NFL
By: Brock Vierra
In the 2023 TaxAct Texas Bowl, Texas A&M (7-5) will look to defend home soil against Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-4). Despite coming into this game in a state of flux, a Texas team has won this bowl in eight out of seventeen contests including Texas Tech’s upset over Ole Miss in 2022 and Texas A&M’s 24-21 triumph over Oklahoma State in 2019.
For the Aggies, they’re looking for their first bowl win since the 2021 Orange Bowl. After firing Jimbo Fisher in the middle of the season, Texas A&M will enter the game with interim head coach Elijah Robinson at the helm. Despite hiring Mike Elko for the full-time position, Robinson will have the opportunity to finish off the year with a winning record in his temporary role before he departs to Syracuse to be their defensive coordinator.
Oklahoma State looks to rebound after their 49-21 defeat to Texas in the Big 12 championship game. After an awful start to the season, the Cowboys rebounded with eight wins conference wins including surprise wins over #9 Oklahoma and #23 Kansas. Here’s what to expect.
Texas A&M Is In A Massive Rebuild
When Texas A&M gave a record-breaking contract to Jimbo Fisher, they didn’t expect to be in this position or the position that they’ve been in for the last six years. A transitional period, Texas A&M has lost multiple top talents to the portal including backup QB Max Johnson, his brother and starting tight end Jake Johnson, DT Walter Nolan, and four-star wide receiver Raymond Cottrell.
With new head coach Mike Elko watching, the Texas Bowl will be an evaluation period for himself and his new staff before they begin their roster reconstruction. Expect Jaylen Henderson to start against Oklahoma State. He had the Aggies offense rolling against LSU but will be without Ainias Smith who will miss the game due to injury.
In their five losses, four of them were to ranked teams. Their one unranked loss was to Miami who was ranked the following week. Three of those losses were by one possession and late touchdowns under five minutes in the fourth by Miami and LSU makes the Aggies’ losses to them look worse than they were.
Texas A&M is 2-1 all-time in the Texas Bowl.
Oklahoma State goes where Ollie Gordon II takes them
How Ollie Gordon isn’t a Heisman finalist is beyond me. The Big 12 Player of the Year sparked the Cowboys’ turnaround with his 121-rushing yard performance in a victorious effort against Kansas State. Gordon put in eight 100+ yard performances on his way to a season stat line of 1,940 total yards and 21 touchdowns. His 6.3 YPC opened up the Cowboys offense.
A beneficiary was QB Alex Bowman who found himself a new home in Stillwater. In his return to the Big 12, Bowman solidified his now legendary status due to his 347-yard performance as the Cowboys were victorious over Oklahoma in the last-ever Bedlam.
The Cowboys’ defense is cause for concern as they have given up over 30 points in nine different games. In their four other games, the Cowboys’ defense has given up 27 points three times and 29 points one time.
Oklahoma State is 0-1 in their lone Texas Bowl appearance.
Who wins the Texas Bowl
This game will be an arms race and Oklahoma State has more weapons. Texas A&M enters the game with a new offensive play-caller as Bobby Petrino has taken a lateral move in his return to Arkansas. Mike Gundy, who won Big 12 Coach of the Year is 11-6 in bowl games as he will have Bowman and Gordon at his disposal.
Texas A&M has lost a lot of talent to the transfer portal and to draft preparation. Their home-field advantage may be neutralized due to Oklahoma State’s solid fan base and closeness in terms of travel. Oklahoma State wins the Texas Bowl in a shootout, 42-38.
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