Predicting where Texas A&M football lands in the AP top 25 after another big weekend in college football
Texas A&M football defeated Mississippi State on the road yesterday to move to 6-1 for the year. The Aggies stand atop the SEC as one of two undefeated teams—the other comes to College Station next weekend for a huge showdown.
The Aggies entered the weekend ranked 14th in the nation. Despite some close calls ahead of them, only two teams ranked ahead of the Ags ended up losing.
Iowa State was given all they could handle by an upstart UCF squad on the road, but managed to move to 7-0 with a win. BYU's Friday night game against Oklahoma State came down to the last few seconds, but the Cougars managed to eke out a win with a last-second touchdown.
It's possible that the poll could have the Aggies moving ahead of BYU, even though they're undefeated. I don't think it's likely, however; a late-game survival against a conference opponent at home isn't that much less impressive than the Aggies' result in the mind of pollsters, if I had to guess.
But in a rare occurrence over the last decade and a half, the Aggies could be moving up in front of the Crimson Tide. Alabama, formerly ranked seventh, is now at 5-2 on the year, and will probably fall into the mid-to-late teens.
Though A&M arguably has a better record than Texas now, I don't think we see them climb ahead of the Longhorns this week—though maybe they can if they defeat LSU at home next week.
We also need to consider what is going on with Indiana. Curt Cignetti has the Hoosiers undefeated, and they're coming off of a big win over Nebraska. They could leap the Ags.
I think we most likely see A&M move up one spot, to 13th, ahead of their showdown with LSU this weekend. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them stand pat at 14th. We'll find out today at 1 PM CT.