Through all the pomp and coach-speak and false pretenses and fluff pieces that come out of Media Days and coaches trying to build up hype - fake and justified, what takeaways do y'all have about any program?
Any team in particular that you're bullish about?
Any team that you think are going to suck and the wheels come off?

Man, Sept. needs to hurry and get here so we can kick this season off right!

8-4

Ar'Maj Reed Adams is my favorite preseason interview of all time. He casually said it was fun to play at AT&T, but it's gonna be more fun carrying the trophy off of Arkansas field. Can't wait to watch the o line this year with that guy leading.
The hype around Florida is exciting, I think it'd be quite enjoyable to see them succeed.
QB's in the SEC are going to be real fun to watch. Nuss, Sellers, Pavia, Reed, Lagway, Talen Green are all returning starters, and then the highly thought of new guys with Arch, Gunnar Stockton, and Ty Simpson. John Mateer at OU is a guy I didn't know about previous, but apparently they got a guy in him too.
All 3 SEC teams that made the playoff and bama have a new QB, and I think that means we're gonna see some different teams on top of the sec this year. We'll see. College football is almost back baby.

All the usual bluebloods will do bloodblood stuff

Everyone else will do non blueblood stuff.

But to directly answer your question, maybe Ole Miss

Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Missouri, Miss and South Carolina. Tu didn't play any of them last year and won't this year. If the SEC sticks to 8 games instead of going to 9, games tu will play those 7 teams plus ou next year. They won't play us or Arky under the current plan.


I think the playoff system will force this change with a 16 team field, no byes. The SEC will adopt the 3-6 format and have 4 guaranteed spots and up to 3 more at large that might be available. Like in basketball, I think that some play in games would allow them to invite all conference champions, to what would then be a 20 team field.

I think this year will be a close race in the SEC, with a good chance that 6 teams end up 6-2 or better in SEC play
Let's get this started.

Yeah, agreed! I think there is a wide variance in how things can shake out this year.. will some teams fall back? Who's going to overachieve?
This season just feels like a roll of the dice ever week. It's going to come down to the smallest things. 1-3 plays that can change the outcomes of Ws and Ls.

LincolnBorglum79 said:

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Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Missouri, Miss and South Carolina. Tu didn't play any of them last year and won't this year. If the SEC sticks to 8 games instead of going to 9, games tu will play those 7 teams plus ou next year. They won't play us or Arky

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lol if you think they are just rolling the schedules for 26/27 and tu is getting that gauntlet - they have already said the 24/25 schedules were stand alone. If it remains an 8 games schedule it will be a whole new overall schedule that will somehow be favorable again to them. When they made this original schedule , they could have easily balanced the schedules more evenly between OU and them but didn't.

SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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Pretty sure you do need $50 million per year and if we joined the Big Ten you would not receive that at first. They work new teams over and then work them in. Even Nebraska and Penn State.

We got a sweetheart deal being in the group that launched the SEC Network. Texas came here because it is a better place to be. OU because it was going to be lonely without their favorite team to beat up on.

KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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please shut up

Roll over and take another my Aggie friend

greg.w.h said:

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KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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Pretty sure you do need $50 million per year and if we joined the Big Ten you would not receive that at first. They work new teams over and then work them in. Even Nebraska and Penn State.

We got a sweetheart deal being in the group that launched the SEC Network. Texas came here because it is a better place to be. OU because it was going to be lonely without their favorite team to beat up on.

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I'm sure by the wink you know 2024:
Big Ten:
Total revenue: $928 million
Per-school payout to 12 longest-standing schools: $63.2 million
Per-school payout to Maryland and Rutgers (joined in 2014): Slightly above $61.5 million
SEC:
Total revenue: $840 million
Per-school payout: $52.5 million
Includes $27.5 million to Texas and Oklahoma, with $15 million as refundable application fees and $12.5 million in transition payments funded by ESPN.

