With the latest update to the SP+ rankings, Texas A&M football has moved up a couple of spots. The Aggies are now the 13th-ranked team in Bill Connelly's proprietary advanced statistical profiling system for college football teams, which is their best preseason rank in the past three years.
In the previous rankings that were released following spring ball, the Aggies ranked 15th. Texas A&M's raw rating has risen from 17.2 to 18.3, which is an interesting tidbit in and of itself, given that most of the teams on the list had their raw ratings fall from the last set of rankings to this one.
Here's a sampling: Ohio State fell by 3.4 points, Alabama fell by 2.4 points, Georgia fell by 2.7 points, Penn State fell by 3.5 points, Texas fell by 3.3 points, Notre Dame fell by 2.9 points, and Oregon fell by 2.7 points, As a matter of fact, Texas A&M was one of only four teams in the entire top 15 that didn't have their rating fall, joined by Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Of that group, the Aggies were the one with the biggest jump.
Texas A&M moves up in latest SP+ ratings, setting table for huge breakout in 2025
In a recent column, I compared the Aggies' outlook in the 2025 season to how Georgia was perceived in the leadup to their 2017 breakout, from which they have not looked back up until this point. The Aggies are actually sitting in a better spot now than UGA was in the leadup to that season— Georgia was outside the top 20 there and the Aggies are ranked 13th.
A few more interesting notes here. The Aggies are projected to have two really solid units: the 17th-ranked offense, and the 17th-ranked defense. That's a higher projection for their offense than the following teams: Texas, Michigan, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida, and South Carolina. On the defensive side, they're projected to have a better unit than both Clemson and LSU.
Their special teams unit could again be one of the best in the country, thanks in no small part to Tyler White's ability as a punter, of course. The final interesting point has to do with strength of schedule: the Aggies are projected to have the tenth-toughest schedule in the nation, harder than Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, Ole Miss, Clemson, and a host of others.
The only teams that rank ahead of A&M are SEC teams, with one exception: little ole Wisconsin, who sits with the fourth-toughest schedule in the land, as they face (2) Alabama, (8) Michigan, (1) Ohio State, (7) Oregon, (23) Indiana, and (27) Illinois.