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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-08-05 19:59:50.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
The iPhone of college football comes in at #20 as the 7th ranked team in the SEC. Beavers at 69, Rockets on July 4th, Washington on the day of their board meeting, Wisconsin at the drinking age (#21), and Texas A&M on August 5th (8-5)? It’s too on the nose at this point. As much as Texas A&M gets meme’d on, they had a VERY good run from 1985-99 under Jackie Sherrill and RC Slocum, finishing in the AP Top 25 13 times in 15 years. Even since then they’ve achieved their 2 highest finishes of the last 40 years in 2020 (#4 AP) and 2012 (#5).
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2012: 7. Texas A&M: 11-2 (40.401) 2. 1994: 5. Texas A&M: 10-0-1 (38.388) 3. 1992: 6. Texas A&M: 12-1 (35.110) 4. 1985: 11. Texas A&M: 10-2 (32.301) 5. 1991: 8. Texas A&M: 10-2 (32.258) 6. 1987: 10. Texas A&M: 10-2 (31.580) 7. 1993: 11. Texas A&M: 10-2 (31.082) 8. 2020: 6. Texas A&M: 9-1 (31.049) 9. 1998: 13. Texas A&M: 11-3 (28.524) 10. 2018: 12. Texas A&M: 9-4 (26.518) 11. 2010: 19. Texas A&M: 9-4 (22.945) 12. 1995: 16. Texas A&M: 9-3 (22.836) 13. 2013: 20. Texas A&M: 9-4 (22.680) 14. 1986: 16. Texas A&M: 9-3 (20.167) 15. 1990: 20. Texas A&M: 9-3-1 (20.048) 16. 2006: 26. Texas A&M: 9-4 (15.656) 17. 1989: 22. Texas A&M: 8-4 (14.424) 18. 2021: 32. Texas A&M: 8-4 (13.306) 19. 2000: 29. Texas A&M: 7-5 (12.254) 20. 1999: 24. Texas A&M: 8-4 (10.819) 21. 2004: 25. Texas A&M: 7-5 (10.500) 22. 1997: 25. Texas A&M: 9-4 (9.606) 23. 2011: 34. Texas A&M: 7-6 (9.286) 24. 2016: 42. Texas A&M: 8-5 (8.156) 25. 2014: 38. Texas A&M: 8-5 (7.990) 26. 2001: 33. Texas A&M: 8-4 (6.869) 27. 2015: 43. Texas A&M: 8-5 (6.708) 28. 1988: 37. Texas A&M: 7-5 (4.602) 29. 2019: 40. Texas A&M: 8-5 (4.219) 30. 2007: 47. Texas A&M: 7-6 (2.032) 31. 2002: 48. Texas A&M: 6-6 (-1.237) 32. 2017: 50. Texas A&M: 7-6 (-2.184) 33. 1984: 48. Texas A&M: 6-5 (-2.557) 34. 1983: 49. Texas A&M: 5-5-1 (-5.707) 35. 1996: 48. Texas A&M: 6-6 (-6.473) 36. 2022: 71. Texas A&M: 5-7 (-10.797) 37. 2009: 70. Texas A&M: 6-7 (-11.548) 38. 2005: 67. Texas A&M: 5-6 (-12.571) 39. 2003: 80. Texas A&M: 4-8 (-23.750) 40. 2008: 97. Texas A&M: 4-8 (-31.217) Overall Score: 33525 (20th)
- 318-171-3 record
- 7 conference titles
- 12-17 bowl record
- 22 consensus All-Americans
- 165 NFL players drafted
Texas A&M reminds me of a slightly better Iowa. Very good but never truly great with lots of 8+ win seasons. The difference is that A&M has more wins, conference titles, consensus All-Americans, and NFL players drafted. They’ve got 17 seasons with 9+ wins, another 8 seasons with 8+ wins, so over 60% of the time (25 out of 40 years), Texas A&M’s winning 8 games or more. Tons of programs would kill for that. Hell, they’ve at least appeared in the Top 25 in 34 of the last 40 years!!! All 7 of their conference titles came during the golden era of 1985-98, with threepeats from 1985-87 and 1991-93. Consensus All-Americans since the late 90’s include the legendary LB Dat Nguyen (1998) who led Texas A&M in tackles for 4 straight years, LB Von Miller (2010) who had 27.5 sacks in his last 2 seasons, K Randy Bullock (2011) who hit 29 of 33 FGs and won the Groza Award, OL Jake Matthews (2013), WR Mike Evans (2013) who had 2500 receiving yards in 2 seasons, DE Myles Garrett (2016) who was a 1st overall pick, TE Jace Sternberger (2018) who led SEC TEs in receiving yards and TDs, P Braden Mann (2018) who won the Ray Guy Award, DL Demarvin Leal (2021), and OL Kenyon Green (2020, 2021) who was A&M’s first 2-time consensus AA since 1975. Top NFL players include LB Von Miller, P Shane Lechler, WR Mike Evans, DE Myles Garrett, QB Ryan Tannehill, DE Michael Bennett, LS Don Muhlbach, RS Dante Hall, OT Richmond Webb, DL Ray Childress, OT Jake Matthews, and WR Christian Kirk.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2008 (4-8 overall, 2-6 Big 12)
No, it’s not last year’s team. In fact I’m surprised 2008 is the worst team. I remember getting into college football around this time, and while 4-8 wasn’t a great year, I didn’t know it was just their 3rd losing season in the last 26 years up to that point. The Mike Sherman era started with a bang, losing 14-18 to Arkansas State at home, breaking a 20 game win streak in home openers. The loss was regarded as one of the most embarrassing in TAMU history, as Arkansas State was +112 in yardage and +3 in turnovers. Things wouldn’t get much better, only beating New Mexico 28-22 and Army 21-17. With a 2-5 record at midseason, they made a bowl game push, beating Iowa State and Colorado to improve to 4-5, but were dominated in their final games 28-66 to #6 Oklahoma, 21-41 to Baylor, and 9-49 to #4 Texas. The 4 teams they beat had a combined record of 14-34, and Texas A&M gave up 37.4 PPG, 6th worst in the nation.