BTaw, ACC was only $5million less than SEC, now imagine if they have a bigger footprint

You think the B10 doesn't protect their blue bloods?

The travel would suck for all sports. No real rivals. It's not a good idea at all.

seebond said:

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Through all the pomp and coach-speak and false pretenses and fluff pieces that come out of Media Days and coaches trying to build up hype - fake and justified, what takeaways do y'all have about any program?
Any team in particular that you're bullish about?
Any team that you think are going to suck and the wheels come off?

Man, Sept. needs to hurry and get here so we can kick this season off right!

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I think what I'm realizing is that we SHOULD be 10-2 but will probably end up settling at 9-3. Anything less is a major disappointment even with some injuries.

Bullish
LSU sounds pretty legit. Didn't think we were winning that one anyway

Suck
Sure there will be teams that suck, but a team that seems like they're being overhyped (per usual) is tu though down for them is probably 9-3/8-4. Team that I see the wheels falling off is Auburn. Those 3 D1 road games (BU, OU, and A&M) followed by Georgia sets up for the wheels to be fallin off and a lot of clamoring to fire Freeze by mid-season.

halfastros81 said:

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You think the B10 doesn't protect their blue bloods?

The travel would suck for all sports. No real rivals. It's not a good idea at all.

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Its ok to disagree. Go to tRant, ask them which ones consider A&M a rival.

This team with last years schedule would be great.

It appears the SEC is wide open this year. Catching teams at the right times will be key.

For example Texas played the gators last year with Lagway out and it helped them.

It appears the SEC is wide open because many teams are starting new quarterbacks. Scheduling advantages could be the difference. We have scheduling dynamics advantages in home games over Auburn and Florida and a road game at Texas:

Auburn: While Auburn will be coming off a tough road game at Oklahoma on 9/20, we will be coming off a bye week.

Florida: We will be playing our 3rd straight home game and should be coming off an easy win over Mississippi State. In contrast, Florida will be coming off a tough home game against Texas and playing the last game of a brutal 4-game stretch against LSU (away), Miami (away), bye week, Texas (home), and Texas A&M (away) in a span of 5 weeks.

Texas: We play at Texas after home games against South Carolina and FCS Samford. In contrast, Texas will play a road game at Georgia and a home game against Arkansas.

We have scheduling disadvantages in road games against LSU and Missouri.

LSU: This will be the 2nd half of back-to-back road games, and winning back-to-back road games is very rare in SEC. LSU will be coming off a road game at Vanderbilt, and we will be coming off a road game at Arkansas.

Missouri: Both teams will be coming off bye weeks. Missouri plays back-to-back road games at Auburn and Vanderbilt before their bye week, but we will be playing our 3rd SEC road game in 4 weeks with back-to-back road games at Arkansas and LSU before our 2nd bye week.

I think we have a floor of 7-5 (6-1 home and 1-4 away) and a ceiling of 10-2 (7-0 home and 3-2 away), and I am predicting 9-3 (7-0 home and 2-3 away) with losses to Notre Dame, LSU, and Texas. But I won't be surprised if we lose those 3 big road games against top 10 teams and 1 or 2 additional games against Florida (home), Arkansas (away), Missouri (away), or South Carolina (home). If we go 8-4 (5-3 SEC) with at least one November SEC win, I hope we win our bowl game to finish 9-4 (5-3 SEC), which would be a much better finish than ending last season with 4 consecutive losses to Power 4 opponents.

"They won't play us or Arky under the current plan."

can you elaborate this? first i've heard that we're not playing tu..

I, for one, would be ecstatic if we didn't play sips as one of our committed SEC teams. Keep us out of Austin and that burnt orange retch off Kyle Field.

In a 3-6 format, I'll take SCar, LSU and Arkansas.

MaroonStain said:

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I, for one, would be ecstatic if we didn't play sips as one of our committed SEC teams. Keep us out of Austin and that burnt orange retch off Kyle Field.

In a 3-6 format, I'll take SCar, LSU and Arkansas.

