Texas A&M Football: What the Louisville Loss Means for the Aggies and the CFB Playoff

Texas A&M football fans were crushed when the Aggies were knocked out of playoff contention. Houston’s upset of Louisville on Thursday is a reminder of just how difficult it is to make the final four.

The Houston defense held Heisman favorite, Lamar Jackson and the Louisville offense to 10 points on Thursday night, upsetting the number five team in the country 36-10. Bobby Petrino’s team suffered their second loss of the year and have likely removed themselves from the college football playoff conversation. Aggies everywhere can sympathize.

Aggie fans were riding high after the team debuted at number four in the first college football playoff rankings of the year. The hype didn’t last through the weekend. The team would lose four days later to an unranked Mississippi State team on the road, effectively dashing all hopes of the Aggies making a playoff run.

Fast forward one more week and fans are already writing the season off as as failure. Within the span of two weeks the talk around College Station went from a possible playoff birth to questions about Sumlin’s job security.

Expectations

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For all of those who don’t have Nick Saban as their head coach. Fans who don’t have teams that are blessed with a three deep roster overflowing with five star recruits. For those teams that haven’t won a national championship in a very long time. I’m here to remind you that making the playoff isn’t easy.

At the end of the season, four out of the 128 division one football programs will make it into the playoff. Of those four, one will come out on top. If your school doesn’t make the playoff, you’re one of the 96%, not the minority.

It takes talent, health, good coaching, good execution, and a good amount of luck to make it to the college football playoff. Were the Aggies capable of making a run? Absolutely. But is the season a failure otherwise? Absolutely not.

The 2016 team was derailed by injuries, offensive woes, and a bad game at an inopportune time. If the team played this same schedule over again, there’s a good chance that they could beat both of the Mississippi schools. There’s also a chance they fall to UCLA or Tennessee in regulation. You just never know what’s going to happen on any give weekend in college football.

The Home Stretch

We are where we are. This season will come down to a Thanksgiving game against the LSU Tigers. If Sumlin and crew can win that one, a Sugar Bowl birth is still in a distinct possibly. The chances go up up Auburn loses to Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

I’d wager that any Aggie fan would have been content with a New Year’s Six Bowl before the season started. Especially if you knew that Myles Garrett would be hobbled and Trevor Knight wouldn’t finish the season. There’s still plenty to play for. Gig’Em Aggies.