Can Texas A&M football make it to the CFP with one loss in 2022-23?

Texas A&M football fans will not have the kindest association with three of the best words in college sports — College Football Playoff. The Aggies have set the competition in their sights every season since Jimbo Fisher’s arrival but have consistently found a way to fall short of it.

But could 2022 finally be the year?

Aggie fans will hope so but the lingering memory of the 2020 season, which saw A&M finish as the fifth-ranked team in the College Football Playoff rankings, will be fresh in their minds. In that season, A&M had just a single loss to the eventual national champions in the Alabama Crimson Tide, which begs the question…

Can the Texas A&M football team make the College Football Playoff for the 2022-23 season?

So far, every single College Football Playoff has seen at least one appearance from a single-loss football team. Generally speaking, however, this one-loss team is the

The worry here is in reference to Texas A&M’s matchup against Alabama, which hasn’t gone particularly well in recent years. The Aggies did knock off the Tide last season but did everything else wrong — losing four other games on the year. The season prior, A&M lost a single game all season to the Tide and was left out of postseason competition.

If the Aggies repeated their 2020 season, would they make it in this time? My short, opinionated answer here is a simple “yes.”

In the 2020 season that saw A&M left out of the playoff, the Aggies didn’t have much of a resume. Their only ranked win of the year came against No. 4 Florida — a team that would eventually finish with an 8-4 record. Their loss to ‘Bama came by over a three-touchdown margin, leaving doubt that Jimbo Fisher’s team could compete.

Not only will A&M have two more games to build a resume — they’ll have a chance to play Alabama closer, even in a loss. The Aggies will also have a non-conference matchup against a Miami team that could be a strong resume piece. This goes along with their conference matchups against Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, Auburn, and LSU.

The other factor to consider here is the SEC’s dominance against Big Ten teams in the College Football Playoff. Here are a few notable losses from Big Ten teams against SEC or ACC opponents in the past.

• 2015-16, Michigan State vs. Alabama: 38-0
• 2016-17, Ohio State vs. Clemson: 31-0
• 2021-22, Michigan vs. Georgia: 34-11

This isn’t the only conference that has produced a handful of duds. To join them, you’ll find the Independents/Group of 5 teams. In that category, we’ve seen Notre Dame make two appearances and Cincinnati make one. The combined score of those games is 88-23, with each of these contests resulting in losses for those teams.

If it’s not clear to the committee that the SEC likely has two of the best four teams in college football on a yearly basis, they can’t do their jobs competently.

If A&M finishes with a single loss in 2021, I can guarantee that they’re one of the four best teams in the country. They should be in.