Recent history tells us that Miami has not fared well in big high-profile games. In the last five years, Miami has lost by wide margins to Clemson in the ACC title game in 2017, 38-3, to LSU in a season-opener in 2018, 33-17, to Clemson again in 2020, 42-17, and last year to Alabama 44-13.

Miami did keep it close against Florida, losing 24-20 to open the 2019 season at Camping World stadium. The attendance for all five games was 60,000 or more.

Of those games, only Clemson in 2020 was the only true road game as the others were at ‘neutral’ sites. Saturday, Miami will go into an environment against Texas A&M which will have 102,733 in attendance. Kickoff is set for 9 PM eastern.

“We understand that they create an unbelievable atmosphere,” said Head Coach Mario Cristobal at Monday’s presser. “When you’re are growing up and you play college football you want to play in games like this. You recognize their tradition, and you respect it, them and their program, and you can’t wait for the opportunity. You’re going to find out where we are as a program.”

So what tells us this game will be any different from years past?

Here are three things that should result in a different outcome.

On two of those occasions, Miami faced the then-ranked number one team in the nation (Alabama 2021, Clemson 2020). Last year, Alabama made it to the national championship game yet again. Clemson won the ACC yet again and made it to a college football playoff in 2020. LSU finished sixth in the AP poll in 2018 and the 2017 Clemson team lost to Alabama which would eventually win the national title.

Texas A&M is not that.

The Aggies are ranked 24th and looked rather pedestrian in a 17-14 upset loss to Appalachian St. last week. I think it is safe to say that the Aggies are not a playoff team or will finish in the top 10 in the AP poll.

The coaching staff has seen it all when it comes to college football. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has spent time at Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and Tennessee and has plenty of experience in coaching in hostile environments.

"It's so loud, and I've been there on the sideline with headsets, that you can't hear in the headsets," said Steele about the noise at Kyle Field in Monday's presser. "Scream a lot in the headsets."

Cristobal went to Ohio State last season with Oregon and came away with a 35-28 victory. Offensive Coordinator Josh Gattis went into Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State, and Wisconsin and came out with wins as well.

Previous Miami staffs did not have anything near the experience or success going into hostile territory and it reared its ugly head on the field against teams like North Carolina and Florida State last season. Miami lost those two games by three points and in each game likely could have won if appropriate coaching adjustments were made.

Aggies quarterback Haynes King has the fifth lowest passing grade (50.6) among power five schools according to Pro Football Focus and the defense could not get off of Kyle Field surrendering 41:29 minutes of time of possession last week.

Tyler Van Dyke is eager to show what he can do in adverse confines. He mentioned before the season that the trip to College Station is one of the games he is most excited about.

TVD had a lackluster start to the Southern Miss game which may be a blessing in disguise. Van Dyke will be highly motivated to be better Saturday.

Miami has a clear advantage when it comes to QB play as Van Dyke has 70.6 overall grade compared to the Texas A&M's QB grade of 56.1 according to PFF this season.

Head Coach Jimbo Fisher said it could be a change at quarterback for Saturday’s game. Backup quarterback Max Johnson (son of former NFL QB Brad Johnson) could get the nod if King falters.

"Possibly could," Fisher said of a quarterback change. "We'll evaluate everything this week."