⚡ CFB Dashboard

- Pick/market: I watched this game.

- Missouri State will use an Art Briles-style spread built on inside zone and RPOs, but its almost entirely rebuilt offensive line is undersized, lightly experienced and facing an unusually difficult road environment.

- Missouri State will install Jack Curtis' 4-2-5 with nearly an entirely new defensive front after ranking 11th of 12 CUSA teams in tackles for loss, leaving 275-pound tackle Tim Brantley Jr. as the lone returning front-line piece. - Missouri State linebacker Jared Lloyd is strongest between the tackles but lacks range, the other linebackers played little in 2025, and nickel Dylan Dickson did not provide much blitz or tackling impact from his third-linebacker role. - Missouri State's smaller defenders and movement fronts could create early negative plays against A&M's new line, but the matchup projects toward increasingly large Aggie gains as their size and individual SEC experience take over.

- WR: Deuce Bailey is the starter for CC, Gardner at WR

- Missouri State defensive coordinator Jack Curtis is installing an attacking 4-2-5 that is likely to feature man coverage, giving the Bears a new scheme with limited shared experience entering the opener. - Missouri State generated little pressure last season and enters 2026 with an inexperienced front led by undersized three-technique Tim Brantley, who recorded 13 pressures, and effort-based edge Caden Wiest. - Texas A&M's larger and more experienced line should control Missouri State's front, although the Aggies' first game together could leave short-term vulnerability to stunts and blitzes while Reed's mobility reduces the sack risk. - Craver can stress Missouri State horizontally, Ashton Bethel-Roman can attack vertically and Isaiah Horton can win at the boundary against an inexperienced secondary whose tackling and coverage matchups are vulnerable in both man and zone.