Texas A&M football is half way through the 2017 season and we have enough of a sample size to draw some conclusions. What have we learned about the team so far?
The Aggies are currently on their bye week with another gauntlet staring them in the face to finish the season. If they can continue playing the way they have as of late a quality bowl game is in their future.
I know Aggieland and almost everyone that cares about college football did not think the narrative would be this positive at this point. Can you believe there’s a chance to finish second in the West? If that happens, depending on the College Football Playoff rankings, there’s an outside shot of a New Year’s Six Bowl if the Aggies run the table.
Before we get too excited about rankings and bowl games let’s take a look back at what we’ve seen so far. The Aggies blew a 34 point lead to UCLA, played very lethargic against Nicholls and needed a defensive shutout in the second half to beat Louisiana.
Conference play started with another trip to Arlington to play Arkansas. Again, like every year since this rivalry has started back up, the game was close. The Aggies were able to come back and win another thriller in overtime. Next up was South Carolina and the Aggies found themselves in another dog fight. A&M came from behind again by scoring 17 unanswered points to win 24-17. The defense played very well only giving up 279 yards.
Texas A&M sat 4-1 when the clock turned to October. The Aggies played the Crimson Tide close, but lost their first conference game by an 8-point margin. They followed that up with their first win against Florida in Gainesville since 1944. The Aggies were outgained by 100 yards but were able to force seven 3-and-outs to stay in the game. Thanks to the defense, great plays by Kellen Mond and a special outing by the special teams the Aggies sit 5-2 and 3-1 in SEC play.
It’s been a wild ride. Here are five things we’ve learned about this team at the half way point.