How FSU choking against Georgia Tech could springboard Texas A&M football into a better spot for College Football Playoff contention
While Texas A&M football doesn't kick off until next week against Notre Dame, there was still plenty of college football to discuss from this past weekend. The biggest game of the Week 0 slate, of course, was FSU facing off against Georgia Tech over in Dublin, Ireland.
While the Seminoles, who many believed to have been cheated out of a playoff spot last year after finishing the regular season without a loss, were heavy favorites coming into the game, boasting a top-10 ranking in the nation, it was the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets—led by former Texas A&M quarterback Haynes King—who emerged victorious after a last-second field goal.
Upsets are always great fun for fans without a distinct rooting interest in either team, and especially so when they are of this magnitude. In that sense the Seminoles taking the L on the Emerald Isle was enough of a good result for Aggie fans.
However, there's a little more to this result that could affect how things shake out for Texas A&M football going forward. FSU, as a favorite to win the ACC, was involved in many College Football Playoff predictions, either as an conference champion auto-bid or as an at-large team.
A lot of the public goodwill, though, has now evaporated after that performance. It seems far less likely that the Seminoles will win their conference at this point, and they could be in for a rough ride even with a schedule on the softer side.
I have come around to the idea that if Texas A&M football wins their opener against Notre Dame, they will be favored to make the 12-team playoff. Given how the rest of the schedule shapes out, a result like that would immediately vault the Ags into the pool of teams being discussed to land in that group of 12.
With Florida State falling, there's one fewer team in the way for the Aggies to have to rise past. Last year should serve as a pertinent example of what public perception can do in these selection situations, so the Noles taking a loss like this—provided the Aggies take care of business on Saturday—could be more significant than we originally thought in the sense of the cache the Ags could be gaining.