The Gould Standard: No. 11 Texas A&M

With Kellen Mond back, Jimbo Fisher's Aggies will try to move up in rugged SEC West

The Big Ten and Pac-12 believe it’s not safe to play. The ACC, Big 12 and SEC say, ``Play on.’’ Here at TMG we say, ``Write on.’’ And so, we present our fifth annual Sweet 16 Countdown to the college football season, 2020 edition.

Is Jimbo Fisher, in the third year of a 10-year, $75 million contract, ready to start earning the big dollars he received to elevate the Aggies?

A&M will find out in its second and third games. It is scheduled to travel to Alabama on Oct. 3 and face Florida at home on Oct. 10.

Seventeen starters return, notably senior QB Kellen Mond, 

Moving ahead of Alabama and LSU in the SEC West would be a big jump for the Aggies, who are 1-7 against top-10 teams the last two years.

But analyst Phil Steele, who has a very good track record on these things, has made Texas A&M his No. 1 Surprise Team for 2020.