Following Florida’s upset victory over Texas last Saturday, the Gators travel to College Station to take on the 5th ranked Texas A&M Aggies at 7:00 p.m. est on ESPN. It’s the fourth top 10 team and third top 5 opponent Florida (2-3, 1-1 SEC) will face through seven weeks of the 2025 season.
The contest marks the 8th all time meeting between Florida and Texas A&M including the fourth in College Station. Florida can retie the all-time series with a victory as A&M holds a 4-3 lead after their 33-20 win in The Swamp last season.
No.5 Texas A&M enters week seven with a 5-0 record (2-0 SEC). In their only ranked win of the season to date, the Aggies beat Notre Dame 41-40 in week three of the season.
The Aggies’ offense has been fairly consistent throughout. Texas A&M opened the season with three consecutive 40+ point performances. They struggled against a tough Auburn defense, scoring just 16 points, but responded with 31 points against Mississippi State in week six.
It all starts with Texas A&M’s rushing attack, which redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed is a huge part of. The Aggies average 195.4 rushing yards per game, ranking 37th in the country.
Senior running back Le’Veon Moss will likely serve as Texas A&M’s starer vs. Florida. You may remember him from last year when he ran for 110 yards on 6.1 yards vs carry in The Swamp. Moss already has 11 explosive runs on the 2025 season, which is tied for the 4th most among running backs in the SEC.
Sophomore running back Rueben Owens has emerged as of late and is providing A&M’s rushing offense with a huge spark. After receiving less than seven carries in their first four games, Owens exploded for 142 yards on 21 carries vs. Mississippi State. The 5’11, 215 pound back has seven carries of 15+ yards this season despite logging only 39 touches on the ground.
“I had those two guys at the top of our board here, we know who they are, they were two of the best backs in the country,” Napier said on Moss and Owners. About the highest grade I give, I gave both these guys., Big, physical, elite finishing speed. So you gotta bottle them up, gotta play with edges, gotta gang tackle, gotta wrap up.”
When you factor in Reed’s ability to run the football, defending this group becomes very challenging as it’s another body you have to account for in the run game. Reed ran for 537 yards and seven touchdowns last year including an 83-yard rushing performance vs. Florida. The Aggies will dial up designed QB runs, but you will also see Reed work his magic on scramble plays. It’s imperative that Florida contains reed on Saturday by filling their pass rush lanes and setting the edge. Over pursuit can be deadly against Reed.
Texas A&M’s commitment to the running game gives them frequent opportunities on play action passes, where the Aggies have had the most success this season. Reed has completed 33 of 45 (73.3%) of his play action passes for 504 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception. Reed isn’t an excellent deep ball passer but has improved his accuracy on intermediate routes.
Surrounding Reed is a pair of fantastic wide receivers in Mario Craver and KC Concepcion. Craver, who I wrote about last year ahead of Florida’s matchup with the Aggies, grades as the second-best wide receiver in the country through six weeks, according to Pro Football Focus. The 5’9, 165-pound lighting fast receiver ranks 7th in the country in receiving yards (557) and third in receiving yards per game (111.4). Craver will be utilized a ton in the screen game but also has the ability to beat you over top out of the slot. Craver isn’t going to wow you with his size, but he’s one of the more electric play makers in college football give his play speed and elusiveness. Despite roughly 64% of his receptions at less than 10 yards down the field, Craver leads the SEC in explosive pass plays and ranks 4th on 35+ yard plays.
Mike Elko, a defensive minded head coach, has done an incredible job over his career making more with less defensively.
After a slow start to the 2025 season, Texas A&M’s defense has turned it up a notch, holding Auburn and Mississippi State to 10 points or less over the last two weeks. The Aggies rank 21st in total defense and T-48th in scoring defense.
Edge rusher Cashius Howell is playing as well as anyone in the country; he’s tied for first in college football with seven sacks. The 6’2, 248-pound Missouri native has 20 of Texas A&M’s 88 pressures on the season and grades as the Aggies’ best defensive player.
Texas A&M ranks 32nd in passing yards allowed and 32nd in rushing yards allowed, giving up just 109.2 rushing yards per game on average.
The Aggies have a strong presence on the interior defensive line with Albert Regis, DJ Hicks, and Tyler Onyedim in the mix.
“These interior DLs are exceptional,” Napier said on Texas A&M’s defensive front. “And we’re very familiar with the edge players as well. That’s the challenge. It seems to be a challenge every week in this league. The key is we play on time, we’re assignment sound, we play with fundamentals and techniques, and we get the ball out on time. I think that’s the key. So we got to get them open. We got to throw it on time. And we got to protect inside out and keep the quarterback clean.”
The one weakness on Texas A&M’s defense is their tackling. The Aggies have missed 51 tackles this season, which is nearly double Florida’s through the same number of games. Their tackling grade of 59.4 ranks 111th in the country. In particular, their secondary has struggled to bring down runners in open space.