COLLEGE STATION, Texas \u2014 Off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2016, No. 6 Texas A&M is quite pleased with its early season performance.<\/p>\n
But perhaps more exciting to the Aggies as they look to remain undefeated on Saturday when they host Mississippi State is that they believe they can play much better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think the ceiling for this team is a lot higher if we could figure out how to go put four quarters together,\u201d coach Mike Elko said.<\/p>\n
Texas A&M is also looking for a dominant performance on both sides of the ball after excelling offensively two games ago in a win at Notre Dame before winning with its defense last week against Auburn. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe won two games without playing our best football, right? And that\u2019s a testament to character, culture and just grinding out wins,\u201d Elko said. \u201cThat won\u2019t last forever. That\u2019s not lost on me. But I do think when you go find different ways to win … it gives you an opportunity to sustain success over long periods of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quarterback Marcel Reed likes that about the Aggies and believes winning in different ways has built confidence on the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just our togetherness so far this year,\u201d Reed said. \u201cWhen defense isn\u2019t playing well, offense is carrying them and holding them up. When we\u2019re not playing well, the defense is doing the same that we did for them. So, I think it\u2019s just us being so together and understanding that it\u2019s going to take every single person on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mississippi State quarterback Blake Shapen (2) runs for a first down as Tennessee linebacker Jeremiah Telander (22) looks to make a tackle during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Starkville, Miss., Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. Credit: AP\/James Pugh<\/p>\n
Reed will try and bounce back after throwing for a season-low 207 yards and an interception last week in his first game this season without a TD pass. He\u2019s working on timing with his receivers after overthrowing them on a handful of plays against Auburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a work in progress,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all over the place right now, and people are talking about it. But it\u2019s in our control, and we\u2019re going to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week they\u2019ll face a team coming off its first defeat of the season after Mississippi State (4-1) fell just short in a 41-34 overtime loss against No. 15 Tennessee. It will be the Bulldogs’ first road game since their opener at Southern Miss and will be in front of a crowd expected to exceed 100,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys have responded the right way,\u201d coach Jeff Lebby said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a great week of practice and a big opportunity in front of us, and we\u2019re excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Texas A&M wide receiver Mario Craver (1) reacts after a first down catch and run against Utah State during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in College Station, Texas. Credit: AP\/Sam Craft<\/p>\n
Hey, old friend<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs will see a familiar face Saturday in Texas A&M\u2019s leading receiver Mario Craver, who transferred from Mississippi State this offseason. Craver, who had 368 yards receiving last year, ranks second in the country by averaging 119.2 yards receiving a game and leads the Aggies with four touchdown catches.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Craver) has had a ton of production for those guys this year,\u201d Lebby said. \u201cFor us, defensively, we\u2019ve got to do a good job of tackling and preventing him from making plays in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapen\u2019s streak<\/p>\n
Mississippi State\u2019s Blake Shapen extended his streak with at least one touchdown pass to 20 games last week, which is the longest active streak in the nation. Shapen, who has thrown for 1,064 yards and eight touchdowns this year, began the streak in 2022.<\/p>\n
Elko has been impressed with his performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an extremely talented kid,\u201d Elko said. \u201cHe has a really good feel for that system. He\u2019s extremely accurate, which is what you need to be in the RPO system. He\u2019s playing like a seasoned veteran who is very, very comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapen will try to fine tune things as the Bulldogs look to bounce back this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe small details of the game, whether it\u2019s with the receiver, me, offensive line, whatever it is, we got to execute better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Eliminating penalties<\/p>\n
Elko is searching for ways to cut down on his team\u2019s penalties after the Aggies had a whopping 13 for 119 yards last week. They have 38 for 309 yards this season, leading Elko to joke that future infractions could help his staff take a Mexican vacation this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started the Texas A&M Football Coaches Cabo Fund,\u201d Elko said. \u201cSo what\u2019s going to happen now is every time our players get a penalty, they\u2019re going to contribute to our Cabo Fund. We\u2019ll see if that works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running back Le\u2019Veon Moss is confident they can cut down on those errors if they do one thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cFocusing more,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just need to focus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE STATION, Texas \u2014 Off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2016, No. 6 Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":272407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[2871,1428,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68,10190],"class_list":{"0":"post-272406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115305740288179176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}