Is Texas A&M Being Overlooked in the SEC?

After making the CFP for the first time in 2025, the Texas A&M Aggies are entering the 2026 season the same way they've entered every other season in program history. That is to say, without any conference championships, national championships, or even CFP wins.

Does that mean Mike Elko's program has a chip on its shoulder? Or does that mean this team can't crack the elite group of teams at the top of the SEC? The Aggies were ranked No. 4 in the conference in the 2026 SEC Football Preseason Media Poll. It's unclear how that influences things either way.

Either way, there's a clear case to be made for every team ahead of them.

Georgia is Still the Team to Beat in the SEC

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Kirby Smart may have dominantly won two championships in a row in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, but what he's done keeping the Georgia Bulldogs competitive through the NIL era may be even more impressive.

Smart's teams haven't made deep CFP runs since NIL and rev-share took off, and UGA was eliminated earlier than expected this past January despite winning the SEC Championship Game in dominant fashion over the Alabama Crimson Tide in December. There isn't as much money between the Hedges as there is across the Lone Star State or in many Big Ten cities.

Still, until Smart's recruiting falls off -- it hasn't yet, with top 10 classes dating back to his first cycle in Athens -- there's no reason to think this team won't be near the top of the SEC standings by the end of the regular season. Smart coaches guys up and gets the most from them. That won't change this fall.

Texas is Expected to Push to Be the New King of the SEC

It's not completely earned yet on the field, but the amount of talent the Texas Longhorns reeled in during the portal period propels Steve Sarkisian's team to the No. 2 spot in the rankings behind the team that has beaten them three straight times in two years, the Dawgs.

Speaking of one-sided rivalries, Texas has beaten Texas A&M for two straight years in their matchups since their rivalry was been reinstated, so even though the Longhorns had a shocking down year in 2025, it still included a win in the Lone Star Showdown.

Realistically, what case could be made that the Aggies deserve to be above the Burnt Orange in a preseason poll?

Even Ole Miss Has a Better Case to Win the SEC

Until Texas A&M picks up one win, let alone two, in the CFP, the Aggies do not deserve to be above Pete Golding's Ole Miss Rebels. Especially since many key pieces of Ole Miss's miracle season, most notably QB Trinidad Chambliss and RB Kewan Lacy, are back in the fold in the Grove.

After the run the Rebels just went on, coming off the heartbreak of head coach Lane Kiffin leaving for the rival LSU Tigers in the middle of the CFP and still upsetting Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, Ole Miss could prove to be undervalued in this poll.

That means TAMU is right where it realistically deserves to be. Nothing says the Aggies can't prove this preseason poll, like most preseason polls tend to be, is far from the be-all, end-all, though.

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