Texas A&M begins the second half of the regular season with a 4-2 record and a road trip to play the Tennessee Volunteers (4-1) at Knoxville. These two schools have split the four games they've played so far. The Vols won a Gator Bowl (1957) and a Cotton Bowl (2004), and the Aggies have won both games played since they joined the SEC. Sumlin won in 2016, and Jimbo in 2020.
Tomorrow's game gets the CBS showcase slot at 2:30 PM with Tennessee favored by a FG. The Vols have beaten Virginia (1-5) and South Carolina (2-3), but lost to Florida (4-2). The other two wins came against Austin Peay and UTSA. Based strictly on who they played and who they beat, it looks like the Aggies and the Vols are about equally good, although A&M has played Alabama and Tennessee hasn't.
College Football News forecasts a close game that Tennessee will win 31-27.
Update 4:08 PM Saturday: Texas A&M leads Tennessee 10-7 at halftime. Max Johnson has been taking a beating from the Tennessee defense, and the Aggie defense can barely slow down the Tennessee running backs. Aggies have a chance to win this, but need to stop beating themselves with sloppiness.
Final update 6:05 PM: The second half was an almost total collapse for A&M, and it was embarrassing to watch. The Aggies lose 20-13, and fall to 4-3 on the season. Max Johnson might be a good quarterback, but we'll probably never know for sure because the Bobby Petrino offense is a joke against good SEC teams. After seeing this comedy of errors, I expect A&M to get beaten by Ole Miss, LSU and either MSU or South Carolina. I don't expect them to run the table and finish 9-3, and 6-6 seems like a possibility. Texas A&M is destined to be a mediocre SEC team, almost always finishing in the bottom half of the SEC West.
Unless Jimbo actually runs the table and finishes 9-3, I'll be joining those who are writing the expensive Jimbo Fisher excursion off as another epic fail for A&M football.
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