Thanks to Oklahoma, Texas A&M's Season Outlook Remains Viable

After Kalen DeBoer's Alabama Crimson Tide fell short to the Oklahoma Sooners, Mike Elko and the Texas A&M Aggies are still kicking and screaming with a chance to make the College Football Playoff. Here's how.

Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) throws the ball as Auburn Tigers take on Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Here's a bit of positive news after a loss that plenty of Texas A&M fans have seen before: The Aggies have been gifted a golden opportunity.

The Oklahoma Sooners, despite not having crossed paths with the Aggies since joining the SEC over the offseason, pulled off an unlikely upset over Kalen DeBoer's Alabama Crimson Tide to hand it a third conference loss.

As a result, the top of the SEC is as follows:

• Texas Longhorns (6-1)
• Georgia Bulldogs (6-2)
• Tennessee Volunteers (5-2)
• Texas A&M Aggies (5-2)

If losing to Notre Dame in Week 1 was a "punch in the mouth," then falling to South Carolina on the road to ruin their perfect record was a punch in the gut for the Aggies. And dropping a quadruple-overtime contest to the Auburn Tigers in November, of all months?

A presumed nail in the coffin.

"Obviously, that one hurts," Aggies coach Mike Elko said. "It hurts a lot ... We had multiple chances to close the game. We just didn’t do it.”

The arguments were predictable. If the Aggies couldn't secure a win over a team that had only won one SEC game entering the contest, how could they fare in the College Football Playoff? Even some accusations of Texas A&M being the same team with new management were floated out there.

Luckily, Elko and company, not that they need to prove anything to anyone, have a chance to show that isn't the case, hence the gift:

With Oklahoma knocking Alabama out of contention for the SEC title game, Georgia punched its ticket. To play who, you ask?

The winner of the renewed rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M — the game the Aggies have had circled since the beginning of the season.

"In my four years at Texas A&M, even though we never played and we’re in the same conference, it still was the single most important thing it," Elko said of the rivalry at SEC Media Days prior to the season. "Obviously that’s something that we take seriously.

"That’s a rivalry that means an awful lot to our fan base."

Despite the untimely loss to Auburn, the Aggies will still enter Saturday with plenty to play for. Had it not been for Oklahoma, their margin for error would have completely gone out the window; their postseason hopes killed.

Instead, a chance still exists. In order to make the playoff, Texas A&M will have to knock off the SEC-leading Longhorns and hold its own against the defending conference champions.

If it loses either game, it won't make the playoff, though even that would be a strong way for Elko to open his tenure as the Aggies' head coach. At that point, the discourse will shift.

But for now, the season outlook remains the same as it did pre-Auburn.

If the Aggies win, they're in. And that's all that matters.

"(We'll) process this game," Aggies defensive lineman Albert Regis said after losing to the Tigers. "Let it get out of your system on Sunday. We're over it on Monday."

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