Aggies get one final chance to impress
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M has not been in national championship contention this late in a season this century.
It’s why the fifth-ranked Aggies (7-1) will play their biggest game in years — whether they realize it or not — at 11 a.m. today at Tennessee (3-6).
“This is a talented football team,” A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said of the Volunteers, who’ve lost six of their past seven games after a 2-0 start. “We’re going to have to play an ‘A’ game — they’re definitely going to be up for this one.”
Certainly there have been more hyped games since A&M joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012 — No. 1 Alabama’s visit to Kyle Field in September 2013 comes to mind as one of many ex
amples — but none more important to the Aggies’ actual national title hopes.
The last time the Aggies were in striking distance of playing for a national title in late November or December, they were ranked sixth and narrowly lost at Texas on Thanksgiving weekend of 1998. A&M went on to win the Big 12 title that season in an upset of No. 2 Kansas State and finished 11th following a Sugar Bowl loss to Ohio State.
Incredibly, considering the amount of money put into the program and emphasis on football over the decades, A&M only has one top five finish in the last 63 years. In 2012, the Aggies finished No. 5, rising in the rankings from No. 9 following the final game, a whipping of Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.
They were No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff tabulation of 2016 in early November under then-coach Kevin Sumlin but promptly lost at Mississippi State the following weekend to fall out of contention.
This year, in Fisher’s third season, the Aggies were No. 5 in the initial CFP rankings and have stayed there the past three weeks. In an oddball year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aggies
have only played twice since the first CFP rankings on Nov. 24: a home win over LSU and a road win at Auburn, both by double digits but neither particularly things of beauty.
A&M’s scheduled home game against Mississippi last Saturday was canceled because of multiple COVID-19 cases within the Rebels program, leaving the Aggies with a lone regular season game at Tennessee to try and impress the CFP committee one more time. The final four is scheduled to be announced at 11 a.m. Sunday.
“Tennessee is going to be very hyped to play us,” said A&M sophomore running back Isaiah Spiller, who’s third in the SEC with 897 rushing yards. “We can’t let up at all.”
The primary scenario lifting A&M into its first four-team playoff involves a sound defeat of Tennessee, followed later in the day by No. 2 Notre Dame beating No. 3 Clemson for a second time this season, this time in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. That combination likely would be enough to move Clemson out of the top four and A&Min when it counts most.
The Aggies have played football since 1894 but have never played at Tennessee until today. Fisher said that unfamiliarity with scenic Neyland Stadium is no big deal, especially in front of crowds typically at about quarter their
usual size because of the pandemic.
“Unless it’s changed, the field is 100 yards long and about 531⁄
3 yards wide,” Fisher said with a smile. “It will be the same field. You’ve just got to go lock in and play.”
Another unusual aspect of the game involves the coaches. Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt served as
Fisher’s defensive coordinator in 2013 when Florida State won a national title. Pruitt then spent two seasons as Georgia’s defensive coordinator and two seasons as Alabama’s defensive coordinator.
In 2017, Pruitt was part of another national championship, this time with the Crimson Tide under coach Nick Saban. A&M hired Fisher from Florida State following the 2017 season at the same time Tennessee gave Pruitt his first collegiate head coaching opportunity.
Their paths have spiraled in different directions since, with Fisher 24-10 at A&M and putting the Aggies in national-title contention. Pruitt is 16-18 and his job appears to be on the line to wrap up his third season with the Volunteers. Just don’t tell Fisher as much.
“Jeremy is a heck of a coach,” Fisher said. “He’s going to have those guys ready to play, and we’re going to need to be ready to play on our side. It’s going to be a heck of a football game.”
Pruitt, who will face Fisher as a head coach for the first time, said the Volunteers won’t be fazed by taking on a surging team in CFP contention. He added that they understand it’s a chance to close out a disappointing year on a high note, especially at home.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect us psychologically,” Pruitt said of facing the nation’s No. 5 team that has won six consecutive games. “We’re playing against a good football team that’s very well coached, and we’ve played against a bunch of good football teams this year. It’s our last game at Neyland (this season) so … it’s a great opportunity.”