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Preseason polls don't matter, but these rankings for A&M opponents are inexcusable

You can't get too bent out of shape about this kind of thing, but you have to wonder what preseason pollsters were thinking.
ByGraham Harmon|
Nov 23, 2024; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko speaks with a game official during the second quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images
Nov 23, 2024; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko speaks with a game official during the second quarter against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images | John Reed-Imagn Images

If you look at the just-released AP Poll, Texas A&M has an extremely grueling road ahead of them in 2025— both in and out of conference play. The Aggies come in at 19th in the poll, which was a predictable snub, but you look at some of the teams ahead of them, and you really have to wonder what the pollsters were thinking.

Texas A&M is one spot behind... Oklahoma. The same OU that finished 6-7 last year and looked aimless outside of a shocking upset victory over Alabama at home— one which did not reflect at all their quality of play for most of the year.

Aggie fans were worried about what seemed like a relatively unexciting home slate for the upcoming year, but if you go by this poll, the Ags may be home underdogs in two games: against Florida (15th) and South Carolina (13th). I was as high on LaNorris Sellers and Dylan Stewart last offseason as anyone, and I still think they're both monster talents, but there are simply far too many question marks with the Gamecocks for them to be higher than the Aggies.

Texas A&M's placement in preseason AP Poll was predictable, but head-scratching rankings remain

Let's just do a quick comparison of where each of these teams rank in some advanced metrics. Per Bill Connelly's SP+, Texas A&M ranks 15th, ahead of Oklahoma and South Carolina, while just barely behind Florida (14th, but only 0.1 quality points ahead of the Aggies).

Per Kelley Ford, the Aggies are 10th, well ahead of Florida (15th), OU (16th), and Carolina (18th). Per FEI ratings, the Aggies again are tops in this group of four teams: A&M is 13th, OU is 16th, Florida is 20th, and South Carolina is 24th.

So in two of the three, the Aggies are leading the pack by a good margin, and in the only one they're not, they're about as close as you can get. Averaging these rankings has A&M at 12.7, OU at 16, Florida at 16.3, and Carolina at 19.6. So on average, the Aggies are about three spots better than the next-closest team here: Oklahoma.

Of course, the poll is not and never has been a pure power ranking. Resume (or, in this case, predicted resume) plays into it at some point. I think the star power at QB for these three other teams and the media sleeping on Reed has a lot to do with things here. But even so, this is a pretty shocking ranking for these teams.

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