The first College Football Playoff Rankings are behind us and most Texas A&M football fans are happy. They were, at least, for the first ten minutes of learning their ranking before seeing that Alabama would find itself all the way up at the second spot.
I’ve gone into depth on a couple of occasions on why this is completely ludicrous. That said, after a close call against LSU, Alabama may not receive the same respect from the College Football Playoff committee that they did last week. The Aggies, on the other hand, may receive more respect.
Here’s why.
The Texas A&M football team just won their fourth straight game, three of which came by at least 17 points
Last week, I thought that the Texas A&M football team had proven itself beyond doubt. Jimbo Fisher’s squad knocked off No. 1 Alabama (No. 2 in first CFP Rankings) and a pair of middling SEC teams. It seemed like they should have been the highest-ranked two-loss college football team, but they weren’t.
That said, it didn’t really matter at that stage of the season. A&M had two big games looming, with contests scheduled against Auburn and Ole Miss, both of whom were ranked in the top-15. Regardless of where they were at, the opportunity was there to shoot up in the rankings.
Half of that opportunity was already seized, with A&M winning comfortably at home against Auburn, who looked like one of the hottest teams in the country. The Aggies made them look like a JV high school team offensively.
A&M finished the game strong too, forcing an Auburn turnover on three of the Tigers’ last four drives. Even though the Aggies’ offense didn’t look particularly special, A&M looked like one of the best teams in the country on Saturday. Will this be reflected in the rankings?
It should be, and if I had to guess, the Aggies should finally manage to sneak into the top ten for a couple of reasons.
The first of those reasons is that the committee needs to rationalize keeping Alabama at a high ranking. The Tide, as previously mentioned, struggled mightily against LSU, a pretty bad football team. If the committee continually shows no respect for Texas A&M, there will be no way to rationalize keeping Alabama high.
The second reason is that Texas A&M’s win against Alabama can’t be considered a “fluke” anymore. The Aggies finally have a second ranked win on their schedule, so the argument could now be made that their wins outweigh their early-season losses.
I’ll even throw a third reason in here — the Aggies’ two losses continue to look better each week. While the Arkansas loss had initially aged poorly, the Razorbacks continue to look like a solid SEC team. Mississippi State, on the other hand, just lost to Arkansas, but was ranked generously in the last CFP rankings.
But where will the Texas A&M football team land in this week’s CFP Rankings?
Prediction: 10th
I don’t think the committee will give A&M the full respect that they deserve quite yet, but I do see them bumping the Aggies significantly this week. I think with Auburn being a top-15 win for A&M, the Aggies’ resume continues to become undeniably impressive. The more wins they get in the present, the further we move from the early losses.
That said, I expected Texas A&M to receive more respect last week. If they are disrespected by the committee again, it may be time for Aggie fans to hit the panic button.