Coming off a bye week and a 41-10 win over a top-10 Missouri Tigers team over the past two weeks, the Texas A&M Aggies are now considered legitimate College Football Playoff contenders.

But this is the SEC, and any opponent can throw a wrench into those plans.

There’s the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who have been turning heads over the Aggies in recent years, winning six of the last 10 meetings between the two teams, including two of the last three.

Yes, the Bulldogs are currently 1-5 this season and have yet to win an SEC. But they show they’re dangerous sometimes, including last week when they put on an offensive show against the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs in Athens.

In that game, true freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns and looked every bit the capable SEC starter.

In other words, the Aggies can’t afford to take Mississippi State lightly or they could end up in disappointment.

So what do the Aggies need to get a win?

Here are three keys to Texas A&M’s win over Mississippi State:

Keep the football going

Texas A&M has been consistent in one aspect of its offense this season: the running game. Currently, this unit ranks 9th in the country and 2nd in the SEC with an average of 232 yards per game. It helped them stay in the game when nothing else worked against Notre Dame, it helped them stay on track without Conner Weigman, and it helped them keep Missouri off balance in their loss two weeks ago.

If they can keep that up this Saturday, it will be a long day for the Bulldogs in Starkville.

Follow Michael Van Buren

As previously mentioned, Mississippi State freshman Michael Van Buren has shown signs of being a capable starter in the SEC. And in his last game against No. 5 Georgia, he was at his best. This was largely due to Georgia’s inability to put pressure on the team and force Van Buren to make mistakes.

The Aggies have been fantastic at breaking down the pocket this season, and while the number of sacks hasn’t been as consistent as they would have liked, they should have more than enough talent to take on the true freshman here. If they can pull it off, the Aggies should have no trouble slowing down the Bulldogs’ offense.

Resist the early barrage

This is going to be a huge game in Starkville. The cowbells will ring, the crowd will be wild and Jeff Lebby will likely look to make a big play early to get the momentum going in the Bulldogs’ favor. The Aggies have been good at dealing with adversity most of this season, but have never had to face it against a hostile crowd like they did Saturday.

If the Aggies take an early hit from the Bulldogs, they will have to stay balanced and respond. Jimbo Fisher’s teams couldn’t do it. We could see on Saturday if Mike Elko’s team can do that.