A&M favored over Arkansas; Aggies outside the Top 25
Texas A&M is a 6.5-point favorite over Arkansas for Saturday’s Southwest Classic at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium.
That’s according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The line opened at 5.5. The over/under is 55.5 points.
The line is also 6.5 by www.BetOnline.ag.
• A&M still outside the polls. A&M earned 36 points in this week’s USA Today/coaches Top 25 poll. That ties it with Louisville and UCLA for fifth among those receiving votes; in other words, the Aggies are tied for 30th.
A&M had a pulse on the AP Top 25 with five points that’s 13th among those receiving votes or 38th.
The Aggies after getting no votes from the media the last two weeks after losing to Miami, received a 21st-place vote from Creg Stephenson for AL.com, the Alabama Media Group this week.
Unfortunately, we don’t how many coaches are voting for the Aggies or where they have them pegged.
SEC coaches voting are Missouri’s Eliah Drinkwitz, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze, Florida’s Billy Napier, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and A&M’s Jimbo Fisher. Others of note are Louisiana-Monroe’s Terry Bowden, New Mexico’s Danny Gonzales and Duke’s Mike Elko.
Fisher has to vote for his own team, right? I would. If he doesn’t think they’re Top 25 caliber, why should anyone else? That’s probably why current coaches shouldn’t vote. It’s a no-win situation. Wouldn’t Elko vote for his former boss who helped his career?
The Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation have a Super 16 poll with 57 voters.
Pitt’s Mark May, a 2005 Hall of Fame inductee, had A&M 16th as did Collin Wilson of Action Network.
I kept Michigan at No. 1 again this week.
Georgia is getting 55 of the 63 votes, but three voters like Florida State, while Ohio State and Washington are each getting a vote. I had Ohio State No. 1 earlier in the year.
It’s still early. Odds are, it’ll pan out, it typically does.
Of course I stayed up and watched that USC-Arizona State game before voting. You don’t have to worry about the Trojans winning the national title. No defense. I thought about dropping them a spot or two, but there’s just not enough inventory on most teams.
The Ohio State-Notre Dame was exciting. Arkansas played much better than I thought they would against LSU or maybe LSU isn’t as good as advertised, which just might be the case for the whole SEC.
A&M will earn several more Top 25 votes if it beats Arkansas after the Razorbacks’ strong showing in Baton Rouge. It’s hard to rate the Aggies. They haven’t played anyone good but Miami and the Hurricanes haven’t playing anyone other than A&M.
Auburn will have a tough time winning SEC games.
The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 with first-place votes received, team's records, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th and ranking in last weeks poll.
1. Georgia (61) 4-0 1,592 1
2. Michigan (2) 4-0 1,495 2
3. Ohio State 4-0 1,414 4
4. Florida State 4-0 1,390 3
6. Southern California 4-0 1,288 5
7. Penn State 4-0 1,225 7
8. Washington (1) 4-0 1,194 8
15. North Carolina 4-0 698 17
17. Washington State 4-0 555 24
18. Miami (Fla.) 4-0 485 21
20. Mississippi 3-1 305 16
21. Oregon State 3-1 293 15
25. Kansas State 4-0 109 NR
Dropped out: No. 19 Colorado (3-1); No. 22 Iowa (3-1); No. 23 Clemson (2-2); No. 25 UCLA (3-1).
Others Receiving Votes: Fresno State (4-0) 93; Kentucky (4-0) 87; TCU (3-1) 54; Maryland (4-0) 39; Louisville (4-0) 36; Texas A&M (3-1) 36; UCLA (3-1) 36; Clemson (2-2) 35; Syracuse (4-0) 32; Colorado (3-1) 29; Air Force (4-0) 24; Iowa (3-1) 16; Tulane (3-1) 11; Wyoming (3-1) 8; James Madison (4-0) 2; Marshall (3-0) 2; Georgia State (4-0) 1; Liberty (4-0) 1.
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sep. 23, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
1. Georgia (55) 4-0 1,562 1
2. Michigan (1) 4-0 1,445 2
4. Ohio St. (1) 4-0 1,370 6
5. Florida St. (3) 4-0 1,351 4
7. Washington (1) 4-0 1,228 8
8. Southern Cal 4-0 1,169 5
15. North Carolina 4-0 659 17
16. Washington St. 4-0 652 21
19. Oregon St. 3-1 366 14
20. Mississippi 3-1 349 15
Others receiving votes: Kansas St. 57, Kentucky 41, Colorado 32, Louisville 32, UCLA 28, Maryland 20, TCU 17, Tulane 11, Syracuse 8, Wisconsin 6, Air Force 6, Clemson 5, Texas A&M 5.
