BRIAN T. SMITH: FISHER’S 6-1TEAMFORCING ITSWAY INTOTHE PLAYOFF DEBATE.
Don’t look now, but Jimbo Fisher’s Aggies are forcing their way into the CFP debate
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M in the College Football Playoff?
The Aggies finally taking the next big step?
Big program-changing thoughts are becoming more realistic as the sport’s craziest season in forever enters December.
It definitely wasn’t pretty for the No. 5 Aggies on Saturday night in the pounding rain. But it was one more strong SEC victory for Jimbo Fisher’s resilient 2020 team, via a 20-7 win over LSU inside a buzzing and glowing Kyle Field.
The same ol’ Aggies — faceplanting and disappointing at the worst time — would have found some way to fall against Ed Orgeron’s Tigers.
But even on a night when Kellen Mond completed just 11-of-34 passes and A&M was only 2-of-16 on third down, the Aggies still improved to 6-1.
Alabama, Notre Dame and Clemson all looked playoff worthy after Thanksgiving.
Who should be ranked as the fourth-best team in college football — and receive a precious ticket to a prestigious tournament that defines the sport — if Ohio State ends up playing a whopping five or six games?
Fisher’s crew knocked off then-No. 4 Florida 41-38 on Oct. 10. With only one loss — to the current No. 1 team in America — entering the final month of the regular season, the Aggies continue to move their personal version of 2020 forward.
A&M hadn't played since Nov. 7, with back-to-back games postponed because of COVID-19 issues.
National TV spotlight. Saturday night marquee.
Bad weather.
It was all set up for a late November breakthrough. Or one more painful letdown.
When Mond and Co. quickly exited the field after the game’s opening drive and a follow-up punt went just 31 yards, a threeweek break between contests appeared to make an immediate impact.
But when LSU answered by going for it on fourth-and-1 at the Aggies’ 35-yard line, the hurryup attack backfired and A&M found its rhythm again.
The Tigers barely did anything on offense in the first quarter. Aggies running back Isaiah Spiller sprinted 52 yards for a touchdown, and it was 10-0 home team as the second period began.
Ohio State, the No. 4 team in the country, was not allowed to play this weekend because of the coronavirus pandemic. The undefeated Buckeyes will enter December having played just four games.
Texas’ other huge football school is stuck at 5-3 and still can’t beat Iowa State. Oncepraised Tom Herman is now leading the sport’s annual hotseat rumor mill.
Cincinnati and Northwestern entered Saturday ranked higher than every Big 12 school. The latter fell, but an 8-0 American Athletic Conference team is still four spots ahead of No. 11 Oklahoma.
The Pac-12’s season has been a public relations disaster from the start. After Oregon State downed Oregon in the fog on Friday night, reigniting an old in-state war, the entire conference could already be out of the CFP chase.
Put it all together and what does it spell? The mighty SEC vs. the top-heavy ACC, with one off-and-on Big Ten school balancing out 2020’s uneven and unpredictable power struggle.
The Aggies’ previous two performances against the Tigers helped capture A&M’s initial two seasons under Fisher. It was 74-72 Aggies in a surreal seven overtimes in 2018. Then it was 50-7 LSU inside a roaring Tiger Stadium last season, as Joe Burrow began to go national — he soon became a modern legend in Baton Rouge, La. — and Orgeron kept shaping a historic team that finished as 15-0 national champions.
A year later, LSU is living the below-.500 life and adjusting to two new quarterbacks at once. The Aggies have developed into a multitiered unit that can dominate on both sides of the ball.
From 17-9 with back-to-back bowl wins under Fisher in 201819 to the edge of the CFP during a season when unprecedented keeps being redefined.
From a pushover for LSU in ’19 to a program that has topped the Tigers in two of the last three seasons and the clearly superior team Saturday.
NBA champion Alex Caruso was proudly cheered on Kyle Field’s jumbotron. Maroondrenched fans — many closely packed together and almost filling entire sections — swayed and chanted beneath the constant rain.
LSU had a potential first-half touchdown throw overturned and followed up the erasure with an interception. A 34-yard field goal also failed.
But the Tigers also remained within 13 points entering halftime and Mond struggled to find his touch.
Domination was teased but never arrived.
Yet No. 4 Ohio State was off and No. 5 A&M won with power again in the country’s toughest conference.
If the season-long trend continues, a 2020 CFP ticket should follow for the team that Fisher built and the program he has re-energized.