Tyler Van Dyke excited for once in a lifetime opportunity to play in College Station

As Miami prepares to head on the road for a marquee matchup with Texas A&M, the coaches and players alike have expressed the excitement for a unique opportunity which not only could shape their season, but provide a lifelong memory and serve as a catalyst toward the future. Starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke is just the latest to share what the trip to College Station means to him.

“We’re really excited as a team to get to College Station,” said Van Dyke. “Once in a lifetime opportunity, a great team, they have a great defense, many players – high recruits – many players. So it’s going to be a challenge and we’re going to be ready for it.

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“It’s just a good feeling going into another team’s stadium and making plays, making the crowd quiet. At the end of the day, all the work you put in and practice, you’re the ones feeling it. You’re the ones getting excited after we score a touchdown at an away stadium.”

The late-night game between the two teams will kick off at 9 pm ET on ESPN, wrapping up the week of college football in style with a Top 25 showdown.

Mario Cristobal on Texas A&M game

Following a humbling defeat at the hands of Appalachian State, Texas A&M dropped all the way to No. 24 in the AP Poll this week. But you won’t hear Mario Cristobal talking much about that, not before a Miami ‘business trip’ to College Station this weekend.

The first-year Miami head coach harped on that term repeatedly in his press conference on Monday ahead of Saturday’s big road game.

“I mean any time you go on the road you’ve always heard that term ‘business trip,’” Cristobal said. “And what does that really mean? Best way to put it I guess is that you work on toughness and discipline and resiliency and execution and leadership throughout the course of what, winter, fourth-quarter program, the spring time, summer, fall camp and everything else. And you’ve got to make those things real because that’s what you have to pack in your bags before you take a trip to a place to play an excellent football team like Texas A&M.”

The Aggies have not been firing on all cylinders so far this year. However, the Hurricanes are aware of that but seem primarily focused on themselves this week.

“The mentality is that of a business trip,” Cristobal said. “Understanding the task at hand and understanding what we must do to give ourselves our best chance every single play.”