I’d like to start out this article with a simple statement — the Texas A&M football team would need a miracle to make the College Football Playoff. Actually, that statement isn’t entirely true. Texas A&M would need a series of miracles to make the College Football Playoff.
Gig’em Gazette’s Bradley Connelly already did a post on what would have to happen for the Texas A&M football team to go to Atlanta. The post is from prior to the Week 8 college football action, but most of the same stipulations apply now.
Today, we’re taking it a step further and exploring what would have to go down for the Aggies to become the first two-loss team to ever make an appearance in the College Football Playoff.
Condition No. 1: The Texas A&M football team would have to win the SEC Championship game
Call me a pessimist, but I don’t believe for a second that the Texas A&M football team could make it as a two-loss College Football Playoff team without winning their conference championship game. Again, just for the Aggies to reach Atlanta would take a small miracle — winning against an unbeatable-looking Georgia team would be a challenge of its own.
Without the SEC Championship win, Texas A&M wouldn’t have a strong enough resume to be selected — at least from what we’ve seen in the past.
But just for a second, let’s say the Aggies are able to pull off both of these things. What else would have to happen?
Condition No. 2: The Texas A&M football team would have to benefit from a handful of top ten losses
To an extent, the Aggies’ fate as a college football team is entirely out of their hands this year. Texas A&M can help its cause by winning out against a handful of tough upcoming teams, but their success depends largely on the failure of other teams.
These teams include Ole Miss, Alabama, and Mississippi State if Texas A&M wants to reach the SEC Championship Game.
But even if they do reach the SEC Championship Game and win, an uncertain future lies ahead of them.
There are six undefeated teams ahead of Texas A&M in the AP Poll. This list includes Wake Forest, Michigan State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, and Georgia. If Texas A&M wants to make the College Football Playoff, at least three of these teams have to lose.
The Aggies will not make it into the competition with two losses ahead of an undefeated Power Five school, even if it’s Wake Forest. One of these teams will lose a game this upcoming weekend, as Michigan and Michigan State will be facing off in East Lansing. Still, at least two teams will have to lose.
Beyond that, the Aggies will likely need a loss from a handful of one-loss college football teams that are perceived as being better than them. This list includes schools like Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, and Iowa.
But that’s not all they’d need.
Condition No. 3: The Texas A&M football team needs to play flawless football
Let’s say everything in the previous slide happens — the Aggies win the SEC Championship game and there are no undefeated teams remaining in college football. Do they make it into the four-team College Football Playoff?
Not exactly. Allow me to explain.
Even if the series of small miracles happened that allowed the Aggies to be heavily considered as the first two-loss College Football Playoff team, Texas A&M would have a handful of one-loss teams considered for the spot over them.
Even with just a single loss, they were snubbed last year, so we know that the College Football Playoff Selection Committee has no love for Jimbo Fisher’s team.
The only way that Texas A&M can overturn this feeling is by playing undeniably the best football of any school in the country for the next few weeks. I’m not just talking about winning out — the Aggies would have to look like 2019 LSU for the next few years.
In that respect, they’re off to a great start with blowout victories in each of their past two games with a close win against Alabama three weeks ago.
That said, the only close victory that the Texas A&M football team can afford for the remainder of the year would be in the SEC Championship Game against an undefeated Georgia team.
The Aggies’ chances of making the College Football Playoff may be slim, but there’s a chance.