Daily Bull 10.24.18: Looking for four in a row

It’s a cold and rainy Wednesday morning in October. The perfect time to expose ourselves to some painful truths: since joining the SEC seven seasons ago, Texas A&M has managed to win four consecutive conference games only one time: the front half of 2016 (Auburn, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee). Saturday, Jimbo Fisher will try to match that mark against a stunned (but still dangerous) Mississippi State.

It’s a hard league. The hardest around. Nothing comes easy: not even Manziel could reel off four straight SEC wins. It takes a methodical, grinding, focused approach. Something we’ve been beginning to see from this Aggie team over the past month or so. It’s not flashy, and it’s not going to splash highlights all over the place.

Mississippi State is not very good right now. Nick Fitzgerald is not playing the type of football that made him perhaps the most exciting player in the conference at the point in time last year where he went down with a major injury. He’s not his former self, and that’s always tough to see from a great football player.

HOW EV ER. Now is the time to take advantage. Be merciless. Crush them. The last two times the Ags trekked into Starkville, ranked #7 (2016) and #6 (2014), the Bulldogs beat the pants off us. Just dominant, crushing wins. Season-ruining wins. Wins they had no business getting if we were really as good as our billing [hint: we weren’t].

Mississippi State has the worst passing offense in the SEC. Their rushing game is nothing to write home about. Their win over Auburn lost any last bit of luster when Tennessee (!) beat Malzahn at home. This is the game where Jimbo proves he was worth the big check and begins to put those late-season collapses further behind in the history books.

Yeah, we’re supposed to win this game. That hasn’t stopped us from losing it before in embarrassing fashion. Go kick them when they’re down, Jimbo. That’s what football is for. We’re all ready to play meaningful games in November again.