Texas A&M vs. Miami preview: Outcome will be determined by Aggies' offensive attack

Texas A&M remains in the infant stages of the power couple between head coach Jimbo Fisher and offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. This marriage of minds resulted in a 52-point offensive showcase during Week 1’s victory over New Mexico.

While Miami handled business against Miami (OH) 38-3 during Week 1, the No. 23 Aggies are still 4.5-point betting favorites in Vegas despite being a road game for Texas A&M. Jacob Hester, a former LSU and NFL fullback-turned host of OffCampus on Sirius XM, joined On3’s Andy Staples on his show to discuss their picks for the Aggies’ game vs. Miami, and what will make-or-break this matchup for Fisher’s squad.

“If I’m Texas A&M, what am I doing offensively? Are you going to have the 1-on-1 opportunities like you did against New Mexico? You threw it up to [Evan] Stewart because you said my guy is better than you,” Hester told Staples. “Are you going to have the same approach? I’m fascinated by that.”

The game being on the road for the Aggies doesn’t play into the matchup one way or the other, but the big question to Hester remains:

“I want to know how you attack Miami if you’re Texas A&M. I’m just not sure if you can have the same mindset [as they did in Week 1],” Hester said.

“I think a lot of [Texas A&M’s] receivers, but Miami has some dudes out there on the edge as well. They have very athletic guys out there playing corner and safety. … I think A&M does realize that they have to win the game. They cannot go out there and lose this game. The number is sitting there at 4.5, I like A&M to cover that number.”

For Miami, Hester said that there is something off with the Hurricanes this season, and they’re just not quite where they want to be at this point in Mario Cristobal’s tenure. All of that, puts Texas A&M just ahead of Miami at this point in the season.

Staples went the opposite, and chose the Hurricanes to cover the spread against the Aggies.

“I don’t know that the necessarily win because I imagine it’s going to be a low-scoring game. But I will take Miami to cover here. I imagine this is going to be the offensive and defensive fronts just slamming against each other with not a lot of movement.”

Whether Hester is correct, or Staples proves him wrong — all questions will be answered when Saturday’s matchup kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET live on ABC.