10. In the first conference game of the year, two future Aggie opponents faced off, and Ole Miss was able to get by Vanderbilt in a close win (39-35).
Other SEC games that should be worth seeing are Alabama vs Virginia Tech, Georgia vs Clemson, LSU against TCU, and Mississippi State against Oklahoma State. I'll be pulling for LSU and MSU to stomp former Aggie rivals from the SWC and Big 12. USA Today predicts Alabama will win 40-17, Clemson will edge Georgia 41-38, LSU will beat TCU 24-17, and Mississippi State will lose to OSU 38-20.
Added 1:45 PM Saturday: At the half, the Aggies are ahead 28-21. Game is much tougher than I expected. In the early going, Rice looked unstoppable. The A&M defense firmed up in the second quarter, but still gave up an unnecessary seven points with only seconds left in the half. Manziel will presumably play in the second half, and the game may still be a blowout win. Right now, I don't see enough D to prevent Rice from scoring at least two, maybe three touchdowns, so covering the spread (27 points) will be an accomplishment.
Added 3:36 PM: Final score 52-31. From where I sat, the Aggie offense looked much more conventional when Joeckel was playing quarterback. More reliance on the running game. The RB who transferred from Oregon looks like a future SEC star. A number of players were benched for disciplinary reasons, and maybe the team will be better when they return. In my opinion, the A&M defense against Rice wasn't good enough to get the Aggies into the SEC title game, much less the national championship game. Rice gained over 500 yards with its power running game and a passing game that was adequate. Sumlin says fifteen true freshmen played against Rice, which probably was a factor in surrendering 31 points.
Added 10:08 AM Sunday: In the SEC games on TV yesterday, the winners were Alabama, TAMU, and LSU. Georgia lost a close one to Clemson, and Okie State thumped MSU. The scores predicted in USA Today were pretty close to the actual winning margins.
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