Texas A&M's disastrous home loss to Kentucky led to the Aggies dropping a dozen or more spots in the US LBM Coaches Poll (No. 20) and AP Top 25 (No. 23), while many expected third-year coach Mike Elko's squad to completely drop out of the rankings, which will be the case if the Aggies fall to LSU on the road this weekend.
Entering the 2026 season, plenty of questions clouded the roster, led by redshirt junior quarterback Marcel Reed, who was expected to take the vaunted "next step" in his development. While his first two appearances were solid, Reed had his worst career performance at the worst time against the Wildcats, completing 53% of his passes and throwing two interceptions, making poor decisions and struggling with accuracy.
Kentucky deserves
credit for dominating both sides of the ball in the second half, but it's still hard to know whether the Wildcats are a legitimately tough opponent or if the Aggies simply played their worst football and aren't as good a team as we assumed before the season began.
As bad as Saturday's loss was, Texas A&M's season is far from over, as Saturday's road test vs. No. 11 LSU will determine both programs' fate after collectively going 0-1 in SEC play last weekend. Last Season, the Aggies destroyed LSU 49-25 in Death Valley for the first road win since 1994, but that was before Lane Kiffin took over the program this offseason.
Unsurprisingly, Texas A&M fell twenty-two spots in the latest USA TODAY Re-Rank after losing to Kentucky, now sitting at No. 31, which is understandable given everything I stated above. All the Aggies can do is prove they still belong in the College Football Playoff conversation, starting with a win over an equally desperate LSU team on Saturday night.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M drops 20-plus spots in the latest US TODAY Re-Rank
