Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl 2019 – #25 Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Texas A&M Aggies

Our 2019 Texas Bowl pick has the Aggies at -6.5. This Texas Bowl prediction also has a total of 53.5. There are five big bowl contests on December 27 and this is the third of the day. In the mix prior to this midway contest are the Military Bowl at noon and Pinstripe Bowl at 2:30 pm ET. Following this game will be the Holiday Bowl at 8:00 pm ET and Cheez-IT Bowl at 10:16 PM ET. This game, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, will be played at 6:45 pm ET at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. See all of our picks here.

The #25 Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-4) finished third in the Big 12 with a conference record of 5-4. The #4 Oklahoma Sooners and #7 Baylor Bears topped the conference with identical 8-1 records. In the Southeastern Conference, the Texas A&M Aggies ended the regular season fourth in the West. Their 4-4 conference mark placed them behind the #1 LSU Tigers (8-0), #13 Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2), and #12 Auburn Tigers (5-3).

2019 Texas Bowl Pick – Regular Season

The Oklahoma State Cowboys started the season with three wins, and then the #12 Texas Longhorns beat them 36-30. Over the rest of the season, the Cowboys faced four more nationally-ranked teams and went 2-2. Wins were against #24 Kansas State and #23 Iowa State. Losses were to #18 Baylor and #7 Oklahoma.

Texas A&M began their season at 3-2. However, both losses were to top 25 teams. In their second game of the season, #1 Clemson beat the Aggies 24-10, and then in their fourth contest #8 Auburn took them down 28-20. Texas A&M followed with a 31-27 win against Arkansas, which was immediately followed by 47-28 a loss to #1 Alabama. Our 2019 Texas Bowl pick
Notes that this pattern, of losing to nationally-ranked teams, continued throughout the season. After four straight wins, the Aggies finished the season with losses to #4 Georgia and #2 LSU.

Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Texas A&M Aggies – Stats

The Cowboys are averaging 33.4 PPG, while the Aggies have been good for 30.0 PPG. The OSU rush attack was good for 236.3 YPG. Their air game offered the team an additional 227.7 YPG, which totaled 463.9 offensive YPG. Offensive yards for the Aggies total 398.8 PG. The team posted 247.4 air YPG and YPG 151.7 ground YPG.

On defense, Oklahoma State allowed opponents 27.0 PPG. Total defensive yards came to 418.1 PG with 267.1 YPG in the air and 151.0 YPG on the ground. The Aggies gave up 22.7 PPG and 340.8 YPG. Of those total offensive yards, 211.7 were passing and 129.1 were rushing.

Oklahoma State at Texas A&M – Players

The OSU rush attack is powerful; however, they do have quarterback questions. We do like their passing defense. The Aggies bring a fine air attack to this game. Their running game is good. The Texas A&M defense is solid and can be stingy.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Look for senior QB Dru Brown to start. Brown, who started the season but after a few games was replaced by freshman Spencer Sanders, is back in the mix due to Sanders being sidelined with a thumb injury. Our 2019 Texas Bowl pick notes that Brown has played very little this season, tossing five TDs and one INT. He’ll be looking to connect with WRs Tylan Wallace and Dillion Stoner who have eight and five TD receptions respectively. Sophomore RB Chuba Hubbard, who’s averaging 6.3 YPA, has 1,936 yards and 21 TDs. He is a scoring machine.

The OSU defense has 52 PD and 12 INTs, which include two pick-six takeaways. Of the seven forced fumbles, they’ve recovered four. The D has also posted 27 sacks. Safety Kolby Harvell-Peel has 13 PD, five INTs, and two FF. LB Amen Ogbongbemiga has 88 total tackles and four sacks, while safety Malcolm Rodriguez leads the team with 57 solo tackles, 94 total tackles, four PD, and one interception.

Texas A&M Aggies

QB Kellen Mond has passed for 19 TDs and tossed nine INTs. Mond, who’s tossed for 2,802 yards, has been sacked 30 times. The Aggies have five receivers with 20 or more receptions and a total of 19 TD catches. TE Jaylen Wydermyer leads Texas A&M with six touchdown receptions. RB Isaiah Spiller tops the team in total yards (869) and rushing touchdowns (9). Mond has rushed for seven scores.

The Texas A&M Aggies have posted 25 sacks, 10 INTs, and 47 PD. DL Justin Madubuike bring 5.5 sacks to the game while LB Buddy Johnson leads the club with 71 total tackles. LB Charles Oliver, who’s defended 14 passes, rovers the secondary with surety.

Five Keys to the Game

Our 2019 Texas Bowl pick notes the following five keys to this bowl game:

1. OSU RB Hubbard is a TD machine. Can he be stopped?
2. Aggies receiving unit is deep
3. Cowboys offer a tough pass D
4. Texas A&M QB Mond is accurate
5. Oklahoma State QB Brown is questionable

Our 2019 Texas Bowl Pick

Our 2019 Texas Bowl pick does like the over in this game. We can see both teams scoring 21-plus points. Bet the over at 53.5. We also like OSU at +6.5. If they can establish their running game, OSU will keep close to Texas A&M.

Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl Pick – Summary

Oklahoma State Cowboys at +6.5 and over 53.5