Weekends off not relaxing
Aggies’ narrow CFP path can’t afford anymore postponements
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A& M has one top-five finish in the last 63 years, and that was No. 5 in 2012, the Aggies’ first season in the Southeastern Conference.
That’s why A & M fans, especially the ones long on, uh, wisdom cobbled from the unceasing ticking of the clock, were thrilled when the Aggies jumped from No. 7 to No. 5 a couple of weeks ago in the Associated Press poll. Then an already-reviled time period reared its head.
“2020,” A&M offensive lineman Carson Green said in succinctly summing up these 366 days, “has been a hell of a year.”
Forget the wall. The fifth-ranked Aggies’ proverbial backs are up against the weeks now after missing their second consecutive Saturday of action this weekend following three positive COVID-19 tests last week, including two players.
“We still have four weeks,” an optimistic A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said, “to play four games.”
TheAggies (5-1) felt fortunate to stick atNo. 5 onSunday after their scheduled game at Tennessee was postponed, likely to a December date. They also realize they can’t keep having Saturday off — as they will again thisweek, thanks to a postponed home game against Mississippi — and expect to stay within striking range of the four-team College Football Playoff.
“That’s the ultimate goal. You want to be in the playoffs, and you want to go win it,” said Fisher, who avoids discussing the CFP unless asked directly about it. “Right now we’re trying to controlwhatwe can control and stay in themoment ofwhere we are. And if we keep taking care of business and playingwell, we’ll have opportunities at the end.”
The problem for the Ag--
gies is they no longer have a two-weekend cushion to help finish out a revised 10game schedule of SEC-only games. They’re also at the mercy of their final four opponents — LSU, Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi — and crossing their fingers those programs will also have enough players to bang helmets between the lines.
As the aggravated Aggies sit idly by in mid-November — “Sitting out definitely throws everybody off,” Green said — sixth-ranked Florida and senior quarterback Kyle Trask of Manvel are grabbing national headlines. A&M beat Florida 4138 at Kyle Field on Oct. 10, but some national pundits are making the case that the surging Gators are now the better team and more deserving of a CFP bid should it come to that.
“That’s opinion. We’ll see,” Fisher said. “I haven’t seen the official (CFP) rankings.”
No one has because they’re not scheduled for release until Tuesday, with a final four now scheduled for release Dec. 20 (al
though all that could change if those in charge opt to pushback the endof the regular season to squeeze in more games).
“Everybody has an opinion,” Fisher continued. “It’s going to be what you doon the field and howyou do it on the field, and that’s all we can control. We’ll control what we can control, and they can say what they say.”
The Aggies currently have only one positive COVID-19 case, but contact tracing has sidelined about half the scholarship players over these two weeks, perhaps the most frustrating aspect for the program. A&M is expected to practice Sunday for the first time in two weeks in preparation for itsNov. 28 home game against LSU.
“Life is about changes. It’s about adaptation. It’s about making the best out of situations,” Fisher said. “This is a great lesson for (the Aggies) about life, and I think they’ll handle it the rightway. So far they have.”
For the Aggies to make their first CFP, which started in 2014, and compete for
their first national title since 1939, they need to first actually play and then win all four of their remaining scheduled games.
They also need topranked Alabama (A&M’s lone loss this season) to roll over likely foe Florida in the SEC title game, and they need No. 2 Notre Dame to beat No. 4 Clemson all over again, this time in the ACC title game. Should those things happen, the Aggies might find themselves in a quite enviable position in only Fisher’s third season.
He led Florida State to a national title in 2013 and had the Seminoles in the first CFP in 2014 (a 59-20 loss to Oregon in the semifinals). Those FSU squads didn’t have to fight through a pandemic and an unexpected break in November, however. All college teams in the power conferences have dealt with the former this season — not all have dealt with the latter.
“There have been a lot of obstacles for us to play, so this is just another obstacle we have to get over,” Green said. “You can’t control the weather; you can’t control what the refs say. This is kind of the same deal. The only thing we’re focused on is … getting better.”