Colt Wendeborn · Texas A&M Insider · College Debut · Week 8
Meet Your Insider
HOWDY! Howdy, and let me yell this: welcome to The Cover Window, Aggies! I'm Colt Wendeborn, petroleum engineering graduate, and I report on football practice the way the Yell Leaders lead Midnight Yell, with my whole chest. I travel with this team and I live with this team. My one weakness is that I explain everything with an Aggie tradition, and then I explain the tradition, and then sometimes I explain the explanation. You'll learn a lot. Every week you'll get the players, the matchups, the history and the storylines, delivered with the straight-arrow earnestness of a man who irons his maroon. When we win, I yell. Just yell. Joyfully. When we lose, I go practice silent yell drills in a closet until I feel better. Gig 'em, and thank you for reading.
The School in 60 Seconds
Texas A&M competes in the SEC and claims three national titles and 18 conference championships. Home is Kyle Field, an outdoor stadium on campus that seats 102,733. CFBD dates it to 1927. (A tradition explained: the student section stands the entire game because the 12th Man is ready to go in. That's why I'm standing while I write this.) The last five seasons have run 8-4, 5-7, 7-6, 8-5 and then a big 11-2 in 2025, Mike Elko's second year. Kyle Field and Bryant-Denny both hold more than 100,000 people, so Saturday is two of the biggest rooms in the sport shaking hands.
The Coach and the Scheme
Elko was hired Nov. 27, 2023. The 2026 identity is defense first, and I will yell about it. The Aggies allow 17.1 points a game (27th), 306.6 yards (29th) and just 164.1 passing yards (10th). Opponents convert only 29.8% of third downs, 11th in FBS. The team is careful, too: 41.7 penalty yards a game is 14th-best in the country. The offense is still searching. It averages 356.9 yards (97th) and 195.7 passing yards (103rd), and the pass rush has only 5 sacks in seven games. In the two SEC road losses, at LSU and at Missouri, the Aggies scored 6 points each time.
Players to Know
QB Marcel Reed: 112 of 201, 1,227 yards, 7 TD, 6 INT. At Missouri he went 19 of 39 for 189 yards and two interceptions; a week later against The Citadel he was 8 of 13 for 130 and a touchdown.
RB K.J. Edwards: 317 yards on 47 carries, 2 TD, including 116 yards on 13 carries last week.
WR Isaiah Horton: 20 catches, 280 yards, 3 TD. Aaron Gregory caught six passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns against The Citadel.
LB Ray Coney: a team-high 36 tackles. DE Marco Jones: 2 sacks. CB Julio Humphrey: an interception.
The Conference Picture
Texas A&M is 4-3 and 1-3 in the SEC, 0-2 on the road. The wins: Missouri State 50-0, Arizona State 48-20, Arkansas 34-7 and The Citadel 41-0. The losses: Kentucky 31-21, at LSU 35-6 and at Missouri 27-6. We're unranked. Next is a Nov. 7 trip to South Carolina. A win in Tuscaloosa would be the kind of thing you tell your grandchildren about at Silver Taps (that's a solemn tradition, and I won't joke about it).
This Week: Texas A&M (4-3) at No. 13 Alabama (5-2)
Saturday, Oct. 24 · 3:30 p.m. ET · Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa · ABC. It's Alabama's homecoming.
Last week: we beat The Citadel 41-0. Alabama lost 26-10 at Tennessee, managed 201 yards, turned it over four times and went 2 for 13 on third down. It was the Tide's second straight loss, the first time that's happened in the regular season since 2007.
Our offense vs. their defense: Alabama allows 107 rushing yards a game (30th) but 230.9 passing (101st). Its red zone defense allows a score on 95.7% of trips, 134th. If Reed can get us inside the 20, the door is open.
Their offense vs. our defense: Alabama scores 39.3 points a game (12th). Keelon Russell has 1,746 yards, 12 TD and 4 INT. Our pass defense ranks 10th, and Russell said after Tennessee, "It was just a lack of a plan that I had. Just wasn't playing my game today." Expect him to have one this week.
Series: Alabama leads 13-3. The last meeting was a 26-20 Alabama win in College Station on Oct. 7, 2023, and the teams did not play in 2024 or 2025. Our last win in Tuscaloosa was 29-24 in 2012.
Availability: aggregator listings dated Oct. 17 have WRs Mario Craver and A.J. Bethel-Roman questionable, and OG Blake Ivy, WRs Terry Bussey and Madden Williams and RB T.J. Riden Jr. out. For Alabama, WRs Ryan Coleman-Williams (knee) and A.J. Walker are listed out and TE Jay Ford questionable. None of that is an official SEC report; the first comes Oct. 21.
What decides it: (1) Whether Reed can protect the ball on the road. (2) Our pass defense against Russell. (3) Red zone trips: Alabama has struggled to stop them.
And Mary-Kathryn Strickland, Alabama's very gracious insider: Howdy! I've brought you a tradition explained. It's long.
Local Flavor (unsponsored, not an ad)
In College Station? Nam Cafe on Nagle Street is a quiet bowl of pho before a long yell.
My call: Alabama Crimson Tide 33, Texas A&M Aggies 20.