Texas A&M football fans await the AP Poll release today at 1 PM central, as the Aggies have a real shot to move up after their win over Utah State.
There was a favorable result for the Aggies' AP Poll movement early on in yesterday's action, as the no. 17 SMU Mustangs went down in overtime to the Baylor bears. With Baylor having lost to unranked Auburn and not receiving any votes this last week, this means that SMU will likely slip without the Bears leapfrogging A&M as Iowa State did.
Aggie fans also knew that, heading into Saturday night, that there would be a team sliding down below them if they could stay clean against USU. Given that Michigan and Oklahoma— the 15th and 18th-ranked teams, respectively— were playing, it would be hard to imagine one of them not falling below A&M after a loss.
Texas A&M has favorable prospects to move up in AP Poll after several teams ahead of Aggies lose in Week 2
What was not expected were the losses sustained by the Florida Gators and the Arizona State Sun Devils. The Gators welcomed in USF— to be fair, a pretty good G4 team— but were expected to take the win. However, UF ended up giving up a late-game drive to the Bulls, falling 18-16 to Alex Golesh and company.
Arizona State was absolutely blitzed out of the gate by Mississippi State, who nearly defeated them last year in a season where the Sun Devils went to the college football playoff and the Bulldogs ended up 2-10. While ASU still has Sam Leavitt, they no longer have Cam Skattebo, and Starkville is a tough place for anyone to win.
That makes for four teams ahead of the Aggies that lost this week. Can the Aggies expect to move up 4 spots, all the way to 15th?
It's not a guarantee. Alabama and Ole Miss, both right behind A&M, had impressive wins— Ole Miss went on the road to Kentucky and Alabama absolutely demolished the hapless UL-Monroe Warhawks. The Aggies had about a 30-point lead in the votes, but it's not out of the question that one or both of them could leapfrog the Ags.
When all is said and done, though, I think we see Texas A&M move up three spots to 16th. I think the Rebels could sneak ahead of the Aggies, while I believe that Alabama skepticism is still at an all-time high.
The AP Poll will release at 1 PM central.