Why the Texas A&M football team should be ranked higher than Alabama

The Texas A&M football team lost two early games in 2021. Even though these losses were largely caused by injuries, they were still losses. That’s why A&M’s positioning in the first College Football Playoff Rankings didn’t come as a huge surprise.

But what did come as a surprise was where the Alabama Crimson Tide ranked, marking one of the most controversial positionings in the history of the rankings. The Tide came in at the second spot.

This brought up some questions about the positioning of Texas A&M, who was the only team to beat Alabama on the year. The Aggies won in a relatively dominant fashion at home after a two-game losing streak.

Has the Texas A&M football team proven itself more than the Alabama football team?

Yes.

I wish that I could leave it at that — it’s as obvious as it gets. While Alabama has fewer losses on the year, they only have a single good win. To add to that, they have a handful of games that are… well, forgettable.

This includes a 31-29 win against Florida. At the time, Florida was a top ten team. Spoiler alert — they’ve fallen well out of the top-25 by now, losing their past three games. The Gators have lost their last two by a combined 50 points.

The Tide do have a good win against Ole Miss, but that’s as far as it goes. Ole Miss has two losses on the year and sits below Texas A&M in the College Football Playoff Rankings.

If the Texas A&M football team has higher-quality wins and won the head-to-head, they should be considered the better team

It would be dishonest to act surprised that Alabama found itself ranked significantly higher than A&M in the first College Football Playoff Rankings of the year. That said, biases aside, how could you rank ‘Bama higher?

Anybody who has done their research knows that Texas A&M isn’t the same team as they were early in the year, as the Aggies are drastically improved on both sides of the ball. Their defense now ranks second, while their offense continues to climb in any ranking system.

‘Bama, on the other hand, looks significantly worse than they did early on. Their offense is still strong, but it hasn’t looked as lethal against good teams. Instead, they pad their stats against bad football teams like Southern Miss, Mercer, and Tennessee, three teams against which they scored a combined 163 points.

I’m saying a lot to say this — the Texas A&M football team looks better than Alabama. The results show it and the eye test supports it. If nobody had watched Alabama for the past ten years, the Aggies would be considered the better team. Unless you have a distinct bias for ‘Bama or against A&M, you will agree with the words that I’m writing.

Unfortunately, the committee will likely overinflate the Tide’s ranking again and A&M will suffer as a result.