Texas A&M has taken a two-spot tumble in the AP Poll after week one of college football action, falling from no. 8 to no. 10 despite a 50-point win over the Missouri State Bears. The Aggies fell behind LSU and Ole Miss, who they were very close to in point total in the preseason poll.
The Tigers, of course, were the talk of the first week of the season, given that they absolutely destroyed Clemson in the first game of the Lane Kiffin era. With that in mind, in the grand tradition of week one overreactions, it made sense that some voters would begin to completely overrate the Bayou Bengals, even though we really still don't know if Clemson is even a good team.
The more shocking thing is that the Aggies fell behind Ole Miss, who, though they won a game over then-ranked Louisville, did not exactly look amazing doing it. It was an exciting game, but there were real concerns revealed about the Rebels' defense in that one, especially the secondary.
Texas A&M falls two spots in the Week 1 AP Poll, and there's absolutely no excuse for it
It would have been predictable, if still incorrect, if the Aggies fell back behind LSU following what happened in week one— the media has a lot of box score watchers, and since A&M didn't run up a 35-0 lead in the first quarter, they're mostly operating off of vague impressions of what happened rather than really digging in.
But to penalize the Aggies two spots for what was the most dominant FBS win of week one, according to the numbers, is mind-numbingly awful. Ole Miss won their game— great. It's good to have that on the ledger, but according to the closing Vegas line, the Rebels underperformed what they were expected to do.
This is another data point in a trend that continues to reveal just how much the Aggies are going to be doubted this season. They'll have a bit of an opportunity this weekend given that they have the early ABC game, so if they can impress against Arizona State, it may make some voters realize their error— but I have a feeling they won't be able to leap back past Ole Miss and LSU until one of them loses a game, which is the definition of a double standard.
Of course, the number beside the team name, in the final analysis, doesn't matter— it matters how you actually play on the field. But Aggie fans learned a hard lesson last season: that public perception shapes postseason fortunes now more than ever.
Had the Aggies been considered where they should have been, they may have been able to avoid the round-one matchup against the Miami Hurricanes, and instead may have gotten a Tulane or a James Madison— and having a game like that could have gotten Marcel back on track rather than continue his late-season spiral.
The Aggies will have plenty of opportunity to prove themselves this year, but even if they objectively do so, there will still be far too many doubters. This is just another example of that.
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