Why Florida State’s surprise loss to Georgia Tech helps Texas A&M’s football team tremendously
Even though Texas A&M’s football game against Notre Dame doesn’t begin until next week, there was still plenty of college football to talk about this past weekend. The biggest game of Week 0 was, of course, FSU’s game against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.
The Seminoles, who many believed were cheated out of a playoff spot last year after finishing the regular season undefeated, entered the game as clear favorites and boasted a top-10 ranking in the nation. But in the end, it was the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – led by former Texas A&M quarterback Haynes King – who emerged victorious on a last-second field goal.
Upsets are always great fun for fans without a strong interest in either team, especially when they’re of this magnitude. In that sense, the Seminoles’ loss on the Emerald Isle was a good enough result for Aggie fans.
However, there are other aspects to this result that could impact how things play out for Texas A&M football going forward. FSU has been part of many College Football Playoff predictions as the favorite to win the ACC, either as the automatic conference champion or as an at-large team.
Much of the public sympathy has evaporated after that performance, however. It seems far less likely that the Seminoles will win their conference at this point, and even with a fairly easy schedule, they could be in for a rough time.
I’ve come to believe that if the Texas A&M football team wins its opening game against Notre Dame, it will be the favorite to make the 12-team playoffs. Considering how the rest of the schedule plays out, such a result would immediately catapult the Ags into the pool of teams in the conversation for that group of 12.
With Florida State being relegated, the Aggies have one less team to compete against. Last year should serve as a good example of what public perception can do in these selection situations, so a loss like this for the Noles – assuming the Aggies get everything right on Saturday – could be more significant in terms of the Aggies’ potential reputational gain than we originally thought.
