Texas A&M football now finally knows their College Football Playoff fate after all these months: the Aggies now know that they will be hosting the Miami Hurricanes at Kyle Field as the seven seed, with the Ohio State Buckeyes waiting in the wings.
While this was pointed out as a possible matchup for the Aggies even as late as last night, no one quite thought it would work out this way. The committee decided, instead of dropping the Alabama Crimson Tide out of the field, to keep them static at 9 and then flip-flop the Miami Hurricanes with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
For some reason, they didn't make that switch last week, but they decided to do so this week. This honors the head to head matchup that the Hurricanes won down in Coral Gables in the first week of the season, matching up the only two squads to beat the Irish this year.
Texas A&M set to host Miami in College Station for first-ever College Football Playoff game
This will be no layup at all for the Aggies, of course. Since they fell below the six-seed line, they don't get the luxury of hosting a Group of Five team (both Tulane and James Madison made it)— instead, Tulane will play Ole Miss, who stomped them by 35 a few months ago.
No, the Aggies will host Malachi Toney, Rueben Bain, and Carson Beck's Miami Hurricanes. This is an extremely skilled squad that spent the early part of the year as a team that many thought was the best in America— however, some midseason losses really stymied their momentum.
It's tough to believe I'm saying this, but this is a much less favorable matchup than what the Aggies would have gotten if they had hosted the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Tide's weaknesses match up better with A&M's strengths, and Miami's dominant edge pressure will be tough for the Ags to deal with.
The positive is that Texas A&M will get to play host. This will be a premier game at Kyle Field in mid-December, and there's no doubt that it is the most interesting game in that round.