Texas A&M ranked among college football's most hated teams

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

College football was once occupied by a distinct set of “blue-blood” programs that dominated the landscape for the last three decades, and while Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, and LSU have all won six of the last seven national championships, the rise of head coach Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers, winning the 2025 CFP Title game over Miami, has altered the norms.

Now, when discussing the programs that fans loathe the most, mainly due to past success or rivalry-based, Indiana can’t even be considered, but every other program listed above, including several other football powerhouses were recently ranked in CBS Sports writer Brad Crawford’s “10 most hated teams of all-time” list, and, unsurprisingly, Texas A&M made the cut, coming at No. 7 below Alabama (No. 10), Notre Dame (No. 9) and Ohio State (No. 8).

After entering the SEC before the 2012 season, former Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel led the Aggies to an unprecedented 11-2 finish, including a blowout win over Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl, while the “Manziel effect” spurred the national discussion surrounding name, image, and likeness (NIL) that continues to dominate offseason debates.

Johnny Manziel’s polarizing personality has divided fans, who, as Crawford, either love or hate the former star, which has led to Texas A&M’s general dislike that continued during the Jimbo Fisher era, and now, during Mike Elko’s tenure.

When your name carries weight around SEC circles more than a decade after the end of your best playing days, your legacy speaks for itself. Johnny Manziel’s stardom came before NIL and profiting off individual brands, but he was one of the game’s first true firecrackers in the modern era of social media and hot takes. Frat boy vibes were hard to stomach, and Manziel’s brazen attitude seemed to rub opposing fans the wrong way, yet he was appointment viewing. The resounding win at Alabama was his defining moment. He played the game recklessly at times, which is part of what made him such a unique face of the sport. He was the lone bright spot of Kevin Sumlin’s tenure in College Station despite following a different set of rules from his teammates. Manziel was polarizing — you either loved or hated the dual-threat quarterback.

Two seasons into Mike Elko’s tenure, Texas A&M made the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history, while the Aggies’ 11-2 record matched the historic 2012 season, led by Johnny Football’s historic performances.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.

This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: CBS Sports places Texas A&M among college football’s most hated teams

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos