Texas A
No. 10 seed Miami (10-2) at No. 7 seed Texas A&M (11-1), Saturday, noon EST (ABC)
BetMGM College Football Odds: Texas A&M by 3 1/2.
Series record: Miami leads 3-2.
Both teams are in the College Football Playoff for the very first time where the Hurricanes are contending for their 6th championship game and first considering that 2001. The Aggies have a a lot longer drought after their last nationwide title was available in 1939. The Hurricanes got the last at-large playoff spot over Notre Dame thanks to their 27-24 win over the Fighting Irish in the season opener. Texas A&M intends to recover and make a deep playoff follow a 27-17 loss to archrival Texas in the regular-season finale spoiled its ideal season. These groups had one typical challenger this season with Miami and Texas A&M handing Notre Dame its only 2 losses in close video games in the first 2 weeks of the season. The winner gets a trip to the Cotton Bowl to play No. 2 seed Ohio State on Dec. 31.
Texas A&M ´ s pass rush vs. Miami ´ s offensive line. The Aggies have 41 sacks this season to tie Oklahoma for most in the country. Texas A&M is led by protective end Cashius Howell, a first string AP All-America choice and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year who led the SEC and ranks 4th in the country with 11 1/2 sacks. The Hurricanes are among the very best in the nation at protecting the quarterback and the 11 sacks they enabled this season are tied for eighth fewest in the nation.
Miami: DE Rueben Bain Jr. earned ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors after stacking up 37 takes on, consisting of 7 1/2 takes on for loss and 4 1/2 sacks this season. He also forced a fumble, had an interception and two pass breakups to lead Miami ´ s defense. He had at least one tackle in every video game and had a 1 1/2 sacks in the regular-season finale at Pittsburgh.
Texas A&M: WR/PR K.C. Concepcion won the Paul Hornung Award as the country ´ s most flexible college football gamer and was also an AP first-team All American. He led the team with 886 yards getting and his nine TD receptions ranked initially in the SEC. He also led the league with 460 punt return backyards with 2 touchdowns. The junior likewise had a TD go to become the first Aggie in the modern period of football to have a TD reception, scoring run and punt return rating in a single season.
Miami won the last conference between these teams 48-33 in 2023 at Acid Rock Stadium. ... The Hurricanes have actually won 10 games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002-03. ... Miami hasn ´ t permitted more than 17 points in its last 4 games. ... QB Carson Beck is 34-5 in his career as a starter at Georgia and with the Hurricanes. ... WR Malachi Toney requires 30 backyards to publish the eighth 1,000-yard getting season in school history. ... Mark Fletcher Jr. leads Miami with 685 lawns rushing. ... Jakobe Thomas is first on the team with 4 interceptions. ... The Aggies are 7-0 at home this season. ... It ´ s the very first time given that 2012 that Texas A&M has won a minimum of 10 games. ... The Aggies have had at least 100,000 fans at Kyle Field for 10 straight video games dating back to last season. ... QB Marcel Reed has actually tossed for 963 lawns and six touchdowns and included 245 backyards hurrying with two scores in four video games this season versus AP Top 25 opponents. He requires 68 yards passing and 34 yards rushing to sign up with Johnny Manziel (twice) and Jerrod Johnson as the only players in school history to toss for 3,000 yards and rush for 500 yards in a season. ... Texas A&M ´ s receivers rank 11th in the nation by balancing 14.1 yards per catch, led by Ashton Bethel-Roman ´ s 23 lawns per catch. ... The Aggies have actually restricted opponents to 5 or less 3rd down conversions in 9 straight video games. ... ESPN ´ s College GameDay will transmit from College Station, Texas, before the video game, the ninth time the show will be done on the Texas A&M school.
