Aggies seek to regain edge after virus hiatus
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M receiver Ainias Smith is aware the first College Football Playoff ranking will be released Tuesday night. But while his eyes are on his sport’s ultimate prize, Smith said he will not allowone to stray toward the television.
“I’m not going to look at it,” Smith said with a shrug of the CFP’s accompanying TV show.
Any particular reason, considering the fifth-ranked Aggies have a shot at cracking the CFP’s first top four?
“I’m not too much worried about it,” said Smith, usually much chattier.
Smith and his teammates vow they’ve bought into coach Jimbo Fisher’s approach of zeroing in on the task at hand — and that task Saturday is the 5-1 Aggies’ first game in three weeks.
“I feel like we’re ready,” running back Isaiah Spiller said. “Ev
erybody is anxious and ready to play.”
A&M is starting the final 40 percent of its regular season with a clean COVID-19 slate. Fisher said his team has zero current positive cases as A&M prepares to host LSU on Saturday night at Kyle Field.
“We’ve got to practice the heck out of them this week, practice hard and get that timing (down) andmake it as realistic as we can,” Fisher said of the importance of drills following the layoff.
The Aggies have not played the last two weekends because of contact tracing resulting from three previous positive tests, including two players. Those delayed games — at Tennessee and at home against Mississippi — have been re
scheduled for December, with the exact makeup dates to be announced after the SEC sorts through its scenarios to get in as many league contests as possible.
Despite not playing the Volunteers and Rebels, the Aggies (5-1) have maintained their No. 5 ranking in the Associated Press poll, just ahead of Florida, which A&M defeated 41-38 on Oct. 10 at Kyle Field. A&M’s last game was a 48-3 trouncing of South Carolina on Nov. 7.
“A very solid football team,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said of the Aggies, “but we’re going to be ready for the challenge.”
The Tigers are the reigning national champions but at 3-3 already have three more losses than in 15 games last season. The Aggies, in search of their first national title since 1939, now have four weekends to play four games and
can’t afford any more postponements if they hope to earn strong consideration for the CFP.
Following Tuesday night’s initial ranking, the announcement of the CFP’s final four is scheduled for Dec. 20. That could change, however, if the college football regular season winds up being pushed back as the power leagues try squeezing in more games for a more even playing field when determining the title-seeking foursome.
Considering the Aggies are scheduled to play their first game in three weeks Saturday, Fisher said the CFP show will not be on his Tuesday night slate.
“Wewill just have had our Tuesday practice, and I’ll be in there watching film like crazy,” Fisher said. “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday — those are grind days for us. I won’t have time to
look at the TV.”
Fisher, who led Florida State to a national title in 2013, said he understands the importance of the CFP. It’s just that it won’t matter to A&M if the Aggies don’t take care of business on the field.
“That’s our ultimate goal. That’s where youwant to go— we understand that,” Fisher said of making the playoff. “It’s great to be mentioned, and it’s great to be up there.… But you can’t worry about it. If we’re in there and close, that’s awesome. But it ain’t gonna make us win games, and it ain’t gonna make us lose games.
“What’s going to do that is how we prepare… and not let that stuff get clouded in our heads.”
Fisher said the offensive and defensive lineswere not part of contact tracing last week and were able to go head-to-head in practice, so the Aggies at least have that going for them this week.
“The guys are hungry, and they miss playing,” Fisher said of his entire team. “I don’t anticipate them not coming back full bore.”
In another development Monday, freshman receiver Kam Brown announced he is transferring to UCLA. Brown is the son of former Dallas Cowboys defensive back Larry Brown, the Super Bowl XXX Most Valuable Player.
Fisher on Monday described Kam Brown as a “great young man … from a great family” and wished him the best. Brown, who chose A&M over UCLA two years ago, played in all six of A&M’s games this season, with four starts. But his playing time diminished with the return of junior Hezekiah Jones from injury.