QB Stephen McGee was sidelined most of the year, throwing for just 2 TD 2 INT, but won the Bobby Bowden Award as the best Christian student/athlete/humanitarian, and he was drafted in the 4th round by the Dallas Cowboys. QB Jerrod Johnson took over in his absence, throwing for 2435 yards 21 TD 10 INT, and would eventually leave as A&M’s all-time leading passer. For those who don’t know how good he was in college, Ryan Tannehill really was like that, playing WR as a freshman and leading the team with 55 catches for 844 yards and 5 TD. The “J-Train” Jorvorskie Lane played his final season, the 5’11 260 lb RB switching to FB for his senior season, blocking and rushing for 5 TD. He’s still Texas A&M’s all-time TD leader with 50.
5. 1991 (10-2 overall, 8-0 SWC)
Spots 4-8 are very close on Texas A&M’s best seasons list, but 1991 gets the slight nod as the final team in the top 5, beating out a few other 20th century seasons and the 2020 COVID-19 team. The 1991-94 Aggies were something else, going 42-5-1 with 3 SWC titles. RC Slocum’s 1991 team was one of the finest in Aggie history, with offensive coordinator Bob Toledo and defensive coordinator Bob Davie on staff. A 45-7 opening win over LSU was followed up by a shock 34-35 upset loss to Tulsa, although the Hurricanes would go on to finish the year #21. Texas A&M played like one of the best teams in the country the remainder of the way, blowing out Texas Tech 37-14 and #16 Baylor 34-12. In a 44-7 win over TCU, All-American LB Quentin Coryatt delivered “The Hit”, decleating a shrimpy TCU WR with a forearm shiver. The video of the hit has nearly 2 million combined views on YouTube and is a staple in “best football hits” videos. Wins over rivals Arkansas (13-3) and Texas (31-14) ended the regular season 10-1, selected for the Cotton Bowl against #5 Florida State. Both were 2 of the best programs in the early 90’s, with FSU taking this game 10-2, ironically the same score as Texas A&M’s final record.
QB Bucky Richardson threw for just 1492 yards 8 TD 10 INT, but ran for 10 TD. Keep in mind this was the 90’s, leading the offense to 33.7 PPG was good enough to win SWC Offensive POTY and finish 10th in Heisman voting. The defense was perhaps the best in the country, giving up just 204 yards per game (1st nationally) and 12.8 PPG (5th). DB Kevin Smith was a consensus All-American, and LB Quentin Coryatt, who delivered “The Hit”, was a 2nd Team All-American. 8 players were selected in the 1992 NFL Draft, including Coryatt, who was selected 2nd overall by the Indianapolis Colts.
4. 1985 (10-2 overall, 7-1 SWC)
Going into 1985, Texas A&M hadn’t made a bowl game in 4 years, and hadn’t won the SWC outright since 1967. A 4-2 start was promising, but they were 0-2 against Top 25 teams. Huge wins over #19 SMU and #9 Arkansas put Texas A&M in the drivers seat for the SWC. In the final game of the regular season, #15 8-2 Texas A&M vs #18 8-2 Texas would decide who wins the SWC. A sold-out Kyle Field crowd of 77,600 didn’t just show up for the big game, but also because it was head coach Jackie Sherrill’s birthday! Happy belated 42nd Mr. Sherrill. Texas A&M dominated, taking a 28-0 lead before eventually winning 42-10. Sherrill was carried off the field, and the Aggies were headed to the Cotton Bowl for the first time since 1967. Against Heisman winner Bo Jackson and #16 Auburn, the defense stuffed Jackson on 4th and short twice, winning 36-16 to finish 10-2 on the year. Texas A&M finished #6 in the AP Poll, but just #11 in my rankings. The QB of this team? Kevin Murray, father of Kyler. Murray threw for 1965 yards 13 TD 10 INT, earning 2nd Team All-American. He objectively had a much better career at A&M than his son, leaving as Texas A&M’s all-time leading passer with 6506 yards 48 TD 32 INT. LB Johnny Holland was a consensus All-American, and OT Doug Williams a 2nd Team All-American. Sherrill won SWC Coach of the Year, and would win it twice more in ‘86 and ‘87.
3. 1992 (12-1 overall, 7-0 SWC)
Back to the Slocum era, this was A&M’s best shot at a national title in the last 40 years. The offense struggled at first but the defense held steady, averaging just 21.0 PPG while giving up 13.6 PPG in a 5-0 start. Wins included a 10-7 win over #17 Stanford and 31-22 over LSU on ABC, and Texas A&M was up to #5 in the rankings. They averaged 34.9 PPG over their last 7, finishing 12-0 with their only ranked win over #17 Stanford. The 12-0 regular season was a clear SWC title win, with 4 teams tying for 2nd place at 4-3. But despite an unbeaten regular season, Texas A&M w…
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