Looks like our friends at Aggies Wire were right. Earlier this week, our sister website ranked Texas A&M’s toughest remaining opponents. They ranked Texas second. No. 1? South Carolina. While, it’s yet to be seen if the Gamecocks are A&M’s toughest opponent, there was certainly well-founded worry about South Carolina.
We had this game on our Bye Week viewers guide for the same reason. South Carolina has a great defense, were at home and had come up just short against LSU and Alabama.
After a week of being the toast of college football, the Aggies traveled to Columbia and were soundly beaten by the Gamecocks, 44-20. South Carolina jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. But A&M climbed back into the game, and went into halftime tied 20-20.
South Carolina came out locker room and shut out the Aggies offense in the second half, while rolling off 24 points and the win.
After A&M’s comeback win over LSU last Saturday, the Aggies were being talked about as a probable playoff team. It seemed, based on the discussions in the media, Texas A&M was now a favorite to beat Texas.
After Texas lost to Georgia, the Horns were still a 75.8% favorite over A&M in the ESPN Matchup Predictor. After Texas squeaked by Vanderbilt, combined with the Aggies win over LSU, that percentage was down to 50.9%. It is now up to 69.8%.
Beyond ESPN’s super computers, the Aggies loss means five teams at the top of the SEC have just one loss. In addition to Texas and A&M, Georgia, Tennessee and LSU all control their own destiny. Win out and make it to the SEC championship game. The Horns play the Aggies. Georgia faces Tennessee. LSU is the only one of the 1-loss group that doesn’t face another member of the group. But the Tigers must still face nemesis Alabama.
None of these five can afford to focus on just their biggest game. Texas for example has Florida, a very dangerous road trip to Arkansas and Kentucky, who were must more competitive against Georgia than UT was.
A two-loss team might get into the SEC title game, but they’ll need help. Alabama and Ole Miss currently sit at two losses. Both participants of the SEC title game should be close to locks for the college football playoff. Every other conference team will be hoping for a lot of breaks.
Texas needs to keep winning. Whether its a blowout or a nail-biter, every game is like a playoff game for the rest of the season, especially against the 7-2 Texas A&M Aggies.