Aggies, Tigers will face off in SEC Top 25 battle

No. 25 Texas A&M football is hot, and so are the No. 9 Missouri Tigers.

The two teams have played 16 times since 1957, with the Aggies winning nine games. Although Missouri has lost its first six meetings against the Maroon and White, it has won seven of its last 10.

The Aggies and Tigers will forever be linked. After the collapse of the Southwest Conference, four SWC schools merged with the Big 8 Conference in 1994 to form the Big 12, which began play in 1996. A&M and Mizzou were charter members.

The Aggies, led by legendary coach RC Slocum, won a conference championship in 1998 after falling to Nebraska in 1997. The Tigers claimed two conference championships during their time in the Big 12, losing to Oklahoma in 2007 and 2008.

In 2011, the SEC announced the addition of two additional programs: A&M and Mizzou. The two would play in the conference in 2012. Since then, the Aggies have a conference record of 54-45 and the Tigers are 48-51.

This season, the Tigers travel to College Station after a bye week. Their last game ended with a win in a double overtime thriller against Vanderbilt. Missouri is 4-0 with a 1-0 record in SEC play. During the bye, the team focused not on A&M but on itself, saving game preparation for this week, Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said on “The Bobby Bones Show.”

The Aggies enter the game 4-1 and are atop the SEC with a conference record of 2-0. Although the Maroon-White players are favorites at home, they will look to upset the top 10 team. Their streak continued last week with a 21-17 win over Arkansas in the recent Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Coach Mike Elko is no stranger to Drinkwitz, he explained in the press conference on Monday.

“A lot of respect for him,” Elko said. “[I’ve] I had known him for a long time, going back to when he was the offensive coordinator at NC State and I was at Wake Forest, and that was the first time we met. Just a lot of respect for who he is, how he runs a program, what they do.”

The two ACC schools have been rivals since 1910, and Elko and Drinkwitz were both involved in the series. Elko was the Demon Deacons' defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2014 to 2016 and Drinkwitz served as the Wolfpack's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2016 to 2018.

The two coaches competed against each other as coordinators in 2016. Drinkwitz and the Wolf Pack's airstrike proved too much for Elko's Demon Deacons. Wake Forest couldn't overcome NC State's early 17-0 lead and ultimately lost 33-16.

Now with the Aggies, Elko is out for revenge as head coach.

College Station will host the SEC Network's traveling broadcasts prior to the game. “The Paul Finebaum Show” will be live at Aggie Park on Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. On Saturday, “Marty & McGee” will be live from 8 to 9 a.m., followed by “SEC Nation” from 9 to 11 a.m., both at Aggie Park.

Saturday's kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Kyle Field on ABC.