Texas A&M may have had a week off from playing a game, but they could still see some movement in the latest AP Poll.
The Aggies got to kick back and relax— and, most importantly, recover— this weekend while college football action was going on around the country. The Aggies moved up to the top 10 after a win over Notre Dame last weekend, and while there were several other top 10 teams that were idle this week, the Aggies could still possibly move up.
The chief reason for that is the fact that the Illinois Fighting Illini, who were ranked one spot ahead of the Aggies, got absolutely shellacked by Curt Cignetti's Indiana Hoosiers, by a margin of 63-10. I'm no rankings expert, but I think that means that Bret Bielema's team will probably fall a couple of spots.
Predicting Texas A&M's spot in Week Four AP Poll after bye week for Aggies
Last week's AP Poll saw Texas A&M within only a few votes of seventh place, where FSU is ranked, but I don't think anyone who had the Seminoles ahead of the Aggies would change that after this week's action. However, there's a small chance they could move up ahead of Texas, who was a few points ahead of them this past week.
The mitigating factors are basically two: how high Oklahoma jumps after defeating a ranked Auburn team and how high Indiana jumps after resoundingly dispatching with Indiana. I think there's a good shot that OU continues to climb, but the win was by a small enough margin that they may stay behind A&M by one spot.
I don't think Indiana leaps all the way into the top 10. Illinois was maybe the most dubious placement in that group, and so I think that stops several voters from overly rewarding the Hoosiers for this performance, impressive as it was.
I'm going to hedge my bets and predict that Texas A&M remains static in this week's AP Poll, remaining at ten. If they get up to nine, I won't be surprised, but ten is the prediction.
The AP Poll releases at 1 PM CT.