The 2016 Advocare V100 Texas Bowl sees the Texas A&M Aggies from the SEC take on the Kansas State Wildcats from the Big 12.
Key Information
The game takes place at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, at 9pm ET on Wednesday, December 28th. NRG Stadium is home of the Houston Texans NFL team, and Texas A&M played their 2015 season opener here against Arizona State.
Last year’s Texas Bowl saw Leonard Fournette put up 212 yards and four touchdowns as LSU ran all over Texas Tech for a 56-27 win.
Kansas State Wildcats
After a disappointing 2015 season, the Wildcats will be pleased to have won eight games and proven that Snyder still has the magic. They bounced back from a rough start that saw them lose to Oklahoma and West Virginia in conference play. Their marquee victory was a 24-point win against TCU to close out the season.
They had inconsistent games on both sides of the ball, but the defense was strong for the most part. Defensive end Jordan Willis will be looking to add to his 11.5 sacks in this game which has helped offset some of their issues in pass coverage. Their run defense has been good and stopping the Aggie run game will be key in forcing Trevor Knight to beat them with his arm.
The offense will force the Aggies to be disciplined which they struggled with down the stretch. Jesse Ertz at quarterback has only thrown eight touchdown passes but is a real threat to run the ball. The Aggies struggled against Shea Patterson from Ole Miss and the rushing quarterbacks from UTSA in recent games.
Texas A&M Aggies
For the third straight year, the Aggies showed great promise with an unbeaten start to the season before disappointing their fans through late October and November. This year saw a 6-0 start, ending in an 8-4 season. The only two wins in the second half of the year coming against New Mexico State and UTSA.
The hot seat under Kevin Sumlin has warmed again after the strong start, and a win in this bowl game would help him. Sumlin has only lost one non-conference game in five seasons as the Aggies head coach, which was last year’s bowl game against Lamar Jackson and Louisville.
This is the last chance to see players like Trevor Knight, Myles Garrett, and Josh Reynolds before they leave College Station. The talent on this team is good, and if the defense can stop the run, they should be able to handle the Wildcats in other facets of the game. The final few games of the year looked like the Aggies had checked out on the 2016 season, and facing a motivated Kansas State team isn’t a good match-up.
Prediction
Texas A&M 27, Kansas State Wildcats 24
The Aggies produce enough in Trevor Knight’s final college game to come away with a win and move onto nine wins for the season.
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