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Well Sips are only in SEC because of us. They wanted Pac16 nearly 2 decades ago. They'll never admit it, but they followed us here,
We shouldn't be scared of them. We will beat them and have them fall back to Earth.

The current 8 game conference schedule is based on having 1 permanent opponent and playing the other 7 teams home and away, then the 7 teams you didn't play for the next 2 years. The 24 and 25 schedules follow this pattern. But if we continue with 8 games the 26 and 27 schedules would be as follows for us and tu:

Aggies LSU is our perm opponent. We would face Ou, Miss, Bama, Georgia, Vandy, Tenn and Kentucky plus lsu in 26 and 27.

Tu will play OU each year. Plus Bama, Miss, Tenn, S Car, Auburn, LSU and Missouri.

Going to 9 games means 3 perm plus 6 rortating teams, similar to above. Our 3 perm would be LSU,Arkand tu.

I think most fans would rather play 9 conference games with 3 perm opponents.

If we stick with 8, then our LSU game would move back to Thanksgiving week.

While tu at SA, Utah State and Samford should be easy wins at home this year, I would love to see the SEC and all the Big Conferences require a 10 game (5 home 5 road) conference schedule. Those early season matchups could be games like LSU v Georgia or Aggies vs Tennessee since there would likely be plenty of good matchups.

The only way this happens is if the SEC and Big 10:get enough guaranteed playoff spots to risk the likely worse records of the top teams. In the NFL, the equivalent of a 7-5 record is often enough to make the playoffs.an 8-4 record which gets you nothing is .667 similar to a 12-5 NFL record which is almost always a playoff team.

Changes are coming, let's just hope they are an improvement over the mess we have now.

I would like 9 conference games and one Power 4 nonconference game for 10 regular season games against Power 4 opponents. A 9-game conference schedule means an uneven number of home and away conference games, but that can be mitigated. In years we have 5 away conference games, we can get an extra home game against a Power 4 nonconference opponent. Likewise, in the years we have 5 home conference games, we can play a Power 5 nonconference opponent on the road or at a neutral site.

I would not mind sticking with 8 conference games and playing 2 Power 4 nonconference games because it would still mean 10 games against Power 4 opponents. Either way, I would like 5 home games against Power 5 teams every year, which would mean 2 cupcake games instead of 3 for season ticket holders. Yes, that would mean an even tougher schedule, but it would be make regular season games more interesting.

I hate how the SEC schedules cupcake games in the second to last week of the regular season. I understand that the SEC schedules these games to rest for rivalry week, but that often means a cupcake opponent is the final home game for us and other SEC schools. For example, we played Western Carolina in 2015, New Mexico in 2017 Prairie View A&M in 2021, and Abilene Christian in 2023 as our final home games. We will play Samford in our final home game this year. The cupcake games should be played before November because we should play a conference opponent in our final home game every year.

LincolnBorglum79 said:

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The current 8 game conference schedule is based on having 1 permanent opponent and playing the other 7 teams home and away, then the 7 teams you didn't play for the next 2 years. The 24 and 25 schedules follow this pattern. But if we continue with 8 games the 26 and 27 schedules would be as follows for us and tu:

Aggies LSU is our perm opponent. We would face Ou, Miss, Bama, Georgia, Vandy, Tenn and Kentucky plus lsu in 26 and 27.

Tu will play OU each year. Plus Bama, Miss, Tenn, S Car, Auburn, LSU and Missouri.

Going to 9 games means 3 perm plus 6 rortating teams, similar to above. Our 3 perm would be LSU,Arkand tu.

I think most fans would rather play 9 conference games with 3 perm opponents.

If we stick with 8, then our LSU game would move back to Thanksgiving week.

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If we go to 9 conference games with a 3-6-6 model and our 3 annual opponents are LSU, Arkansas, and Texas, I hope we split these opponents with home and away games every year. We are playing all 3 on the road this year. If we play all 3 at home in 2026, we will have to play all 3 on the road every other year. To end that cycle, we would have to play one of them on the road or at home two years in a row.

