Texas A&M's CFP hangover cure comes in the form of a Conference USA newcomer in College Station, but Missouri State isn't showing up to play dead.
Bush’s Picks
MOSTTA&M
MOSTTA&M
OverUnder
Best BetTexas A&M
Texas A&M brings back a Heisman-buzz quarterback and two 700-plus-yard receivers against a team playing its second-ever FBS season. This is about as safe a moneyline play as Week 1 offers, and there's no signal in the data suggesting otherwise.
Missouri State
+Reached first bowl game in program history
+two capable QBs in Locklear and Belin IV
+new coach Casey Woods has title-winning pedigree
−lost head coach Ryan Beard to Coastal Carolina
−massive roster/talent gap vs a CFP team
−still just their second season at FBS level
Texas A&M
+Coming off first CFP appearance in program history
+Marcel Reed back with 3,169 yards, 25 TDs
+top two receivers Bethel-Roman and Craver both return
−first-time playcaller Holmon Wiggins untested
−Reed's 12 INTs tied for 2nd-most in SEC last year
−no In-season rust test yet under new OC
Texas A&M enters the 2026 opener as one of the most talked-about teams in the country after last year's 11-2 breakthrough, and Marcel Reed is the reason why. Reed threw for 3,169 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2025 and shows up on early Heisman sleeper lists, even with 12 interceptions that were tied for second-most in the SEC. First-time playcaller Holmon Wiggins takes over the offense after getting promoted from within, and Saturday, September 5 is his first real test running the show.
Reed isn't lacking for weapons. Ashton Bethel-Roman and Mario Craver combined for over 1,400 receiving yards last season and both are back, giving Wiggins a proven set of targets to lean on while he settles into the play-calling chair. The bigger question for A&M isn't talent, it's whether the offense looks buttoned-up out of the gate or needs a few weeks to gel under new command.
Show fees
6:00 PM CT
Spread
ML
Total
MOST Missouri State
TA&M Texas A&M
Missouri State isn't the pushover a Week 1 body-bag game usually implies. The Bears just wrapped their first season at the FBS level, going 7-6 and reaching a bowl game for the first time in program history. That progress cost them their head coach — Ryan Beard left for Coastal Carolina, and Missouri State replaced him with longtime SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods, now running his first program. Woods has two capable arms to work with in Skyler Locklear and Henry Belin IV, and a receiver room with some juice in Isaiah McMorris, Jmariyae Robinson, and Mehki Miller.
Missouri State Bears
Texas A&M Aggies
Recent form.
The gap in resources and roster talent is real, and nobody's picking the Bears to walk into Kyle Field and pull the upset. But this isn't a team that's happy just showing up. Woods built his name on tightening up a program's culture, and a group that just made program history a year ago has no interest in playing the role of tune-up game.
For A&M, the stakes are more about establishing a tone. The Aggies have their swagger back after the program's first CFP trip, and how sharp Reed and the new-look offense look in the opener will set the temperature heading into a much tougher SEC slate. A clean, no-drama win keeps that expectation train rolling.
