5 reasons why Texas A&M should leave the SEC

Rumors began swirling a few months ago surrounding the Texas A&M Aggies and that they may leave the SEC for the Big Ten. While this has a 99% chance of being nothing more than rumor mill, there are some reasons that leaving the SEC would make sense for the Aggies.

Why should Texas A&M leave the SEC?

Texas A&M would have a better record in the Big Ten

Since joining the SEC in 2012, the Aggies have yet to win the SEC. In fact, they have not even won the SEC West. Furthermore, the Aggies have placed second in the SEC West only twice in the 12 full football seasons they have been a member.

One could only imagine that being having to play Ohio State and Michigan, the schedule would be much easier for them in the Big Ten. Sure, some years Penn State and others are good, but they do not have any teams that year over year perform as consistently as those in the SEC.

Furthermore, the numbers do not lie. The SEC produces more NFL talent than any other league and that trickles down to the number of national championships they have won compared to the Big Ten. Since 1997, the Big Ten has won the national championship three times while the SEC has won it 15.

Given that the Aggies are in SEC country and the state of Texas is a breeding ground of high school talent, this could only help them.

In-State recruiting would get a boost if the Texas A&M Aggies joined the Big Ten

And that leads up to that exact point of in-state recruiting. Not having to compete in the same conference against the Texas Longhorns not only helps the Aggies on the field, but off of it as well. They will not be seen as the “little brother” within the same league as the Longhorns and would have a better chance at pulling in more talent because of it.

Given this notion and the fact that the Longhorns are now in the SEC which is viewed as the best conference in college football, this will presumably help the Longhorns more than it will the Aggies. And it appears to be already showing itself as the Longhorns seem to be a program on the rise.

The dreaded Texas Longhorns rivalry from Texas A&M's perspective

76-37-5. That is the score of the series all-time between the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies, with the Aggies being on the 37 win end. Statistically that is only good enough for winning 31% of the matchups.

And if they remained in the same league as the Longhorns, they would have to play them annually. This would mean that most of the time the Longhorns would have a strong head-to-head on field pitch against the Aggies.

Texas A&M would have better weather than many of its competitors in the Big Ten

With the University of Southern California Trojans being the only school with nice consistent weather year-round in the Big Ten currently, this would be appealing as a recruiting pitch to the Aggies if players from anywhere in the country were looking to play in a warmer climate. If this were the case, the only team they would be competing against essentially within their league would be USC.

The Big Ten is a conference on the rise

College football conferences in a way are like the stock market. Rewind 10 years ago and the SEC was thought to be on the rise with Nick Saban and the Alabama dynasty that became, while the ACC was a sustained prestigious league at that time. Present day, the SEC is seen nationwide as the best conference in college football, and that is pretty impossible to argue.

The conference gaining ground on them however appears to be the Big Ten. Not only did the Michigan Wolverines just won the 2023 national championship defeating the SEC’s Crimson Tide, but they also just expanded adding Oregon, Washington and USC.

Again, the move of the Aggies to the Big Ten will most likely never happen, but these are what I believe are some very strong reasons it would make sense for them to at least consider it.