Texas A&M should be ahead of Ohio State in CFP; Aggies treated like Bears or Frogs
Texas A&M was always sure it was better than TCU or Baylor, but the Aggies are no different than the Horned Frogs or Bears.
Jimbo Fisher is now learning the lesson no one told him when he signed that 10-year, $75 million contract with Texas A&M — that to the crooks who run the BCS Plus 2 College Football Playoff, the Aggies may as well be TCU or Baylor.
If ever Texas A&M was ever going to reach the playoffs you would have figured in would have been in 2020, but of course it’s not happening. Because the Aggies just aren’t the Buckeyes. Or the Irish. Or ’Bama.
The prom committee wants what the prom committee wants, and it’s not the Aggies.
On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff committee released its rankings and an Ohio State team that has played all of five games is fourth.
There is no point in playing the games.
No sport punches itself in the crotch more than college football, and the modifications it made for the ‘14 season created a model even more exclusive than the previous Member’s Only version.
A&M is the power team that did everything it is supposed to do, but to become the first team from Texas to make this sham of a playoff the Aggies will now need the luck of the Irish.
The only difference is the luck of the Irish only applies to Notre Dame. And Ohio State. Don’t rule out USC, too.
No. 2 Notre Dame (10-0) will play No. 3 Clemson this weekend in the ACC title game. Clemson is not going to lose to Notre Dame twice in a season, thus ensuring the Tigers will be in the playoffs again.
Top-ranked Alabama is a 17-point favorite against Florida in the SEC title game.
Third-ranked Ohio State is a 19.5-point favorite against Northwestern in the Big 10 title game, and the only reason Ohio State is in there is because the Big 10 amended its 2020 rules that previously stated to play in the conference title game required a minimum of six games.
That leaves the fourth spot available, ostensibly for the fifth-place Aggies.
Do you think a committee of cronies and buddies will leave out a one-loss Notre Dame? Or potentially undefeated Pac-12 champion USC?
Meanwhile, Texas A&M will go on to defeat a bad Tennessee team to finish the regular season 8-1, and then hold a vigil around Reveille in the prayer they will finish in the top four.
A six-win Ohio State is going to job its third Texas school since the creation of the playoff.
If you live with an Aggie, clear out for the day when the final college football rankings are released on Sunday, Dec 20.
We all know how this plays out.
In 2014, TCU or Baylor were in position to finish in the top four, but were jumped in the final rankings by Ohio State, which went on to win the national title.
The (accurate) cry was TCU and Baylor were left out because of the name on the front of the jersey.
That TCU team could have played with, and defeated, two of the four playoff teams that season: Oregon and Florida State. TCU was not going to beat Ohio State or Alabama.
But make no mistake, either TCU or Baylor had played its way into the top four.
So have the Aggies this season.
Never did I think what happened to the two Texas private schools could happen to a Texas A&M.
It’s not Ohio State’s fault, and they should also not be rewarded. Or, in this case, gifted a playoff spot.
The Buckeyes have thus far defeated one team with a winning record, at No. 7 Indiana, 42-35. The combined record of their other four opponents is a measly 10-20.
Other than a butt-kicking administered by Alabama in Tuscaloosa, A&M has handled every opponent. Its strength of schedule is 9th; the Buckeyes’ strength of schedule is 79th.
People just don’t respect Texas A&M yet, or view the Aggies as “SEC good.”
Of the eight teams A&M beat in 2019, four fired their head coaches that season. This year, three of the Aggies’ seven wins are against teams that have since fired their coach, too.
Do not be surprised if there is a fourth. Tennessee is crazy enough to dump third-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
Just be surprised if Texas A&M somehow makes the playoffs.
This was not supposed to happen to the Aggies, but it turns out the CFP doesn’t view Texas A&M any differently than it does Baylor or TCU.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 6:27 PM.
