While it's nice to see A&M recieve some respect from the national media, i think we are HIGHLY overrated. We're a team coming off a 6-6 season, no bowl game, a new head coach, and at least 4 of our losses last season were heartbreakers (ITTech, NU, MU, and t.u.)

If we had any hope for a Big XII title it was last year, we caught all the tough guys at home, 'cept for t.u. This year our schedule is brutal and contains trips to VT, ittech, nebraska, and oklahoma. All are tough places to play, but i do think that Fran will turn around the jinx the red raiders have had on us lately.

As much as i want to think that Coach Fran will come in and change things around quickly, i think 2004-2005 will be the year the Ags break the top 10. This season i don't think we should start out ranked higher than 20, if at all. Of course, my reservations are based on years of RC Slocum coached football, Fran may come in and totally raise the bar and change the expectations for Aggie football. This is how i see our schedule shaking out this year:

Arkansas State W
Utah W
@ Virginia Tech W (this game IS winnable & i think will tell a lot about our team)

Pittsburgh W
@ Texas Tech W
Baylor W
@ Nebraska L (again, i think this game is winnable, but we haven't had too much success in lincoln)

Oklahoma State W
Kansas W
@ Oklahoma L
@ Missouri W
Texas * W (hard fought game, i think Fran bests Mr. Februrary, Mack Brown)

So, i see us going anywhere from 10-2 (best case scenario) to 8-4 (with losses to VT and t.u.) Realistically we'll probably end up 9-3 or 8-4.

Basically, what i'm saying is that, we're a bit overrated, and i'd rather us not be ranked and work our way up than vice versa. BTW, this is pretty dated, look who it has as the coach of the #18 team

Kitso
KS 361 times August 30th can't get here soon enough!