Texas A&M, it seems, is still trying to overcome one of the biggest collapses in college football history. The 34-point lead it blew in The Coliseum to UCLA still haunts the Aggies. That, and the successive years of second-half-of-the-season implosions.
No, we’re not talking about the football team necessarily, but rather those whose business it is to produce college football rankings: The sportswriters from AP and the coaches. Neither group is showing much respect to Texas A&M as it heads into a key SEC West battle against Mississippi State on Saturday evening at Kyle Field.
On the one hand, perhaps you can give those pollsters a pass. That was one monumental melt down on the West Coast to start the season. And the Aggies certainly haven’t set the world on fire in the second half of the last few seasons. So maybe it’s no wonder that they sit at No. 24 in the coach’s poll and aren’t even ranked in the AP’s Top 25 list.
But there’s really no excuse for that. The Aggies’ resume is every bit as good as No. 23 LSU. The Tigers lost by 30 to Mississippi State and then lost their Homecoming to Troy. They needed a missed extra point to beat the Gators in The Swamp.
It’s certainly as good as No. 22 West Virginia. Are you serious? The Mountaineers’ best win has been a 46-35 triumph at home over a very average Texas Tech team. They lost by a touchdown to both Virginia Tech, at home, and at TCU. So their best showings have been close losses.
If looking impressive in a losing effort has merit, then guess what poll guys, nobody has played No. 1 Alabama any closer than the Aggies. A one-possession game with the nation’s best team; where losses are concerned, there isn’t one better.
And how does Auburn still rate in the top 20 (No. 19) over Texas A&M? Both have two losses. Sure, the Tigers wasted Missouri, Ole Miss, Arkansas and MSU, but they lost at LSU and Clemson. That body of work doesn’t seem so much different than what the Aggies have put together so far.
It appears that the polls aren’t the only place where the Aggies are being shunned. Early in the week, the oddsmakers were discarding them as well, installing Texas A&M as no better than a pick ’em bet at home against a Mississippi State team also looking to garner a nod from the pollsters. Unranked, the Dogs, like the Aggies, are 5-2 and trying to get beyond some shortcomings of their own behind highly-talented dual-threat QB Nick Fitzgerald. After opening the season with three consecutive victories, including the aforementioned 30-point thrashing of LSU, the Dogs were run over on consecutive weeks by No. 3 Georgia (31-3) and then by Auburn (49-10).
So it isn’t just a rising Aggies team, fresh from a bye week after taking down Florida, 19-17, in The Swamp, that’s looking to make an impression on Saturday. The Bulldogs are steadfast in their resolve to slow down an improving Aggies defense that, along with Clemson, leads the nation with 28 sacks. It’s a penetrating group led by LBs Tyrel Dodson and Otaro Alaka, along with DL Landis Durham, that tops the SEC (tied with Auburn) in tackles for loss (56).
There should be no more excuses. The winner of Saturday’s game will improve to a very respectable 6-2 and can no longer be ignored. It’s perfect timing, too, because the College Football Playoff committee will release its initial poll on Halloween night.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
