Texas A&M Football: What if the Aggies never left the Big 12 in 2012?

Week 14 (11-1, 5-1 Big 12): At Texas

Texas A&M defeats Texas 46-29

The revenge game. We all remember what happened in 2011, and these Aggies would be looking to finish as Big 12 champions and possibly play in the national championship game. In their way, in Austin, are the Texas Longhorns. Texas goes 9-4 in actual 2012, in coach Mack Brown‘s last year. How do the Aggies fare against their hated rivals, just 90 miles away?

They did pretty dang well. The first few games went the Longhorn’s way, but the Aggies quickly took over in the ten game simulation. My highlighted game was a 54-17 trashing which was probably all sorts of therapeutic. It would qualify as the largest margin of victory by the Aggies, beating out the 1985 game, where the Ags won 42-10. Johnny reminded the college football world that he was the best player in 2012, going 19 of 25 with 286 yards and two passing touchdowns. In addition, he had 85 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.  The only blemish on the Aggies schedule was the Oklahoma State game, but it would still be enough to make Texas A&M the 2012 Big 12 Champions.

Regular Season Record (12-1, 6-1 Big 12)

The 6-1 record in the Big 12 would probably be enough to win the conference for the Aggies, their first conference title since 1998. After a drubbing of the Texas Longhorns, it would be very sweet. Their 12-1 record, especially paired with a loss early in the year, would have propelled them to a pretty high-ranking as well. Texas A&M may have its first top ten finish since 1994, and may have even cracked the top 5.

But, would it be enough to get into the national championship game? Alabama was 11-1 in 2012, with that one loss coming to the Aggies. They would be undefeated, and probably play (and demolish, again) another undefeated Notre Dame team. The real Big 12 champion in 2012 was Kansas State, and they ended up playing Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. If Texas A&M takes that spot, we can run the numbers against Oregon that year. But first, what about the Heisman?