Texas A&M football was idle this week, as Georgia and Alabama squared off in the SEC Championship— where the Aggies almost ended up save for their lone loss of the season. With that result going final, however, and the Bulldogs getting over the Alabama hump, Texas A&M may already know who they're facing in their playoff game.
There's a very strong chance that the Aggies just watched their next two opponents square off in the Georgia Dome today. Texas A&M is all but locked into the 7 seed at this point, barring a late change of heart by the committee to move them above the Ole Miss Rebels.
That means that their first opponent would be the ten seed— which, after today's results, will be one of two teams: either Alabama or Miami. The big question will be whether Alabama's loss in the conference championship will knock them out of the field and make room for the Miami Hurricanes.
Texas A&M will host either Miami or Alabama at Kyle Field for playoff opener
The committee has a difficult decision to make here: there are two final at-large spots open with three teams available in Alabama, Miami, and Notre Dame. Alabama was at the nine seed and just lost to Georgia— and, if you recall, the inverse situation two years ago resulted in Georgia falling out of what was then a four-team field.
In other words, there's precedent for dropping a team out of the field after a loss in a conference championship. Georgia was the 2-seed, after all, and dropped to 6th upon taking their first loss in the SEC championship.
This would alleviate the Miami-Notre Dame headache that the committee has had for the past few weeks, as both teams would make it into the field. They could keep the current order (the Irish over the Hurricanes) despite the head to head to remain consistent with how they've ranked other teams, as well as avoid a rematch between the Irish and the Aggies in round one.
That would be a huge issue for Alabama fans, of course, and could lead to increased calls to eliminate the conference championship game. The Tide still have a solid resume (including a win on the road at Georgia, even though they just got destroyed in Atlanta), so this could be a hard sell.
Whoever Texas A&M faces in Kyle, their second game will be against Georgia, who will move up to 2 over the loser of the Big 10 championship, if they win at home. It's a very realistic scenario for the Aggies to face Alabama and Georgia back to back on their quest to make the national championship.
In a year when nothing has been easy, this is really nothing new. Texas A&M will have to rise to this challenge just like all the other ones they've faced this year.