The Loop
If you bet on Texas A&M on opening night, you might want to retire from gambling now
Let's be clear: there will be worse gambling beats this season, way worse. They'll happen in way bigger games in front of way more eyeballs, and when they do, what happened in the Texas A&M game on Thursday night will be a distant memory. But if you had the Aggies laying 34 points against Texas State, it'd be in your best interest to just pack it in and call it a year. It's simply not healthy to start the season with a beat like this and then expect to recover.
Up 41-0 with just under five minutes to play, all the Aggies needed to do was something they'd done all night-not allow Texas State to move the ball an inch. The Bobcats offense had turned it over four times in the game, and punted on each of their other drives up to that point. Naturally, much to the dismay of A&M backers, Texas State put together a 10-play, 59-yard march to the Aggies 27-yard line. But with only 41 seconds left and the Bobcats in need of a touchdown to cover, they still needed a minor miracle.
And a miracle they got!
That was ... unfortunate. A final-minute heave and a heroic catch to get their only points of the game. If it's any consolation, those who had -34 did earn a push, but a push feels like a loss when you have a cover locked up like A&M did. Making it hurt even worse was the fact that the Aggies probably should have been 56-0. Just before halftime, A&M was at the Texas State 13-yard line and poised to go up 35-0. Instead, they fumbled and the half ended with A&M up 28-0.
On the Aggies' very first drive of the second half, once again they got near the end zone, this time reaching Texas State's seven-yard line. On 2nd and goal, quarterback Kellen Mond threw a pick. Two turnovers inside the opponent's 13-yard line on consecutive possessions, keeping the score at 28-0. You simply cannot make it up. Again, there will be worse beats this year, but you should save yourself the disappointment of them and hang up the gambling cleats now. And for those wondering, no, I didn't have A&M, I had Cincinnati -2.5. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go stack some bills.
