Greg McElroy believes Texas A&M needs to beat Miami as opposed to vice versa

Texas A&M will head to Coral Gables this weekend and play a rematch from a season ago against Miami. Considering both programs dealt with some turmoil after going 5-7 last fall and each has much higher expectations for this year, though, who needs their campaign’s second victory more in 2023?

According to Greg McElroy, the answer is the Aggies. He explained his reasoning during a mailbag segment on ‘Always College Football’ this week. While noting that this is a matchup that the sport is going to overdo it with anyway, he started by looking at the Hurricanes and discussing how attractive that they’ve already appeared to be under Mario Cristobal.

“It’s, I think, one of those where we are going to completely overreact to the outcome,” McElroy said. “It’s totally natural, it’s totally expected.

“But, given the state of the ACC right now? Look, I know that Mario has a long runway. I don’t think he’s in jeopardy,” said McElroy. “Look at how, already, he’s recruiting. Look at how they already bolstered some of the NIL, look at how attractive it has been for players in the portal. So I think Miami is still in good shape.”

That’s when McElroy shifted his attention to A&M. His main reasoning for this game meaning more to Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies is because they simply have more potential losses, regardless of how good they looked in their opener, on their slate as members of the Southeastern Conference.

“If, for whatever reason, A&M goes on the road to Miami and comes up short? And then you still have to look at the games that A&M has to play down the stretch? A&M still has a lot of losable games on the schedule,” McElroy explained.

Texas A&M and Miami were oddly similar last season in disappointing fashion. They’ve both since overhauled several parts of their programs and will want to beat the other inside Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday in order to prove a point.

However, considering all things, specifically their timelines? McElroy thinks this win is more important for the Aggies to get than the ‘Canes.

“I think A&M, if they lose this one? In some ways, it will feel like a backbreaker. You’re five, six years into the rebuild, Miami is two years into the rebuild,” said McElroy. “A&M, at this point, already expected to be contending.

“I still think there’s more to lose if you’re A&M at this point because you’re just further along in your program development.”