Texas A&M Football: Do Aggies deserve their ranking in Coaches’ Poll?

The Texas A&M Football team had certain expectations this year. After going 9-1 and being the first squad to miss out on the College Football Playoff, Jimbo Fisher’s squad had the goal of going undefeated this year.

Just two games into the season, that goal was threatened.

The Aggies were down 7-3 late in the fourth quarter after a game full of stalled offensive drives, fumbles, and offensive shortcomings. Nobody will lie about it — if you’re an Aggie football fan, you were shivering in your boots. Eventually, Texas A&M would score a clutch touchdown through their air from Zach Calzada to Isaiah Spiller, but nobody will be happy with a three-point win.

Somehow, however, this wouldn’t impact their ranking in the Coaches’ Poll, where they stalled out at the five spot in this week’s rankings.

The Texas A&M Football team may be cemented as the 5th-ranked team in the country until they lose

Oddly enough, there was some shuffling in the top five this week. After Oregon’s upset of Ohio State, the Buckeyes dropped all the way out of the top ten to the 11th spot. Oregon, on the other hand, leapfrogged Texas A&M, landing at the 4th spot.

Oklahoma would also get a bump after many fans suspected that their 4th ranking could be in jeopardy. They quickly quieted down skeptical fans with a 76-0 win over Western Carolina, which allowed them to move up another spot to the third rank.

Here’s what the updated top ten looks like.

1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Oklahoma
4. Oregon
5. Texas A&M
6. Clemson
7. Iowa
8. Cincinnati
9. Florida
10. Notre Dame

Of every top ten team, Texas A&M definitely had the shakiest performance this weekend. The Aggies struggled with Colorado, who is in just the second season of the Karl Dorrell era which started with a last-second coaching hire.

Still, the Aggies faced adversity and got the job done. Say what you want — they’re 2-0.

It’s important, however, to keep in mind that Texas A&M’s future depends largely on whether or not Haynes King will be able to make a speedy recovery. The offense looked completely inept in his absence, only managing to score a single touchdown against a middling Pac-12 team.

Positives, and perhaps the reason for the Aggies’ earning the fifth spot again, include the fact that Texas A&M’s defense was stout. Without a strong showing by Jimbo Fisher’s defensive unit, Texas A&M could have been in big trouble early.

Does the Texas A&M Football team deserve their ranking though? At this point, it’s hard to make a solid argument against it. Any shortcomings can be drawn up to the fact that the normal starting quarterback was not in the game. Even so, their 288 yards of total offense wasn’t necessarily terrible, though it was much worse than the standard in College Station. Colorado, after all, was a matchup that could have been considered a trap game for Texas A&M.

After Week 2, Texas A&M Football fans have been left with more to worry about than to be excited about.