Meineke Car Care Bowl: Texas A&M vs Northwestern

Texas A&M Aggies (6-6 overall, 4-5 in Big 12)

Most impressive victory: 55-28 vs Baylor (Oct 15th)

Worst loss: All of them

Notable alumni: Neal Boortz, Lyle Lovett, Von Miller, Gene Stallings

Texas A&M came into the year with very high expectations but repeatedly shot themselves in the foot this season. The biggest issue for the Aggies was coming out of the locker room after each half and having a different team show up. In the Aggies six losses, they lost by a total of 20 points. Two of the losses were in OT. The Aggies played so bad at times that their coach was shown the door.

A&M has offense and they have talent. They ranked in the Top 20 Nationally in passing yards, rushing yards and points scored. QB Ryan Tannehill threw for over 3400 yards and had a TD to INT ratio of 2:1. Two RBs (Cyrus Gray and Christine Michael) finished in the Top 8 in the Big 12 in rushing. Ryan Swope and Jeff Fuller both finished with over 60 receptions and Swope broke double-digits in TDs. The receiving corps are deep as they even have a 3rd option (Uzoma Nwachukwu) that had 45 receptions. A&M is flat out a load on offense. But they are inconsistent. 

One area of concern for the Aggies was Turnover Margin as they finished dead last in the Big 12 in this area and in losses they turned the ball over 1.67 more times than their opponent. The issues was not just turning the ball over (they actually turned it over more times last season than this season) but the defense didn’t create turnovers and finished dead last in the conference with only 15 takeaways. Another area of concern for the Aggies is opponent red zone conversions as only Kansas was worse in the Big 12. Against the run the Aggies faired well this year but the pass was their Achilles heel. Only Baylor gave up more yards passing in the Big 12. One interesting note is that with their Head Coach having been fired, DC Tim DeRuyter will coach the bowl game but he has been named the Head Coach at Fresno State so there will be a question of focus. The Aggies also had a tragedy in the time leading up to the bowl game as Senior OL Joseph Villavisencio was killed in a car accident.

Northwestern Wildcats (6-6, 3-5 in Big Ten)

Most impressive victory: 28-25 vs Nebraska (Nov. 5)

Worst loss: 21-14 vs Army (Sept 17)

Notable alumni: Warren Beatty, Stephen Colbert, Rich Eisen, Pat Fitzgerald, Charlton Heston, Brent Musburger,

If the Wildcats could have a re-do from Sept 17th to Oct 22nd they would be greatful. Outside of that window they went 6-1. In that window they went 0-5 with losses to Army, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Penn State. 

From a statistical standpoint the offense played better this year as they scored more points, passed for more yards (led the Big Ten) and ran for more yards than last season. They also were one of the more effective teams in the Big Ten on 3rd down. One area they struggled offensively was in the red zone as they were 10th in the league with a 76% success rate.

Northwestern should be very worried about the Aggies passing attack. The Wildcats were 11th in the Big Ten against the pass and in losses they gave up 231 yards per game through the air. When Northwestern has the ball they should be able to be successful with Dan Persa, Kain Colter and Jeremy Ebert. The question is if they can score more points then they will allow the Aggies to get.

THE PICK:

Kevin: I want to pull the trigger on the Wildcats here because of the issue with the coaching changes at A&M but I just can’t. I think the Aggies just have way too much offensive talent for Northwestern. There is a definite positibility that A&M just tanks this one but until I see it on the field I’m going to think that they want to finish strong with the SEC on the horizon and start building for next year.
 

Texas A&M 38 Northwestern 28

Jay: I think this is the worst of the 4 Northwestern teams Pat Fitzgerald has brought to a bowl game, and they wouldn’t even be here if not for an easy schedule that set them up against the B1G’s two worst teams, one of the ACC’s worst teams, and one of C-USA’s worst.  Texas A&M has been through quite a bit of turmoil this season, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Aggies fold up shop and don’t show up for this game.  But with their defensive coordinator serving as interim head coach, I expect the defense to at least show up, and in that case, they have too much of an athleticism advantage to let the Wildcats steal this win.  As long as the Aggies don’t get up big early, they should be okay.

Texas A&M 31, Northwestern 24