Texas at Texas A&M Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Thanksgiving the Texas Longhorns will go on the road to face the Texas A&M Aggies in what should be an entertaining Big 12 showdown. While neither one of these teams have a chance of winning the conference title, you can expert these two in state rivals to put everything they have on the line. The road team has won each of the last two meetings, including the Aggies 24-17 win at Texas last season.

Taking a look at the week 13 college football spreads. oddsmakers currently have Texas A&M favored by 8.5-points over Texas.

Texas:

The Longhorns come in off back-to-back losses, as they fell 13-17 to Kansas State this past Saturday. Texas has really struggled against the top half of the conference. Their only three wins have come against Iowa State, Kansas, and Texas Tech, who are a combined 5-18 in the Big 12.

Texas has really struggled to get things going offensively since putting up 52 points on the Red Raiders. The Longhorns have combined to score 18 points the last two weeks. Texas did show some life late against Kansas State, but simply couldn’t make enough plays to win the game.

The offense was sparked by backup quarterback Case McCoy, who replaced David Ash after he threw his second interception. McCoy finished 8 of 16 for 80 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown pass to Blaine Irby. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if head coach Mack Brown didn’t give McCoy the nod against Texas A&M.

For Texas to win this game it is going to come down to whether or not they can run the football with success. The Longhorns used a number of different backs to rush for 191 yards against Kansas State, but are set to face a Texas A&M defense that ranks 15th in the country, allowing just 107.8 ypg on the ground.

Texas A&M:

The Aggies took out their frustration and then some in their 61-7 win over Kansas last week. Texas A&M came into the game off three straight losses, including two heartbreaking overtime games against Missouri and Kansas State. The Jayhawks didn’t have a chance once this things started. The Aggies led 23-0 by the end of the first quarter and would extend it to 61-0 before calling off the dogs in the third quarter.

Ryan Tannehill went 21 of 26 for 280 yards and three touchdowns. Most of those completions went to wide out Ryan Swope, who finished with nine catches for 137 yards and two scores. The Aggies also ran for 189 yards and four scores, behind 94 yards and three touchdowns from Cyrus Gray.

While Texas A&M is averaging nearly 41 ppg, their defense has been torched for 34 ppg over the last three weeks. As bad as Texas has been offensively of late, I wouldn’t be surprised if they put up 20-30 points against Texas A&M. That means the Aggies offense is going to have to step up and deliver. Texas has allowed 55 points to Oklahoma and 38 to Oklahoma State, but no other team has scored more than 20.

Whether or not the Aggies offense struggles to move the ball against a Texas defense that is 8th against the run (94.9 ypg) and 29th against the pass (199.6 ypg), will determine if Texas A&M covers the 8.5-points spread.

Betting Trends:

Texas is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a road underdog of 3.5-10.0.

Texas A&M is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a S.U. win.

If you are looking to back one of the best college football experts, check out what Steve Janus has picked for week 13.

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