KerrAg76 said:

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Roll over and take another my Aggie friend

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look at your past tin foil hat"everyone is out to screw us" comment, admit your soft, then you can have the right to say that.

KerrAg76 said:

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greg.w.h said:

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KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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Pretty sure you do need $50 million per year and if we joined the Big Ten you would not receive that at first. They work new teams over and then work them in. Even Nebraska and Penn State.

We got a sweetheart deal being in the group that launched the SEC Network. Texas came here because it is a better place to be. OU because it was going to be lonely without their favorite team to beat up on.

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I'm sure by the wink you know 2024:
Big Ten:
Total revenue: $928 million
Per-school payout to 12 longest-standing schools: $63.2 million
Per-school payout to Maryland and Rutgers (joined in 2014): Slightly above $61.5 million
SEC:
Total revenue: $840 million
Per-school payout: $52.5 million
Includes $27.5 million to Texas and Oklahoma, with $15 million as refundable application fees and $12.5 million in transition payments funded by ESPN.

BTaw, ACC was only $5million less than SEC, now imagine if they have a bigger footprint

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I'm pretty sure by the wink I'm acknowledging what I know has happened to most of the last eight teams that joined the Big Ten. Why don't yhou prove me wrong instead of making wild claims that are irrelevant to what I wrote.

KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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Not only is this silly, and are we not going anywhere. but do you understand how bad the optics would be to bolt the sec now for another conference? On the PR front Texas would spin it like we ran away scared and it would be impossible to overcome that.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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Not only is this silly, and are we not going anywhere. but do understand how bad the optics would be to bolt the sec now for another conference? On the PR front Texas would spin it like we ran away scared and it would be impossible to overcome that.

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Exactly

Of course it's ok to disagree. I don't really care what people say on SECrant.

What I do know is I am a lot more interested in seeing games against teams like Arkansas and LSU etc than Iowa or Indiana . I'm not against a good non conference game vs a B10 team now and then but I just couldn't get all that charged up about weekly games against random B10 teams . I think most people here would agree .

Aggie Dad 26 said:

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halfastros81 said:

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You think the B10 doesn't protect their blue bloods?

The travel would suck for all sports. No real rivals. It's not a good idea at all.

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Its ok to disagree. Go to tRant, ask them which ones consider A&M a rival.

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No. I don't believe I will. The only people that go to tRant are trolls, the morons that believe the trolls, and people toxic enough to get kicked off all other fan boards. There is nothing that happens on that site that is proof of anything other than the failure of Darwinism in the modern age.

9 game schedule just means half of the SEC picks up another loss.

Sparkie said:

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9 game schedule just means half of the SEC picks up another loss.

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Sankey needs to provide a definition of strength of record that explains why those losses won't hurt.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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KerrAg76 said:

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SEC protection of their bluebloods. Just another reason to stand up for ourselves. The TAMU brand would be welcomed elsewhere. We don't need the SEC to become a top tier product. Their backroom deals need to be exposed and the league office needs to be held accountable.

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Not only is this silly, and are we not going anywhere. but do you understand how bad the optics would be to bolt the sec now for another conference? On the PR front Texas would spin it like we ran away scared and it would be impossible to overcome that.

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They've already tried that, and it didn't work.

After they spent years accusing us of running away from them, they followed us.

halfastros81 said:

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Of course it's ok to disagree. I don't really care what people say on SECrant.

What I do know is I am a lot more interested in seeing games against teams like Arkansas and LSU etc than Iowa or Indiana . I'm not against a good non conference game vs a B10 team now and then but I just couldn't get all that charged up about weekly games against random B10 teams . I think most people here would agree .

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Its hard to let this slide when you use Indiana and Iowa to compare to two of our bigger rival games

How about playing against Ohio St? Oregon? Penn St? Michigan?