SEC Football Weekend Reaction: Aggies Rising, Auburn Overrated

Leading up to the 2015 season, Auburn received an incredible amount of hype. Texas A&M, on the other hand, were considered potential contenders that had to first prove it on the field. There’s a lesson in there somewhere . . .

When the SEC media got together for the 2015 SEC Media days in July, they made several questionable predictions. One of the most confusing was their projection that Alabama would win the SEC West, yet Auburn would win the SEC. This isn’t the Big 12 . . . we have championship games to determine champions. I’m not sure how the media didn’t get that memo*.

*OK OK OK, it was a separate vote. . . but still.

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Auburn got plenty of love from the national media as well. The AP even went so far as to place Auburn in the National Championship Game against Ohio State.

All one could hear or read when tuning into sports media was how great not only Auburn would be, but also Jeremy Johnson and Will Muschamp. Johnson had 16-1 odds to win the Heisman as early as January and Muschamp was treated as the program’s saving grace.

Auburn has failed to live up to that hype in 2015. The craziest part about it, however, is how similar Texas A&M was entering 2015. Yet they received absolutely zero hype.

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Auburn went 8-5 (4-4) in 2014 with a potent offense and hired Will Muschamp to come in as defensive coordinator. In addition, the Tigers had quarterback questions after Nick Marshall used up his eligibility. Texas A&M went 8-5 (3-5) with an equally potent offense and hired John Chavis to come in as defensive coordinator. The Aggies also had quarterback questions as Kyler Murray came in to challenge incumbent Kyle Allen.

Just to tally the score: Auburn had one more win, an equally bad defense, an impressive hire at defensive coordinator and quarterback concerns entering 2015. Yet somehow Auburn was projected to win the SEC and Texas A&M was tabbed to finish 6^th. . . in the West.

Since the season kicked off, Auburn was looked sluggish and Jeremy Johnson has looked sluggish. Johnson was even removed from having a chance to win the Heisman Trophy by Bleacher Report. The Tigers needed overtime to dispose of Jacksonville State and aided Leonard Fournette in making a legendary highlight film while getting embarrassed in Baton Rouge.

Texas A&M, however, has looked sharp and has been climbing the rankings after entering the season unranked. While the Aggies have yet to begin SEC play, they have been impressive in their wins thus far. The Aggies were ranked no better than 17^th entering week 3 and will have to continue winning to move up the polls — no one is ready to place them in the top 10 just yet. But had they entered the season with that ranking, like Auburn, they would have done nothing to lose it so far.

Auburn got the benefit of no doubt while the Aggies received nothing but doubt. The funny thing is the media handled A&M’s situation correctly. They entered 2015 just outside the rankings and only needed to win to crack the Top 25. While everyone knew they had talent, Texas A&M needed to prove itself on the field if they wanted to be taken seriously as a contender. They have done so and if the Aggies are able to add a few more quality wins to their victory over Arizona State, they’ll continue cruising up the rankings. Why Auburn was not dealt the same hand will forever remain a mystery. The media incorrectly handled their situation and pushed Auburn as a National Championship contender despite similar concerns to the Aggies.

Some fans might call me conservative when it comes to predicting games and seasons. Maybe I’m just old school for believing a team should have to prove it on the field before it reflects in the media. But with as silly as national pundits are looking after their preseason predictions, I’ve got a funny feeling most would agree with me.

Now if we could just wait until October to release the first rankings of the season . . .

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