Aggies to square off against No. 25 Oklahoma State in Texas Bowl
Texas A&M will complete its 2019 football season against former Big 12 rival Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl. The Texas Bowl in Houston’s NRG Stadium is on Friday, Dec. 27. Kickoff is at 5:45 p.m.
Oklahoma State (8-4) finished in a tie for third place with Texas in the Big 12 Conference standings and is ranked 25th in College Football Playoff Rankings.
“We appreciate the opportunity to play in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston," said Jimbo Fisher in a release. "A lot of our players are from the Houston area and will have the chance to play in front of a lot of family and friends. We will face a tough, top 25 opponent in Oklahoma State and our team looks forward to playing in front of a lot of Aggies in a great city and a tremendous NFL stadium."
The Aggies (7-5) last appeared in the Texas Bowl in 2016. They lost to Kansas State 33-28.
The matchup will mark the 28th time A&M has played Oklahoma State. Though A&M leads the series 17-10, Oklahoma State won the last four clashes. Most recently, Oklahoma State rallied for a 30-29 victory in 2011.
The Aggies had hoped to land in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. That likely would have required four SEC teams getting in New Year’s Six Bowls.
LSU (13-0) is the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Georgia (11-2), the SEC championship game runner-up, will head to the Sugar Bowl to play Baylor (11-2). Florida (10-2) will face Virginia (9-4) in the Orange Bowl.
But Alabama’s loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl dropped the Crimson Tide out of New Year’s Six Consideration.
Oklahoma State averages 33.3 points per game. The Cowboys are led by running back Chuba Hubbard, who leads the nation with 1,936 rushing yards.
That will set up a classic matchup against the Aggies rushing defense, which is ranked 29th in the nation against the run. Texas A&M has limited eight opponents to less than 150 rushing yards.
The Cowboys passing game has been rather bland. Complicating that, quarterback Spencer Sanders was lost to a thumb injury in a 31-13 victory over Kansas on Nov. 16. His availability for the Texas Bowl is uncertain.
Sanders was replaced by senior Dru Brown, who passed for 196 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 20-13 victory over West Virginia. Then, he threw for 207 yards and no touchdowns with an interception in a 34-16 loss to Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State’s defense is ranked 86th in the nation. The Cowboys have been particularly vulnerable in pass defense where they’ve allowed an average of 267.1 yards per game and 22 touchdowns.
A&M quarterback Kellen Mond has passed for 2,802 yards to rank 44th in the nation in passing. He’s passed for more than 200 yards and at least one touchdown in four of the last five games. However, he completed just 10 of 30 attempts for 92 yards and threw three interceptions in a regular season-closing 50-7 loss to LSU.
