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A&M looks to get off to strong start for Franchione

Sep 1, 2007 - 12:10 PM Montana State at No. 25 Texas A&M 7:00 pm EDT

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Ticker) -- Dennis Franchione certainly could use a hot start to the season by his Texas A&M team.

Franchione's 25th-ranked Aggies look to post an easy victory Saturday when they begin their season against Football Championship Subdivision squad Montana State.

The Aggies posted nine wins for Franchione last season, including a 12-7 road upset of Big 12 Conference archrival Texas, but they are just 25-23 under the coach in four seasons.

Last year's squad also dropped three of its last four games, including a 45-10 blowout loss to California in the Holiday Bowl.

Texas A&M is led by dual-threat quarterback Stephen McGee, a junior who threw for 2,295 yards and 12 touchdowns and ran for 666 yards and four scores last year.

The massive Jorvorskie Lane ran for 725 yards and 19 TDs in 2006, while Mike Goodson led the team with 847 rushing yards and scored four times as a freshman.

Montana State of the Big Sky Conference went 8-5 last year and reached the Division I-AA quarterfinals, but coach Mike Kramer was fired in May after a series of current and former players were arrested for drug charges.

Kramer was replaced by Rob Ash in June.