COLLEGE STATION \u2013\u00a0No. 8 Texas A&M claimed its first win of the 2026 campaign Saturday night, downing Missouri State, 50-0, in front of 107,782 fans at Kyle Field.<\/p>\n
The Aggie defense secured its second shutout of the Mike Elko<\/a> era and limited the Bears to 67 yards of total offense. Sophomore linebacker Noah Mikhail<\/a> was the leading tackler for the Maroon & White with a career-high seven stops.<\/p>\n Graduate defensive end Ryan Henderson<\/a> made an impact in his debut with Texas A&M, posting two tackles for loss, one sack and one forced fumble. Fifth-year defensive end Anto Saka<\/a> and sophomore defensive tackle DJ Sanders<\/a> each recovered a fumble for the Aggies.<\/p>\n Senior quarterback Marcel Reed<\/a> paved the way for the offense, completing 21 passes on 30 attempts (70%) for 233 yards and two touchdowns. He added 20 yards on the ground on seven attempts.<\/p>\n Ten different players caught a pass for the Maroon & White, led by junior wide receiver Mario Craver<\/a>, who reeled in five receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown. Fifth-year wide receiver Isaiah Horton<\/a> tallied 76 yards on four receptions and charted his first touchdown as an Aggie.<\/p>\n Texas A&M posted 236 rushing yards as a unit, led by senior running back Rueben Owens II<\/a>. The El Campo, Texas, native logged 77 yards on 17 attempts. Freshman Carsyn Baker<\/a>, sophomore Jamarion Morrow<\/a> and junior Terry Bussey<\/a> each added a rushing score.<\/p>\n How it Happened<\/p>\n The Aggies registered their first touchdown of the 2026 campaign when Reed connected with Horton on a 15-yard score through the air on the Maroon & White\u2019s opening drive. Notes<\/p>\n The Aggies held an opponent scoreless and under 100 yards of total offense for the second time under head coach Mike Elko<\/a>.\u00a0 Up Next
\nMissouri State muffed a punt in the second quarter and illegally kicked the ball through the back of the end zone to chart a safety for Texas A&M.
\nWith 3:22 remaining in the first half, David Olano<\/a> converted a 28-yard field goal attempt to extend the Aggies\u2019 lead to 12-0.
\nIn the final minute of the second quarter, Craver hauled in a 12-yard reception to make it a 19-0 contest heading into the break.
\nBussey punched in a 10-yard rushing score in the third quarter to give the Maroon & White a 26-0 advantage.
\nWith 2:09 to go in the third quarter, Morrow found paydirt on a 2-yard rush.
\nTexas A&M went ahead 40-0 in the fourth quarter when Baker punched in a 12-yard touchdown on his first collegiate rushing attempt.
\nOn the ensuing drive, Brady Hart<\/a> connected with Aaron Gregory<\/a> on a 15-yard score through the air.
\nFreshman kicker Asher Murray<\/a> converted his first career field goal with a 47-yarder in the fourth quarter, putting the Aggies ahead, 50-0.<\/p>\n
\nThe defense held Missouri State to 67 yards of total offense; the lowest total allowed during Elko\u2019s tenure as head coach.\u00a0
\nTexas A&M owns a 20-7 ledger in season openers since 2000.
\nCraver has registered a receiving touchdown in three consecutive season openers.
\nTexas A&M recorded its first safety since 12th Man Cullen Gillaspia<\/a> blocked a punt to the back of the end zone against Alabama in 2017.
\nSenior Marcel Reed<\/a> completed 70% of his passes with at least 30 attempts for the second time in his career.\u00a0\u00a0
\nSaturday\u2019s attendance of 107,782 is the largest season-opening crowd in Kyle Field history and the ninth-most all-time, while marking the 12th consecutive game of 100,000-plus at Kyle Field.
\nThe Aggie defense limited Missouri State to 67 yards of total offense, the lowest total allowed under head coach Mike Elko<\/a>. It’s also the fewest yards allowed since 1978.<\/p>\n
Texas A&M returns to Kyle Field on Saturday, Sept. 12 to host Arizona State at 11 a.m. on ABC. The contest marks the second meeting all-time between the Aggies and Sun Devils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE STATION \u2013\u00a0No. 8 Texas A&M claimed its first win of the 2026 campaign Saturday night, downing Missouri…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-427801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}