'New Year's Six Bowl': Did Expert Give Aggies a Low Ceiling?
What is Texas A&M's ceiling heading into this season?
Some would say that based on their recruiting under coach Jimbo Fisher that it would be a national championship. Yet, in a recent article detailing their power rankings heading into the season, ESPN's panel of 57 experts revealed "ceilings" and "floors" in addition to the top-25 ranking.
Coming at No. 24, only above Tulane, were the Aggies, who, according to Alex Scarborough, making a New Year's Six Bowl game is the ceiling for Texas A&M this season.
"Petrino's shown time and time again ... that he can score points," Scarborough writes. "And with Conner Weigman at quarterback and a talented group of receivers (Ainias Smith, Evan Stewart and Moose Muhammad III), the pieces to succeed are in place."
Not only does A&M have the pieces offensively to win games, according to ESPN, but they also have a rather favorable schedule. The article goes on to point out the Aggies' first four games against New Mexico, Miami, Louisana Monroe, and Auburn, all as winnable, which would springboard them into a 4-0 record heading into the brunt of their schedule.
ESPN even went as far as to say if the Aggies start out hot with four straight wins, the next two home games against Alabama and Arkansas look "winnable." So if those turn into winnable games, then why is the ceiling for the Aggies set at a New Year's Six Bowl?
Scarborough revealed his concerns about the Aggies, which mainly boiled down to worries about how the addition of Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator will work out after Fisher has given up play-calling duties ... or so we think.
"Fisher seems reluctant to completely step away from the offense, and you're talking about two big personalities between him and Petrino," ESPN writes about A&M's floor. "We could see fireworks -- and not the good kind -- if Texas A&M starts off slow and Fisher feels the pressure of being on the hot seat. Lose at Miami and the chatter will ramp up quickly"
The concerns about the Aggies offense have led ESPN to pen their floor at a disastrous .500 record, which would certainly crank up the hot seat talks surrounding Fisher if it is not already too hot for him to stick around in College Station.
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