Each SDS roundtable discussion involves the SDS staff providing individual answers and comments to questions covering a wide range of sports and non-sports topics. In this discussion, we ask the question: Can Texas A&M take an LSU-like leap in 2020?

A bit of background …

Texas A&M QB Kellen Mond recently said he thinks the Aggies can follow LSU’s blueprint and rise from good to elite in 2020. Mond noted that the Aggies have come close but haven’t won the big games. He’s confident the Aggies can learn from the Tigers’ rise from good to great in just 1 season. Is he right? Are the Aggies really that close to winning the SEC West and competing for a Playoff spot?

Jon Cooper, SDS co-founder

In order for Texas A&M to make any kind of jump like LSU did, Kellen Mond will be the catalyst like Joe Burrow. Mond won’t have to be as great as Burrow was; however, he has to make big enough plays to beat LSU, Auburn and Alabama during the stretch SEC run. He hasn’t exactly shown he’s able to do that. I’m not saying he can’t or won’t, but he hasn’t shown he has that type of elite ability yet. Being a senior in Jimbo Fisher’s offense certainly helps, and the Aggies have some nice talent around the quarterback.

For example, during Texas A&M’s 2019 season, Mond completed just 58-of-114 passes (50.9 percent) against Clemson, Alabama and LSU. The efficiency and completion percentage have to take a major jump against elite competition. Can it happen? Yes. Will it happen? I just don’t see it.

Connor O’Gara, SDS senior columnist

I’ll say it in Spanish. “No.”

To be clear, I think A&M will improve and compete for the West. If the Aggies aren’t sitting there at 9-1 going into the Alabama game, yikes. But here’s what I don’t like about Mond saying that. We’re talking about an A&M team that was 7-5 in the regular season. Even worse, the Aggies led for just 7 minutes and 42 seconds against the 5 teams they faced that finished in the top 15.

LSU, on the other hand, was a 9-3 team that was a blown call in College Station from being 10-2 in the regular season before their leap. The Tigers made said leap because they returned loads of talent on both sides of the ball, and they changed systems. A&M isn’t changing systems. It just has a more favorable schedule.

Even if Mond is simply saying that he believes A&M can win a national championship, and not the Aggies are capable of producing arguably the best season in college football history like LSU did in 2019, I still don’t like it. LSU had at least proven it could beat top-10 teams in 2018 before making that leap.

Mond is the same quarterback who said before the 2019 season that he felt he was better than Tua Tagovailoa. The confidence is great, but let’s see the Aggies actually go on the road and beat a quality team for the first time in 4 years before making that jump.

Michael Bratton, News editor

I’ll start by noting I’m leaning toward picking Texas A&M to win the SEC West next season. I’ve been saying all offseason that Alabama is being overrated and Auburn and LSU are going to take a step back. With new hires at Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, the Aggies are in prime position to have their best opportunity yet under Jimbo Fisher to make a run at Atlanta.

That being said, the answer to the question is of course no.

LSU’s 2019 team is being debated as perhaps the best single-season team in college football history. It’s completely unrealistic to expect another team to do the same the next season. Keep in mind, Kellen Mond was saying he was the SEC’s best quarterback heading into 2019 and we all know how that played out.

I like the confidence from Mond, but we’ve seen nothing to suggest the Aggies are going to make this type of leap. Hell, A&M lost its most recent SEC game 50-7. Fisher is entering Year 3 in College Station and is still searching for his signature win. What addition has been made in College Station that resembles LSU hiring Joe Brady? The lack of an offseason in college football is also likely to hurt any program’s opportunity to make an LSU-like leap this offseason.

One last thing to keep in mind: While no one could have seen LSU’s 15-0 season coming, there were at least signs of big things coming for the Tigers based on what they did on the field in 2018. Ed Orgeron’s program upset Miami in the opener, won on the road against Auburn in Joe Burrow’s first SEC game and they beat the brakes off No. 2 Georgia 36-16.

Nothing Texas A&M has accomplished under Fisher matches those accomplishments to date.

Adam Spencer, Newsletter editor

Short answer: No. Slightly longer answer: Nah.

I’m not saying Jimbo Fisher won’t eventually have the Aggies competing for national titles, but it won’t be in 2020. The 2018 LSU squad (the year before the Tigers made the jump to national champions) was light years ahead of where the Aggies were in 2019. If you look at what LSU did in 2018, it’s no comparison. The Tigers beat 5 ranked teams, including 4 that were ranked in the top 7 at the time of the game. The 2019 Aggies, by contrast, lost all 5 regular-season games against ranked teams. Their lone ranked win came against No. 25 Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl.

Basically, what I’m saying is that if the Aggies are going to make a jump to competing for a title this year, they’re going to need an even bigger jump than LSU had. Looking at A&M’s schedule, they should win their first 6 games. But, a trip to Auburn on Oct. 17 looks daunting. Then, there are the last 2 games — at Alabama and at home vs. LSU. Yikes.

I like Kellen Mond more than most people and think he could be the best quarterback in the SEC this year, but he doesn’t have Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson to throw to and he doesn’t have Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the backfield. I like Mond’s enthusiasm, but this isn’t going to be a Playoff year in College Station.

Chris Wright, Executive editor

Joe Burrow threw 60 TD passes last season. That was 1 more than LSU threw in the 4 previous seasons. That type of leap was historic, unprecedented and completely unexpected.

Can Mond duplicate that kind of leap? No. But he can improve.

Mond actually threw fewer TD passes in Year 2 with Fisher than he did in Year 1 (24 in 2018, 20 in 2019). A&M’s schedule had something to do with that.

The schedule is considerably easier this season. Clemson and Georgia are gone, replaced by another nonconference cupcake and Vanderbilt.

That alone should allow Mond to creep toward 35 TD passes and the Aggies to approach 10 wins.

How close they come to matching LSU’s perfect 2019 season will be decided in games at Auburn and Alabama.

LSU won at Alabama last season. That was Alabama’s 1st SEC home loss since 2015 against Ole Miss.

The Tide haven’t lost a home conference game in consecutive seasons since losing to Auburn in 2010, LSU in 2011 and Texas A&M in 2012.

Mond and the Aggies will need to make some history of their own to make it to Atlanta in 2020.