SEC bowl projections after Week 8: Texas A&M keeps stacking wins

The Texas A&M Aggies are undefeated heading into a monster matchup at No. 20 LSU.

With Georgia’s win over Ole Miss, the Aggies are the sole undefeated SEC program and one of just 2 remaining undefeated teams in SEC play, alongside Alabama. That’s all great, Aggies fans, but Texas A&M still has yet to face the toughest stretch of its season.

Three ranked road matchups remain for Mike Elko and Co: at LSU, at Mizzou and at Texas. Texas A&M is obviously perfect in road games this season, but just barely; the Aggies beat Notre Dame and Arkansas by a combined 4 points. Given the competition the Aggies have yet to play, I just don’t see A&M escaping this regular season unbeaten. Eleven wins, though? Absolutely.

Week 8 shook up the College Football Playoff standings like no other, and it started before Saturday’s action even kicked off. Miami losing to Louisville is a simply massive result, and it knocked the Hurricanes all the way down to No. 8 in our projections. Losing to a team it is superior to is not the most surprising result in the world for Miami, but it really did feel like this squad was going to be different. It’s only a bump in the road for now, though; Miami’s remaining schedule is laughably tame, and the door is still wide open. All the Canes have to do is walk through.

Texas Tech dropped just 1 spot to No. 7 despite losing to Arizona State. I expected a Red Raiders loss at some point this regular season, and they’re still the best team in the Big 12 with a healthy Behren Morton (he, of course, missed Saturday’s game against the Sun Devils). BYU is the only threat on the Red Raiders’ remaining schedule, and Texas Tech gets the Cougars at home in Lubbock.

Florida beating Mississippi State was an abject disaster for the Bulldogs’ bowl chances. The Gators (3-4), on the other hand, officially have life. Kentucky and Florida State are definitely winnable games for Florida, and Tennessee hasn’t beaten the Gators in Gainesville since before the iPhone came out. Considerably crazier things have happened, so Florida is back in the projections.

College Football Playoff

We’ll leave this here for anyone not familiar with the current CFP format for 2025-26:

• The top 5 conference champions will be awarded auto-bids, as they were last year. However, unlike last year, the top 4 of those 5 conference champions will not be guaranteed a first-round bye. Seeds 1-4 are simply be determined by their CFP ranking at the end of the season.
• This year’s quarterfinal matchups feature the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange Bowls, with the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl as semifinal hosts. As with last season, first-round matchups (Seeds 5-12) will be hosted by the higher-ranked team on campus.

Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. 8/9 winner

Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. 7/10 winner

Orange Bowl: Indiana vs. 6/11 winner

Cotton Bowl: Georgia vs. 5/12 winner

First Round

College Station, Texas: No. 5 Texas A&M vs. No. 12 Tulane

Eugene, Oregon: No. 6 Oregon vs. No. 11 Georgia Tech

Lubbock, Texas: No. 7 Texas Tech vs. No. 10 Notre Dame

Miami Gardens, Florida: No. 8 Miami vs. No. 9 Ole Miss

The Rest

Citrus Bowl: Mizzou vs. Michigan

ReliaQuest Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. USC

Gator Bowl: Texas vs. SMU

Texas Bowl: LSU vs. Utah

Music City Bowl: Tennessee vs. Nebraska

Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Louisville

Liberty Bowl: Auburn vs. Houston

Birmingham Bowl: Florida vs. App State

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.