Texas A&M football sneaks in ESPN's way-too-early top 25 for 2024

Texas A&M football makes ESPN's way-too-early top 25; Aggies have huge chance early

Football season is officially over now that the Super Bowl is done, and Texas A&M football fans will have to wait over six months before we see toe meet leather again. Unless you're watching the UFL, I guess.

Still, there's plenty yet to happen. The NFL draft will be here soon, as will spring games. But then starts the long summer of dog-days baseball and dialogue about how each team will do, breakdown after breakdown of opponents and matchups, et cetera et cetera.

Key in this cycle is the way-too-early top 25. In one sense, they mean nothing at all—just like the AP preseason poll. In an eminently relevant way, the only ranking that matters is the final one that the CFP puts out.

But in another way, all these polls are important. Not only do they speak to the public perception of your program and team, but they show the hill you have to climb, if you will. It's tough for a team to climb from completely outside the AP poll and make it up in to the top group by the end of the season.

This, of course, is not the AP poll. It's put out by ESPN, but it's a good barometer for how a team is perceived at the given moment. The poll they put out yesterday saw the Aggies come in down at the 25th spot.

There's not much analysis in the article of the Aggies' spot; simply a summation of the coaches, key players, transfers, and recruits. Even so, moving upwards in the public consciousness is a win at this point for Mike Elko. The transfer portal run he went on was a huge feather in the program's cap on this front.

Other notable rankings? Missouri up at 7th, Texas at 4th, LSU at 12th, and Notre Dame at 5th. Each of these teams will come to Kyle Field to face the Aggies in the 2024 season. I've got my eye particularly on the Irish; if they come into Kyle still in the top 10 on Week 1, that's a massive opportunity for Elko to start off guns blazing.

In all honesty, I expect the Aggies' ranking to continue to rise ahead of the actual preseason AP top 25. I'd wager that most statistical models will like where the Aggies currently sit, and they may find themselves in the top 10 of ratings like SP+ in the preseason. Those things can influence perception and therefore voters.