Texas A&M's win over Arkansas moved them to 7-0, keeping them among the ranks of the unbeatens this season— ranks which are beginnign to thin significantly. Several teams that entered the weekend without a loss ended up falling in their games, including one team ahead of the Aggies.
That would be the Miami Hurricanes, who fell to the Louisville Cardinals on Friday night in front of a national audience. The formerly-second-ranked Hurricanes are sure to drop after Carson Beck's multiple interceptions doomed Cristobal's team to sustain their first loss of the year.
Despite the fact that the Aggies were walking right into a tailor-made situation for an upset, they were able to stay the course and end up bringing home a win. Because of that, the Aggies could be in new and quite exciting waters when it comes to the AP Poll rankings.
Texas A&M's AP Poll ranking could rise to heights that haven't been seen in Aggieland since move to SEC
With the Aggies coming into this weekend ranked 4th overall— and with the second-ranked and fifth-ranked teams losing— they could stand to rise up into the top three, if not higher. It seems unlikely that the Aggies could rise above the Indiana Hoosiers, of course, given IU's win over Oregon this past week, but the vote totals last week were not really that far off— A&M was fewer than 100 points behind Cignetti's squad.
That remains a quite remote possibility, however. I think we see Texas A&M get all the way up to the third-ranked team in the nation, and perhaps close the gap a little bit points-wise with the Hoosiers, but I don't think they jump IU this week.
Texas A&M will remain the top-ranked team in the SEC, though Alabama and Georgia should be just behind them after their big wins this weekend. The Aggies haven't been top three in the nation since the RC Slocum days, so this is just another way that the Mike Elko era is bearing dividends for this program.