You see all the comments, and all the stats. You look at what the team did last night, and how can you not get excited about the future of A&M? Let me rephrase - how can you not get MORE excited about the future of this program?
So let's talk perspective for a moment, starting with last night's opponent. How good or bad are they?
South Carolina, in my opinion, is going to beat East Carolina, then lose to Georgia before they can really settle into how they are going to play this year. That puts them a 1-2 before they should win their next four (at Vandy, v. Mizzou, at Kentucky, v. Furman. Maybe they lose to Mizzou?
Then they get the meat of their schedule: at Aub, v. Tenn, at Florida, v. S. Alabama, at Clemson. I don't know if they have the talent to beat Auburn, but they should be good enough to beat Tennessee. Florida will probably win at home if they are as improved as expected. Beating South Alabama isn't a question. It is way too soon to know how good or bad Clemson is going to be. For evaluation purposes, let's put Carolina at 8-4 to 9-3. That is a top 25 team that will play in a reasonably good bowl game.
So while maybe they weren't deserving of being in the top 10, that is still a pretty good win.
Now the Aggies get to play Lamar, Rice and at SMU - all games they should win that will also be good chances to learn and improve. Then they get what should be their easiest SEC conference game, Arkansas. That is a good ramp up of games that should put them at 5-0 and help them really get to full speed.
Then we get to the Mississippi schools. Before Thursday, I think we all had concerns about how good the Aggies were going to be. Now, assuming that they use the next four games appropriately, I think it is safe to say A&M should win the game against Ole Miss and probably against Mississippi State. Ole Miss is at Kyle, and it is right after they play Bama, which will either crush them or have them on cloud nine and not ready to focus on the Aggies. The game against State I think is a matchup problem for the Bulldogs - they don't have a vertical passing game, the thing that is the Aggie weakness right now. And as we saw last two years, the Bulldogs don't have the defense to stop the A&M offense, and this year's offense is likely better than what they faced the last 2 seasons.
Where does that leave us? Undefeated at 7-0 is a distinct possibility, although dropping one to either Mississippi schools - which are both improved - is possible. So let's say 6-1 or 7-0. Either way, a really good start to the year.
Now let's talk the meat, game by game.
At Alabama. At this point in the season, the Tide will have played Florida, Ole Miss and Arkansas, on top of playing West Virginia to start the year, so they will have figured out their personnel and coached up any youth that needs it. There will be no surprises in this game.
It is really too soon to say how good they are going to be, especially as we don't know their quarterback situation. Suffice to say, though, they will be strong. What might have been an 90/10 probable loss before yesterday in the eyes of most is now probably 60/40. I am going to leave this one in the loss column for now until we know more about both teams - how much improved can the Aggie secondary and linebacker corps get, and how good is Bama. 6-2 or 7-1.
Louisiana Monroe - this should be a win, or we have much bigger problems. 7-2 or 8-1.
At Auburn. Here is one of the really interesting games. I think Auburn is really really really good. But they also got really really really lucky in three games last season - against the Aggies, Georgia and Alabama. At least one or two of those games will come back to the mean. They are at Ole Miss the week before, so that should be a challenging game, whereas we are playing La-Monroe. Is that enough for us to win on the road? I am not sure - this is a toss up for me at this point. 7-3/8-2/9-1.
Missouri. I think this is like the Mississippi teams, although as it is later in the year, the chance for Pinkel to coach 'em up is legitimate and one of his strengths. This is a game the Aggies should win if they are what we think they are, though. 8-3/9-2/10-1.
LSU. The Aggie's kryptonite so far in the SEC. Is a win here possible? Very. It is at Kyle, of course. With time to prepare, and LSU is breaking in a lot of new players. When you wash all the possibilities through, I am going to put this in the win column and say that the team is going to end up in the range of 9-3/10-2/11-1.
The realist in me has them losing to Bama, Auburn and LSU or pulling the upset in one of those games while dropping one they probably shouldn't, but if Sumlin is Sumlin and this team plays to potential, 10-2 with losses to Bama and either Auburn or LSU is likely, and I am not counting out the possibility that the only loss is to Bama.
Is 12-0 possible? I must admit that it is now not impossible. But I do think it is unlikely. And from this particular microphone, I am saying, "Let's tap the breaks on any talk of a national title or Heisman Trophy, or even SEC championship." Let's take things one game at a time, and there is a LOT of football to be played. Shoot, even 8-4 is still possible with the holes in the secondary and the loss of Hilliard from the linebacker corps.
But one thing that I think every Aggie can enjoy is the clear fact that this offense is as dangerous, if not more dangerous, as ever, and that alone, along with the continued special teams success and improvement on defense, is worth 8 wins on this schedule barring unimaginable injuries.
Whoop!
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