Did Texas A&M football deserve its preseason Coaches Poll ranking?

In recent years, Texas A&M football has been a mainstay in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Aggies have been in the Top 25 of this preseason ranking in each of the past four seasons. In fact, the Maroon and White have been prominently featured, ranking inside the Top 10 twice with two additional top 15 appearances. Preseason expectations have been abundant for this program.

This year, the jury is officially out. Texas A&M checked in at No. 25 in the 2023 preseason Coaches Poll, the last team in the field, just behind Texas Tech and two spots behind returning AAC champion, Tulane.

You’ve got to go back to 2018 to find the last time Texas A&M football wasn’t included in the preseason Coaches Poll. They finished that year 9-4, No. 16 in the country. They were also preseason snubs entering the 2016 and 2017 seasons, finishing unranked in both years.

If Texas A&M boosters are to be believed, this group is meant to aim higher. Hanging around the fringes of the rankings won’t garner Jimbo Fisher many new supporters. This program is funded and supported like the names featured in this year’s top five — Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State, and LSU — the results just haven’t matched the dollars, not yet.

Does Fisher ride the “nobody believes in us” mantra into the Aggies’ season opener against New Mexico? Maybe, but all that really matters is the result. The Coaches Association respects the talent, clearly, but there are questions that need to be answered. And that can’t happen anywhere else but on the field.