For the first time in the history of Texas A&M University, they are headed to the College Football Playoffs. Since the inception of the 4-team playoffs back in 2014, A&M has come close once to making the 4-team bracket back in the 2020 season, when they ended the season beating North Carolina in the Orange Bowl and finished the season 9-1 in the regular season. Their only loss that year was to the eventual champion Alabama. After a victory in the Orange Bowl, A&M ranked 4^th in the AP poll.

2025-2026 marks the second season on where it has moved from a 4-team bracket to a 12-team playoff. The Aggies are seeded 7 and host Miami on Dec. 20^th. So, not only is this our first year in the playoffs, but it will also be our first year to host a playoff game at Kyle Field.

There are those who would argue that A&M should have a first round bye, or should have at least been seeded 5^th or 6^th, and hosted teams of much lesser caliber than Miami. Bottom line is if you beat Texas, you have a first round bye. If you had beaten them, then Georgia would not have had the opportunity to beat the brakes off of Alabama like they did and hurl themselves into a first round bye.

Had we also beaten Alabama in the SEC Championship game, I think then and only then would you have gotten the 3 seed.

The way it now shapes out, A&M has Miami first. Hosting a playoff game at Lyle Field will be huge. If victorious, they get Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. The only place to play Ohio State that would have been better would be Kyle Field, so we should count ourselves fortunate.

I would argue that right now, the 2 best teams are Indiana and Georgia—you pick the order you like here. They way this pays out is if A&M keeps winning, they could play Miami, Ohio State, Georgia and then Indiana for the Championship. I don’t want to overlook Texas Tech here. Some would argue they are built the same way Indiana is. Perhaps then Tech may have the best chance in that bracket to knock off the one-seed Hoosiers.

Can you imagine the national angst if the Championship game came down to a game between Texas Tech and Texas A&M? Vegas says the odds are against it. Tech’s chance to get to the championship game around +800 to +900, while A&M’s odds are at +1600 to +1800.

But wouldn’t it be grand! 

So now the time for talk is over. It is time to line up and play the game. The spread for the Miami game is 4.5 in favor of A&M. Most suggest that home field is worth 3 points. So this tells you how close they think this game will be. Just win!

And regardless of the outcome, we hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!