Read this to understand what the glorious HLSTNHT25-PE actually is. Then praise the Lord for the gift of the wondrous analysis below…

You all may remember last year’s Texas A&M team because they managed to make Army look scary. They managed to win that game, but only because Army played stupidly in the 4th quarter. Still, the team was much improved, by the numbers over the previous few years. For one thing, the “Wrecking Crew” earned the right to even hear that term again by allowing only 17.8 points per game. Good thing too, because their offense was only earning 27.8 points per game. Seemingly not bad, sure, until you see that they scored 35, 51, and 45 against The Citadel, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Louisiana Tech respectively. All in total blow-outs. Way to pad the stats.

The Aggies played only 3 ranked teams in the regular season last year, going 2-1, and their 2 wins were against sub-top-15 teams (Texas was actually ranked #11 at the time, but their starting QB was either out of the game, or still recovering from big time neck injuries. I can’t remember which, and I’m not paid for this, so…). Anyway, this wasn’t exactly a juggernaut team. And while they will have more experience on the offensive side with 9 returning starters, they need to replace 5 members of that much improved defense in 2007.

One quick look at their 2006 schedule, and you realize that they didn’t exactly run a gauntlet on their way to the Big 12 season. This team simply beat up on bad teams (The Citadel, anyone?), and then “found a way to win” against better competition. Yeah, they beat Texas, but, like we said above, it was a hobbled Texas. And they took Oklahoma to the wire, but it was an “off” year for a Bob Stoops Oklahoma team. If Texas A&M were a girl, she’d be a nice, solid, 7.5.

Offense: One wonders if the fact that Stephen McGee threw for a total of 121 yards against Texas and Oklahoma was b/c of Stephen or the coaching staff. In fact, when it comes to the offense, I find myself asking a lot of those sorts of questions. Still, McGee passed for 62% and a 12-2 TD/Int ratio. Oh, and he can run. They do have one “look out” type player in Martellus Bennet at tight end that could give John Carlson a run for the Mackey Award this year.

Defense: They found a way to improve last year, and they’re gonna need to do it again this year, replacing 5 starters. One of their returning starters, Jordan “Toast” Peterson is back and may not be able to hold onto his starting spot. The guy made ND’s secondary look all-world at times - really, really important, game winning/losing times. They lose their top 2 tacklers this year but get back the next 7.

Special Teams: Back in the day the “12th Man” referred to more than just the Aggies very enthusiastic home crowd. It used to be the label for their special teams unit too. But Head Coach Dennis Franchione pulled a David Copperfield with that reputation. They do have some speed, however, and were starting to turn that part of the game back around last season, including a blocked field goal (again, The Citadel?) and 2 kick returns for TDs (and, yes, again, one of them happened against The Citadel).

Facts:

• The Aggies are replacing 2 Offensive Starters and 5 Defensive Starters.
• One of the Offensive Starters they must replace is on the Offensive Line, but that’s it. The rest of the line is back from last year.
• Ranked #21 in the Holiday Bowl, they decided to lay down and take it like a coked up starlet to the tune of 45-10 from #20 Cal.
• Franchone’s special teams were ranked between #73 and #99 in his first 3 years.

HLS Top 25 Meta:

• Highest spot on a HLS ballot: 22nd
• Lowest spot on a HLS ballot: Not Ranked
• Average rankings on HLS ballots: 23.25

Why Alex Trebek Loves Them:

• The Texas A&M mascot is actually a Collie named Reveille. Bitchin’.

Around the Web:

• Texas A&M on Fanblogs
• TAMU on Scout
• The 12 Manchild

HLS Tracker 10 Forecast Technology Says:

Eh. They made the top 25 out of name recognition, if anything. Yeah, ok, they won 9 games last year but there’s no Citadel on the schedule this year. In fact, with Fresno State, Miami (Fl), mixed into their pre-Big-12 schedule this year, I think they’ll be lucky to reach 9 wins this year.

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