Final 2025 SEC power rankings: 2 - Texas A&M
Depending on how you view things, either Texas A&M or Vanderbilt was the biggest positive surprise of the year in the conference, despite the final two games of the year going poorly for the Ags. A&M lost to a bad team and then a very good team, coloring the perception of their team by some in the national media, but make no mistake: Texas A&M was an elite squad this season.
The win over Notre Dame early in the year was the best non-conference win of any team in the SEC, and the Aggies laid better beatdowns on LSU and Missouri than anyone else either of those teams played. As it turns out, though, that was the peak of the Aggies’ performance for the remainder of the year.
The South Carolina comeback was something to behold, but it was made possible by the worst half of football A&M played all season, aside from the second half down in Austin two weeks later. Texas A&M’s inability to put a full game together is what cost them— that and their kicking woes.
All things considered, though, to get the first 11-win regular season since the 90s is quite the accomplishment. This is a major building block for Elko going forward, and it still doesn’t feel like this program has nearly scraped the ceiling for his tenure.