Heading into summer, one SEC West team with a new, high-priced defensive coordinator is being hailed as a College Football Playoff contender with serious national title potential. The other school that shelled out the big bucks to bring in a new defensive boss is an afterthought, barely sneaking into most early top-25 projections.

Despite coming from similar starting points, the expectations for Texas A&M and Auburn seem to be wildly different. The question is why the two teams are viewed so differently heading into the summer.

This offseason, both schools made similar moves to pair a defensive mastermind with their juggernaut offensive machines. John Chavis and Will Muschamp both have similar track records of building top-15 defenses at every stop; Muschamp at LSU, Auburn, Texas and Florida (as head coach), Chavis at LSU and Tennessee.

Yet for a variety of reasons, Texas A&M is viewed as a fringe contender in the SEC.

Auburn is clearly talented; they’re calling up Jeremy Johnson to replace Nick Marshall at quarterback, and he has the makings of a star. He’s already showing up on Heisman watch lists and is talking about putting up the greatest quarterback season in Auburn history. The Tigers have a talented group of running backs, a star at receiver and a few core offensive line pieces on offense as well.

They also have talented veterans returning on defense, along the defensive line and linebacking corps, as well as a pair of talented corners in Jonathan Jones and Joshua Holsey. Auburn is thin in spots, especially in the secondary, but for the most part Muschamp and Malzahn are getting the benefit of the doubt.

Texas A&M should be afforded at least somewhat of the same. The Aggies don’t have the same kind of proven defensive veterans coming back, but it’s not like they lack for talent. Since 2013, Texas A&M has signed 20 four- or five-star defensive players, and that talent should have an easier time performing in a simplified defensive scheme.

The Aggies also have one of the biggest game-changers in the SEC in Myles Garrett, a player who should thrive in the new defensive scheme and thereby make life easier for his defensive teammates. Garrett did have his problems at times last year, wearing down against SEC opponents and struggling to stop teams that ran right at him, but given the reports out of spring practice it sounds like improvement is coming in all facets of Garrett’s game.

The real question, though, is why the rest of the country isn’t as fearful of Texas A&M’s offense as they are of Auburn’s. Auburn is replacing its entire core, save for star receiver D’haquille Williams. The Aggies, meanwhile, are bringing back nearly all of their key skill players.

Kyle Allen, the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the nation in 2014, just got a full spring under his belt as unquestioned starter after taking over the position in the final month of the 2014 season. He returns with receiving weapons Josh Reynolds, Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones, among others, in one of the most loaded pass-catching group in the nation, adding in five-star freshman Christian Kirk for good measure.

The running game gets back Tra Carson and Brandon Williams while adding two interesting freshmen, and it should be a more effective weapon with new offensive line coach and running game coordinator Dave Christensen, a respected offensive mind plucked away from Utah.

There are questions along the offensive line after losing a couple of starters, including first-round pick Cedric Ogbuehi, but that unit was shaky for much of 2014, far from the dominance it showed in 2012. Like Chavis on defense, Christensen doesn’t lack for talent to restore the line to its former excellence.

Texas A&M certainly has a long way to go. The defense is climbing out of the bottom of the conference and from the depths of the national rankings, giving Chavis a very different kind of challenge than what he faced at LSU.

And, without a doubt, the Aggies have as difficult of a road to contention as anyone in the SEC West, although they do get a break with Vanderbilt as one of their cross-divisional games. Life when the other six teams in the division are all in consideration to go into the season with a ranking next to their name is never going to be easy.

Maybe the Aggies aren’t ready to be talked about as a national title contender yet, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone if they give the rest of the SEC massive headaches.