3 matchups that will define Texas A&M and Miami ...Middle East

Texas A&M hosts Miami on Saturday in first round College Football Playoff action.

The Aggies are 11-1, feature the nation’s fiercest pass rush, and have earned the immense home field advantage Kyle Field should offer on Saturday.

Miami is plenty capable, though, a 10-2 team with a  dominant offensive line, a veteran quarterback in Carson Beck and a defense that’s excelled all year in limiting the types of explosive plays the Aggies have fed off all season.

Styles make fights, and more than any other first round game, the Aggies and Canes is a game where the victor of strength-on-strength matchups will likely prevail.

Here are the 3 matchups that will define who advances to the College Football Playoff quarterfinal to play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

Cashius Howell vs. Markel Bell and Francis Mauigoa

Howell ranked fifth in the SEC in pressures (40) and fourth in the country in sacks (11.5), proving to be one of the most dominant forces in college football in 2025. The Bednarik Award finalist and Unanimous All-American commanded double teams on 27.5% of snaps by season’s end, anchoring the nation’s best third-down defense.

Texas A&M EDGE Cashius Howell+ Bend and flexibility+ First-step acceleration+ Ideal pad level+ Cross-chop, swim, rip finesse+ Spatial awareness vs. run– Short arms– Average play strength pic.twitter.com/Kiyp3dDumj

Howell and the Aggies allowed just 22.7% of third down conversion attempts, by far the best third down conversion rate in college football.

Miami will try to keep it third and manageable with the run game.

But its other weapons are its 2 outstanding offensive tackles. No matter how Mike Elko and the Aggies staff move Howell around, the Hurricanes have strong options on each side of their offensive line.

Francis Mauigoa and Markel Bell allowed only 18 pressures between them in 2025. Bell allowed 0 sacks and saw Carson Beck’s blindside hit just 1 time on the season. That’s astounding stuff, and part of how Miami allowed the third-fewest pressures and seventh-fewest sacks in America this season.

Mauigoa is dominant in the run game, too, a weakness for Howell.

#Miami OT Francis Mauigoa generated a lot of displacement at the POA against NC State's edge rushers, and showed off his athleticism in space pulling across the LOS. Dominant run blocking display from him yesterday, mauler mentality. pic.twitter.com/szSZXUwMgu

Look for Miami to hunt Howell in the run game to try wear the Aggies star down as the game progresses.

On the flip side, Howell doesn’t need to dominate. A big-time pressure or 2 could alter the football game. Carson Beck’s decision making has vastly improved from early in his career, but he’s still completing just 51% of his passes under pressure and 6 of Beck’s 10 interceptions have come under pressure.

Can Miami shorten the football game and quiet the crowd with its power run game?

The Hurricanes were a spectacular, explosive passing offense a season ago, when Cam Ward and the Canes finished 1st nationally in total offense and success rate offense and second in explosive plays.

This Miami team is built differently. The Hurricanes run the football and largely score on sustained drives, content to play ball control and rely on a powerful offensive line filled with at least 3 future NFL talents (Mauigoa, Anez Cooper, Bell).

Running back Mark Fletcher is a mauler who gets downhill quickly, a perfect fit for the Canes inside zone heavy run scheme.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M allows 5.5 yards per carry and a success rate over 50% on opposing run plays, making them the second worst run defense in the College Football Playoff (Ole Miss). The Aggies also miss more tackles than any defense in the College Football Playoff, with 64 of those missed tackles coming against the run game, per PFF.

If Miam can sustain drives with the run, it will open the play action scheme where offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson and Carson Beck thrive.

This is the best matchup for either team in the football game, and on paper, it favors the U.

Marcel Reed vs. Corey Hetherman’s 7 man coverage schemes

There are 2 aspects to this matchup which make it more vital than the more obvious duel between Miami’s emerging star Malachi Toney and talented but torch prone Texas A&M corner Dezz Ricks.

First, the Aggies offensive line is terrific in its own right. Miami’s gets the pub, but the Aggies have Trey Zuhn III, who won the Jacobs Trophy as the SEC’s best offensive linemen and easily graded out as the best pass-blocking lineman in the country (96.9 pass block grade, per PFF). He’s a football player who graced the SDS List of the 10 best players in the SEC a few times this season, and is the rare offensive linemen who can take over a football game.

Texas A&M OL Trey Zuhn III This Season: 382 Pass Block Snaps 1 Sack Allowed 8 Pressures Allowed 96.9 Pass Block Grade@AggieFootball t.co/v3YGbADoRf pic.twitter.com/XU6ME3L2lQ

Zuhn III will get the first look at Miami’s star pass rusher, Rueben Bain Jr., but the Aggies have a number of players capable of limiting how much pressure Corey Hetherman can dial up with four.

Why does that matter?

Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman, a Broyles Award finalist as the nation’s top assistant, prefers to drop 6 or 7 in coverage and let his edge rushers eat. Hetherman’s 4-2-5 typically drops another player into coverage, giving him 6. The fifth man often blitzes, especially in passing situations, and Miami has a blitz rate of 49.1% as a result of scheme (as opposed to need).

Against the Aggies, Miami may want to drop 7, given Marcel Reed’s difficulty with throwing into 7-man coverage looks. Against a standard four man rush and seven in coverage this season, Reed has struggled, making over half his 18 turnover worthy passes this year, per PFF.

But dig deeper and you see why the Aggies won’t be horrified.

Twelve of Reed’s mistakes have come against pressure, with 9 coming against 7 man coverage looks where one of the base 4 got home.

You could pick something from almost every play, but this 31-yarder to Mario Craver gets at one of the issues within the defense. First, nobody wins up front. Second, Marcel Reed has acres of space for Craver to run. The zone doesn't match up, covers field where there's no threat pic.twitter.com/55lpxjubMH

 If the Aggies can block Bain and his fellow end Akheem Mesidor, they’ll give Reed the 5 and 6 man coverages he’s torched this season. Reed can win the game if he’s given a clean pocket. The Aggies have tremendous perimeter weapons in Mario Craver and KC Concepcion, and as good as Miami’s front 7 is, the Canes have looked vulnerable at times in pass defense this season.

Can Texas A&M win enough battles to make those advantages matter?

Prediction: Miami 27, Texas A&M 20

Styles make fights. The Canes will block Cashius Howell and Carson Beck will make fewer mistakes than the dynamic, but young, Marcel Reed. A late Canes drive, led by the grinding Mark Fletcher, puts the game away for the U late.

3 matchups that will define Texas A&M and Miami Saturday Down South.

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