Texas A&M will be the most controversial team in the playoff debate

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:22 p.m. ET

Aaron Torres

Admittedly, it wasn’t a fun day to be a Texas A&M football fan. The Aggies went into Bryant-Denny Stadium and, although they put up a valiant effort, lost 33-14 to the Crimson Tide. The loss dropped the Aggies to 6-1 and all but eliminated them from the College Football Playoff conversation.

Or did it?

During the game, broadcaster Gary Danielson brought up an interesting point: “Texas A&M needs to keep things close. They’re in contention with Louisville, and the Ohio State/Michigan loser, if things get wacky late.”

Frankly, I thought that was an interesting point. Couldn’t you make the case that the Aggies will have the most compelling case of any one-loss team in college football if they win out? It feels that way.

Assuming Alabama goes undefeated and the Aggies win the rest of their games, Texas A&M would have a group of wins that is virtually unmatched by anyone in college football. The Aggies would have wins over Tennessee, at Auburn (looking increasingly better by the day) and LSU, with solid wins against UCLA, Ole Miss and Arkansas. No matter what you think about “SEC bias,” that is a pretty spectacular resume.

It’s even more impressive when you consider that the Aggies' only loss would be on the road to the No. 1 team in the country and defending national champions.

Compare that with everyone else: Who would have a better resume? The Big Ten is so top-heavy that it feels like even if the Michigan/Ohio State loser has just one loss, it wouldn’t have picked up enough quality wins along the way to be a real competitor for a spot. Louisville’s resume would be impressive if it finished 11-1, but with only two truly quality wins (Florida State and Houston) is that really better than what A&M did?

Heck, I think you could even make the case that -- as bad as their respective conferences are -- A&M’s resume would be more impressive than a one-loss Pac-12 or Big 12 champ. The way Oklahoma is playing, we very well could have a two-loss champ in the Big 12.

At the end of the day, the College Football Playoff selection committee’s goal is to put the four best teams on the field in the two semifinals.

By the end of the season, a very compelling case could be made that Texas A&M is one of the four best teams in the sport if it wins out.