Las Vegas began blooming on the Nevada desert nearly a century ago thanks in part to the building of the Hoover Dam, and now Texas A&M coach Mike Elko hopes his program’s holidays sojourn to the bright lights on the sand helps bring a similar mushrooming for the Aggies.

Texas A&M football plays USC for the first time in decades Friday in the Las Vegas Bowl. A ninth win would be quite the punctuation mark for Mike Elko's first year as head coach for the Aggies. Former head coaches Jimbo Fisher and Kevin Sumlin, Elko's predecessors, accomplished a nine-win season a total of four times.

Texas A&M's 2025 recruiting class features some of the best high school athletes in the country, including four-star linebacker Noah Mikhail and four-star Edge Marco Jones, two of the top defenders out of California.

Despite a midseason quarterback change, the Trojans still have plenty of offensive weapons that the Aggie defense will need to take note of.

Pregame analysis and predictions of the USC Trojans vs. Texas A&M Aggies NCAAF game to be played on December 27, 2024 on ESPN.

Fans may gain an early look at Texas A&M’s 2025 defensive line when the Aggies suit up for the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl versus USC on Friday, Dec. 27.