Texas A&M Football: Reacting to the Aggies’ Placement in the Week 1 AP Poll

The AP Poll for College Football Week 1 just dropped, and (spoiler) Texas A&M football held steady at 23. On one hand, this was to be expected; though the Ags shellacked their opponent by a score of 52-10, said opponent—the New Mexico Lobos—is one of the more ignominious in the pantheon of FBS college football.

What may surprise fans of Texas A&M football (or perhaps not, depending on how jaded you are) is the teams that jumped the Aggies in the rankings. Coming in right ahead of the Ags were both the Colorado Buffaloes and the Duke Blue Devils. Now, I won’t challenge the fact that both of these programs won more consequential games than did the Aggies in week 1; however, I will say that I think this proved more about each of those teams’ opponents than it did themselves. I’m not sure many people expected a lot out of TCU this year, even coming off a national title game appearance, and it seems that Clemson’s issues on the offensive side are persisting. Again, I don’t want to take anything away from Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, Riley Leonard, or (most of all) Mike Elmo—credit to them for doing what they’ve done. But I’m not convinced that I would pick either of those teams over this Texas A&M football team were they to match up today.

The Aggies do seem as though they will have a chance to move up in the upcoming week, however. Though Saturday’s opponent, the Miami Hurricanes, are not ranked, they do fall in the “others receiving votes” category; meaning at least a few AP voters consider them worthy of being on the ballot. They also play in the ACC rather than the Mountain West, so a big win in Coral Gables would doubtless elevate the status of the Maroon and White in the minds of voters. Not only will the Aggies have a chance to move up because of their opponent, they could also be the beneficiary of teams ahead of them taking a loss on Saturday; most notably, their chief in-state rival who makes the dreaded trip to Tuscaloosa. Another one that is flying a bit under the radar is the Ole Miss Rebels making a trip to face off against last year’s Cotton Bowl winner in Tulane. That’s not an easy matchup; Michael Pratt, the QB for the Green Wave, is a skilled player, and the Rebs could find themselves having issues in that one early.