Texas A&M Football: Aggies’ schedule should allow for a one-loss playoff appearance

For Texas A&M Football fans, there are plenty of appropriate reactions to finding out that your starting quarterback will be out until mid-October. The first, and perhaps most obvious, is worrying about your team’s College Football Playoff chances. After all, the purpose of this season was to make the elite 4-team bracket.

With Haynes King out, Texas A&M’s chances against Alabama plummet. With a loss against Alabama, Texas A&M’s chances of making the College Football Playoff plummet. But maybe not to the extent that we originally thought. Here’s why.

The Texas A&M Football teams 2021 schedule may not be so weak after all

Prior to the 2021 season, one of the primary storylines was in regards to the Texas A&M Football team’s schedule. On the surface, it looked extremely weak. Outside of the Alabama Crimson Tide, the number one team in the country, Texas A&M only had a single ranked opponent on the slate.

That opponent was LSU, who was ranked 16th. Unfortunately for A&M, the Tigers lost in the first week of action by 11-points to UCLA. Granted, UCLA looks like a solid team, but this was a rough look for everybody who wasn’t a Bruin.

Fortunately for Jimbo Fisher, virtually everybody else on the schedule won, giving Texas A&M a trickier slate than anticipated.

This is a good and a bad thing. The positive here is that the Aggies will have a handful of opportunities outside of their matchup against Alabama to prove that they belong in the College Football Playoff. Last year, they weren’t granted these same opportunities and they were snubbed from the competition.

The better Texas A&M’s opponents play, the better odds they have of making the College Football Playoff with a single loss.

Here are a few notable matchups on their 2021 slate.

• @ No. 20 Arkansas (2-0)
• No. 1 Alabama (2-0)
• No. 22 Auburn (2-0)
• No. 17 Ole Miss (2-0)

If A&M does lose to ‘Bama, they’ll still have the opportunity to win out, which would likely give them four ranked wins. After they were snubbed from the competition last year, the committee may be willing to give them a second chance, especially considering the lack of competition in the playoff a season ago.

Compound this with the fact that a missing Haynes King could work as the perfect excuse for the Aggies and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a one-less College Football Playoff selection.