Texas A&M football shrugs off 'poll inertia' as CFP rankings give Aggies more respect

Texas A&M football rewarded with respect by CFP committee despite AP voters slow to buy in on Aggies

Texas A&M football, sitting at 7-2 right now, fell to 15th in the AP Poll after losing to South Carolina this past weekend. Of course, they were only ranked 10th right before that, despite having a very strong case to have been ranked ahead of several teams that were in front of them.

This was a great example of 'poll inertia'; no matter what the result of a given game is, voters will only move a given team up so far. Despite the Aggies' impressive winning streak, including a resounding victory over then-8th-ranked LSU, A&M only climbed to 10th.

Now that they've fallen to 15th, though, they've moved right back behind LSU in the AP, right after they tanned their hide in Kyle Field. This is obviously laughable.

The CFP committee, however, did not make this same mistake. The Aggies came in at 14th overall, directly in front of 15th-ranked LSU.

The difference in number is obviously not huge, but getting what should have been a simple order correct is. The AP—which, admittedly, is a conglomeration of ballots—should have been able to do this with ease, but they didn't.

Even though the AP comes from many different voters, the fact that LSU was ahead of A&M meant that there were enough individual voters who placed the Tigers ahead of the Ags for the Bayou Bengals to end up ranked ahead in the final poll. That, again, is laughable.

The Aggies now need to only rise a couple of spots to get into that top 12. Some teams ahead of them have to lose—Georgia and Tennessee still have to play, for example—and A&M will get their chance at another top win in Kyle Field when the Longhorns come to town. There's a lot that has yet to happen this season.