CFP Selection Committee Chair continues to underrate Texas A&M's impressive résumé

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On Tuesday night, Texas A&M remained the No. 3-ranked team in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, which wasn’t a shock to most of the Aggie fan base, as Ohio State and Indiana stayed put at the No. 1 and 2 spots, as all three teams entered the week with 9-0 records. However, Indiana’s close road win over a bad Penn State team should have been considered when determining the Aggies’ standing.

Texas A&M (9-0, 6-0 SEC) blew out Missouri, which was ranked 22nd last week, 38-17 in Columbia, and held a double-digit lead for most of the game, while racking up 243 rushing yards against one of the better run defenses in the SEC. This win, combined with the Aggies’ 49-25 victory over LSU in Baton Rouge two weeks ago, has not moved the needle for CFP Chari Mack Rhoades and most of the national media.

For ESPN analyst Heather Dinich, Indiana’s final lead-taking drive put the Hoosiers over the top, which, again, is apparently more impressive than back-to-back 20-plus point SEC road wins.

“I guarantee you people in that room care about how Fernando Mendoza willed Indiana to a win at Penn State.”

Mack Rhoades, who cited Texas A&M’s 23rd-ranked defense as being the reason the Aggies were ranked No. 3 last week, continued to back his claim with a long-winded answer that Indiana and Ohio State have better resumes, while pointing out that Texas A&M faced backup Missouri quarterback Matt Zollers, which played into his reasoning.

“It was one of our longer discussions. Indiana, we gave them the edge again defensively – we talked about that last week – and certainly offensively as well. You think of Indiana’s body of work and wins going at Oregon, against Oregon, in Eugene, the Iowa win. We certainly looked at the Texas A&M win in South Bend. That was a big win for them. The win vs. Missouri on the road. The committee talked a little bit about Missouri – not the Missouri team that they’ve been, playing their third quarterback, a true freshman. And Indiana found a way to find a way. Mendoza down the stretch, second-rated quarterback passing efficiency. Those were all the things that we talked about that gave Indiana the edge.”

All of this is accurate to some degree, but Indiana also faced Penn State’s backup quarterback and an interim head coach; it’s clear that the Hoosiers’ road wins over Oregon and Iowa are—and will continue to be—more impressive until further notice.

What does Texas A&M have to do to move up in the rankings? Finishing undefeated —meaning defeating South Carolina, Samford, and No. 10 Texas on the road, plus winning the SEC Championship — would automatically place the Aggies in the CFP and earn the No. 1 overall seed.

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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: CFP Chair Mack Rhoades underrates Texas A&M’s impressive résumé

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