I’d like to think I’m an optimistic person, a glass half-full kind of guy. Now that the schedule has been finalized and SEC camps are open, we can start talking some actual football.

So let’s carry on with 10 bold predictions for Texas A&M for the 10-game 2020 season, one that many Aggies fans are pointing to as the turning point for the program and coach Jimbo Fisher.

1. Kellen Mond, Texas A&M all-time passing leader

In his 4th season under center at Texas A&M, Mond needs 633 passing yards to become the all-time leading passer in Aggies’ football history, surpassing Jerrod Johnson and his 8,011 passing yards over 4 seasons at Texas A&M. (Johnny Manziel is 2nd with 7,820 in just 2 seasons.)

Aggies fans would love for Mond to reach the record at Alabama in Week 2. That would mean the offense obviously is playing well.

The Aggies face Florida the following week.

2. Aggies head into late November with a chance to win the SEC West

This is what Aggieland has been waiting for, an opportunity to compete for a title. Not since Manziel brought the Aggies to the doorstep has the 12th Man anticipated a football season quite like this one.

The schedule might have softened some of the expectations, but if the Aggies can upset Alabama or Florida and get to 2-1, the rest of it sets up nicely for a mad dash to Atlanta.

LSU and Auburn await in the final 2 weeks of the season.

Aggies fans would love nothing more than to enter that LSU game 7-1, highly-ranked and still with a chance to win the SEC West for the first time.

3. Mond also becomes Aggies’ all-time leader in passing TDs

Coming into the 2020 season, Mond needs 15 passing touchdowns to tie Texas A&M’s all-time record of 67, also set by Johnson. (Manziel is 2nd with 63.) A regular 12-game schedule would have given Mond ample opportunity to break that record, too.

The shortened, 10-game all-conference schedule will make this pursuit more challenging, but it’s still well within reach.

If he gets off to a good start against Vanderbilt and survives the Alabama-Florida gauntlet, the next 5 opponents are Mississippi State, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ole Miss. It would be disappointing if Mond didn’t pass the 15-TD mark somewhere along that run.

Mond threw 13 TD passes in 8 SEC games last season. Maintaining that pace again this season would be enough to set yet another mark for Texas A&M.

4. Mond becomes 1st in school history to break 10,000 yards

No player in Texas A&M football history has piled up 10,000 total yards in his career. Manziel was the closest with 9,989 total yards. And, again, he did it in 2 years. But it speaks to the longevity of his successful career at Texas A&M that Mond will be the first to surpass the 10,000-yard mark.

I don’t know when he’ll do it and that’s not important. What is important is the fact that Mond needs 1,307 total yards to do what no other Aggie in the history of the program has done.

And though he’s had his ups and downs over the first 3 years at Texas A&M, Mond has persevered and will rewrite the record books in 2020, even with a shortened schedule. Yes, it’s going to be a tall task, but with a bowl game thrown in — and who knows, maybe even an SEC Championship Game added to the mix — Mond should get there.

5. One more for the record books: Mond sets total TD record

Mond needs 23 total touchdowns this season to equal what Manziel did in 2 years (93 TDs). Mond threw for 20 in 13 games last season after tossing 24 TD passes in 2018. But if he doesn’t do it all through the air, Mond is always a threat to cross the goal line with the football still in his possession. He ran for 8 TDs last season after scoring 7 rushing touchdowns in 2018.

The question then becomes, can Mond be the first player in Aggies’ history to account for 100 total touchdowns?

He needs 30 to reach that plateau. Mond accounted for 28 TDs last season and 31 in 2018. It would have been doable under normal conditions. Shortening the regular season to 10 games, all against SEC caliber opposition, makes that goal a lofty one.

6. Texas A&M will go 4-0 against SEC East

Texas A&M already knew it would face South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The SEC added games against Florida and Tennessee.

Tougher, yes, but hardly insurmountable for a team that considers itself a Playoff contender.

Going 4-0 against the East should be the expectation. Yes, the program has reached that level. The Aggies were victorious in their most recent (2017) trip to The Swamp, and played Georgia to a one-possession game Between the Hedges last season. They’re a better football team this year than they were in either of the past 2 seasons.

7. Pass defense holds opposition under 200 yards

Yes, this is the boldest prediction. Only once since joining the SEC did the Aggies hold opponents to fewer than 200 yards passing on average over a full season. That was in 2015 when the Aggies were 2nd in the SEC, allowing 166.3 passing yards on average per game.

The closest they’ve come since was last season, when they gave up 209.5.

The SEC West will present its annual challenges, perhaps made even more difficult this season with the addition of pass-happy Mike Leach and Lane Kiffin.

Playing Vanderbilt helps. The Dores are starting from scratch at quarterback.

We know Florida has a capable QB in Kyle Trask, but maybe that’s offset by Tennessee, which has struggled through the air since Josh Dobbs left in 2016.

As a bonus, the Aggies return nearly all of their secondary for 2020 and that experience will be the difference. Myles Jones and Elijah Blades at the corners and Leon O’Neal Jr. and Demani Richardson are budding stars. The Aggies must increase the takeaways this season, and a better pass rush will also be key in dropping those passing stats below the 200-yard mark.

8. Aggies’ run game among top 5 in SEC

A senior-laden offensive line will pave the way for running backs Isaiah Spiller and Ainias Smith to combine for enough rushing yards to place the Aggies among the top 5 run teams in the SEC in 2020. That might not sound like much, but only twice since joining the SEC in 2012 has Texas A&M had such a vaunted run game. Behind Manziel, they led the league in 2012, and they finished 3rd in 2018.

Spiller turned in an impressive freshman season in 2019 that included a 200-yard game against UTSA. He was just 54 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season. If the move to running back from wide receiver is as good as we’re expecting for Smith, the Aggies will be explosive on the ground, especially when you factor in Mond’s running ability.

9. Best defense since joining the SEC

With all the focus on Mond and the Aggies’ potentially potent offense, it’s the defense that will make or break the 2020 season. Mond will move the offense and the Aggies will score points. But keeping the opposition from doing the same will be the key. Since joining the SEC, that has been a task the Aggies have failed to accomplish. Since 2012, Texas A&M has finished no higher than 7th in the SEC defensive in average yards allowed per game. That will change in 2020. The Aggies will be among the better defenses in the conference with a veteran secondary, emerging linebackers and a defensive line looking to step up its game.

10. Aggies go 8-3 after a bowl victory

This is supposed to be the year Texas A&M steps out of the shadows and into the SEC West limelight. And it will, but until it can knock off SEC West Goliaths LSU and Alabama settling for a 7-3 regular season will be as good as it gets in 2020. Add in a victory against an inferior opponent becomes their 8th win of the season. Would that be enough to keep Fisher from opening 2021 on the hot seat?