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As five touchdown favorites against Idaho on Saturday, No. 9 Texas A&M might be tempted to take it easy.
But with No. 8 Oklahoma State up next, the Aggies know they've got to take advantage of a chance to fine tune their game before beginning the grind of Big 12 play.
''You definitely want to improve each week,'' Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. ''Heading into conference play you want to be running at a high level. Our goal is to win the Big 12 and we know we have to be playing well. I thought we got off to a good start last week and we have to continue to build on that this week.''
That doesn't mean the Aggies aren't concerned about Idaho. They expect to face a motivated team in the first-ever meeting between the schools.
''We're not overlooking Idaho one bit,'' Tannehill said. ''They are a good team ... I think they will come in on a high and expect to upset us. We realize that and we definitely don't want to overlook them. They will give us their best fight and we have to be ready for it.''
Idaho (1-1) lost its opener to Bowling Green, but bounced back last week with a 44-14 win over North Dakota. Fifth-year coach Robb Akey knows this game will probably his team's most challenging one all year.
''This would be the best non-conference team we've played since I've been here,'' Akey said. ''They're tall. They're fast. They're a very, very good team. You take a look at the way the closed the season last year, they were probably the hottest team in the Big 12 at the end of the season.''
The Aggies (1-0) opened the season two weeks ago with a 46-14 win over SMU before an off week last Saturday. Coach Mike Sherman wants to see a cleaner performance from his team against Idaho than it showed in the first game.
''We made a lot of mistakes that, from the outside, may have been swept under the carpet simply because we won the game by a fair amount of points,'' Sherman said. ''We had two extra points blocked. We didn't get off blocks well in the first half and we didn't tackle well ... there are a lot of things we have to correct from the first ball game to this ball game and we've addressed those.''
Akey said his team will arrive early so they can take in the atmosphere and get its ''looky-loo stuff'' out of the way Friday, so his players won't be distracted on Saturday.
''I'm excited to take our guys down there,'' Akey said. ''This is going to help our football team get better. That is one of the great environments in college football. Kids are going to be excited about that.''
The Aggies are hoping to see star receiver Jeff Fuller at full speed this week after dealing with a hamstring injury against SMU. Fuller, who finished with 1,066 yards and 12 touchdowns a year ago, had six catches for 52 yards in limited action against the Mustangs.
''I hope he is,'' Sherman said when asked if Fuller was healthy. ''In his mind it's a thing that he just has to get over. He's very cautious with it because the ramifications are he has to sit out some ball games. So he's been very careful and we've been very careful. It should have helped him. The rest definitely has helped him.''
The Vandals' offense also features a strong receiving group led by Mike Scott and Armauni Johnson. Scott has 188 yards receiving and a touchdown, and Johnson has 11 catches for 139 yards and two scores.
Quarterback Brian Reader struggled in the loss to Bowling Green, but is coming off a 299 yard, four-touchdown outing in last week's win.
