Texas A&M football projected to finish in bottom half of SEC in preseason media poll

Media projects bearish outlook for Texas A&M football as Aggies projected to finish 9th in new-look SEC

I think it's fair to describe the attitude with which most neutral parties are approaching Texas A&M football this year as "wait-and-see." After three years of disappointment under Jimbo Fisher—some years more so than others—the Ags are in a position where they have used up goodwill from the wider college football public.

Of course, it's not Jimbo Fisher at the helm of this program any more. I think most have more faith in Mike Elko to guide the program than they did Fisher, but there's still some uncertainty from the outside on how exactly things will look.

Because of this, we see a healthy amount of skepticism about the Aggies' prospects this year when it comes to the SEC. Thus, the Aggies have been selected to finish in the bottom half of the conference this year:

I'll go ahead and say this: I think there is a vanishingly small chance of things playing out exactly this way due to quirky tiebreakers, etc. However, I also think that this isn't meant to necessarily be a projection of the final standings as much as it is meant to be a consensus power ranking. If that is indeed the case, then maybe A&M's standing, while doubtless a result of a pessimistic mentality from the voters, isn't extremely far-fetched.

For example, Bill Connelly's preseason SP+ projections, at their last update, have nine SEC teams in the top 15 teams nationally. Now, he has A&M above OU and Tennessee, but not by much. Since the Aggies don't play either of these squads, though, things could look very different in the order of finish overall.

This is obvious, but schedule has to be a big piece of things. Ole Miss has a far easier schedule than UGA, for example; Texas has a far easier schedule than UGA; A&M has a far easier schedule than OU. This will no doubt affect the order of finish.

It's much easier to see A&M getting to five conference wins than the Sooners, in my opinion; the game in College Station between the Aggies and Tigers could be a tiebreaker if both finish with five conference wins, which could put the Aggies in the top group.

All this to say... there are a lot of variables. I think if A&M finishes at 5-3 in conference play—which is very possible—there's really no shot that they finish in the bottom half of the SEC. 4-4, though, could certainly yield such a result.