Get to know Mississippi State football's 2024 opponents: Texas A&M Aggies

The 2024 college football season kicks off in just one month, as Mississippi State football begins a new era under Jeff Lebby. We're getting to know each of the Bulldogs' opponents in preparation for the season. On October 19, State will play host to the Texas A&M Aggies.

We've already done a full preview of Texas A&M in our SEC Snapshots series, but here are three things to know about the Aggies in 2024...

Texas A&M no longer feels like a circus.

For years, every offseason felt like a circus in College Station. Whether it be Johnny Manziel going on tour, Kevin Sumlin's "SwagCopter", Jimbo Fisher yelling about Nick Saban's cheating allegations, hiring Bobby Petrino, or the never-ending conversations about Fisher's buyout over the last few seasons, it's never just been about ball at A&M.

But this year? Things are quiet, and that's just how new HC Mike Elko wants it to be. The focus is solely on improving on the field rather than creating headlines, which means the Aggies may finally be getting their act together.

Texas A&M should finally have a fun offense to watch.

Elko hired K-State's legendary QB turned OC Collin Klein to run the offense in College Station. Jimbo Fisher's overly-complicated and outdated philosophy produced some dull and ineffective offenses at A&M. That will change with Klein.

Klein developed a diverse and punishing rushing attack at K-State that was a joy to watch. The Aggies will have to get stronger up front if they're going to immediately take a big step forward, but at a minimum, the offensive style will be more entertaining.

Mike Elko will have a strong defense right away at Texas A&M.

Texas A&M has had plenty of high-level defensive talent over the past few years (much of which was recruited by Elko when he was DC here), and Elko will have a good group right away for he and DC Jay Bateman to take advantage of. Dominant DT Shemar Turner gets paired with Purdue-transfer DE Nic Scourton, who had 10 sacks a year ago. Taurean York is a strong LB, and CB Tyreek Chappell and SS Bryce Anderson are great pieces to have in the secondary. This will be one of the SEC's better defenses.