The Texas A&M football team did not play this Saturday — the Aggies had a bye week. Instead, they sat on their couches and watched college football action like the rest of us. And boy, was it a week of action.
Eight ranked teams lost on Saturday, marking another huge total for 2021. This list included a few notable teams, but I’ll get to those later. The losses ahead of Texas A&M in the AP Poll may even allow the Aggies to re-enter the top ten.
This leads me to my first implication. In total, I’m giving you three implications of SEC action from Week 9.
The Texas A&M football team is in a position to be a serious College Football Playoff contender
I’m almost tired of writing about this — I’m currently writing my fourth separate post about the possibility of the Aggies re-entering the AP Poll‘s top ten. Still, the importance of this positioning at this point in the season cannot be understated.
Four teams that were ahead of Texas A&M in the Week 9 AP Poll lost. Two of these teams were in the SEC.
No. 12 Kentucky’s loss doesn’t necessarily mean much for the Aggies — Texas A&M will move up a spot in the AP Poll and that’s it. The big takeaway here is No. 10 Ole Miss’s loss against No. 18 Auburn, which will be sure to shake things up in the near future.
These two teams are Texas A&M’s next two opponents, meaning two wins would likely give Texas A&M two more top-15 wins on the season. This would put them at three total and give them an undeniably impressive resume through the second leg of the season.
Even though the Texas A&M football team has two losses, the SEC remains wide open
As things stand, the Texas A&M football team still does not have control of its own destiny. The two early-season losses after Haynes King’s leg injury continue to hurt this Aggie football team. That said, this weekend made one thing abundantly clear.
The SEC West is wide open.
Okay, technically it’s not WIDE open — Alabama still sits at the top with just a single conference loss. That said, the Tide play two more tough teams and if they lose a single game, the SEC West is up for grabs.
At that point, it’ll come down to tiebreakers.
What this weekend gave us was an Auburn-Ole Miss matchup that leveled the playing field, giving a third SEC team in the Aggies’ division two losses on the year. Texas A&M will have the opportunity to play both of these teams.
If A&M manages to win in both of these games, they could potentially be tied with Alabama atop the division (if the Tide lose). If Alabama picks up a second loss, this would have the two teams tied in terms of positioning. The tiebreaker would go to A&M, who has the advantage with a win in the head-to-head matchup.
The Iron Bowl might be A&M’s best chance at making it to the SEC Championship Game. Let’s hope Auburn has a little bit of magic left in their hat.
The Texas A&M football team may not be the best SEC team, but there aren’t many hotter teams in the country
With teams like Michigan, Kentucky, and Ole Miss losing, something becomes abundantly clear in college football. A few teams are playing their best football at the right time, while others are trending in the wrong direction.
One of the teams that is peaking just in time is the Texas A&M football team. In its last three matchups, Jimbo Fisher’s squad has outscored its opponents 120-66. One of those opponents was the No. 1-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and the other two were respectable SEC squads.
Sure, Texas A&M had a rough patch early in the year. Okay… it was worse than a rough patch — this team looked like it would win six games on the year, but that team is gone. The Aggies in the second half of their season have looked like an entirely different team.
When you’re talking about the hottest teams in college football, there are only a few schools ahead of Texas A&M. Those teams are listed below.
- Georgia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Michigan State
Outside of that list, I’m not sure you can claim that anybody looks like a better football team right now.
Unfortunately, the Aggies are still not at Georgia’s level. Heck, nobody is at Georgia’s level this season. After the Bulldogs’ 7-point win over Clemson in Week 1, their lowest margin of victory on a seven-game winning streak has been 17 points.
The Aggies aren’t there yet, but the Georgia Bulldogs would not be happy to see the Texas A&M football team opposite them in Atlanta in a month.