Mizzou-Texas A&M Q and A with Rush Roberts of Good Bull Hunting

The last time the Texas A&M Aggies came to Columbia, the Missouri Tigers won the SEC East. That’s cool, right?

Now? Mizzou (3-3, 0-2 SEC) has a lot of work to do in the second half of the season just to get to a bowl game. It all starts with No. 21 Texas A&M (4-2, 1-2 SEC) who, of course, is coming off the upset win over No. 1 Alabama.

Kick-off on Saturday is set for 11:00 a.m. CST on the SEC Network.

To get a perspective on the Aggies, I talked it over with Rush Roberts over at Good Bull Hunting.

Here’s the Q and A to get you ready for the upcoming match up:

Sammy Stava: Not only did Texas A&M upset then No. 1 Alabama last week, but it was Nick Saban’s first loss of his career against a former assistant and the Tide’s 100 game winning streak against unranked opponents came to an end. Where did this win rank in terms of A&M’s program history?

Rush Roberts: I’m still kind of processing it in the short-term, I haven’t really considered it much in the overall pantheon of Aggie wins. It has to be top three easily.

SS: After such an emotional victory, are you concerned at all about Texas A&M having letdown or hangover-like performance entering an 11 a.m. road game?

RR: Hell yes, I’m concerned. I’ve been watching Aggie Football for 25 years. Last time an unranked A&M team knocked off a #1 team at Kyle Field (OU in 2002), we turned around and lost the next week to...Missouri. Not saying it’ll happen again, but I’m also not saying it’s impossible.

SS: Zach Calzada was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week after going 21/31 for 285 yards, and three touchdowns against Alabama. How would you grade his performance so far taking over the injured Haynes King. What are his strengths and weaknesses?

RR: I have to give him an A+ in this moment. You don’t do what he did in the last two drives against Alabama without being at the top of your game. It was a bumpy road to get here, plenty of overthrows and bad reads over the last month, but it finally clicked on Saturday.

SS: Texas A&M comes in at No. 21 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll. Is that about right for this team, or do you think they are a little overrated, or underrated? What do you think this team’s ceiling is, and what are your expectations for the Aggies heading into the second half of the season?

RR: Clearly the team’s ceiling is beating Alabama with a backup QB and two true freshman offensive linemen. Now, we have no idea what that means in the larger context of the season, but from my personal point of view, everything else that happens this year is gravy.

SS: Texas A&M opened as 10 point favorites against Mizzou. How do you see this game playing out on Saturday? Have a final score prediction?

RR: Years of experience tell me that we’ll start out flat for an early road kick after knocking off Bama. Not this time. I’m predicting Calzada comes out crisp and takes care of business, Aggies win 38-20.

Thank you to Rush for taking his time to answer these. You can follow him and Good Bull Hunting for all things Texas A&M coverage this week.

Let’s see what happens on Saturday. M-I-Z!