Texas A&M's Week 9 bye has come and gone, giving the Aggies two full weeks of rest before taking on South Carolina in Columbia, then hosting Tennessee, facing Oklahoma in Norman, and hosting Texas to end the regular season.
This version of Texas A&M is the worst we've seen under third-year coach Mike Elko, especially on offense, as starting quarterback Marcel Reed is playing his worst football and has completely regressed after last season's career year under center.
Elko's decision to elevate first-year offensive and defensive play-callers Homon Wiggins and Lyle Hemphill has come back to bite him, as the team has made little to no progress on both sides of the ball. However, freshman running back KJ Edwards has been one of the lone bright spots
outside of transfer kicker David Olano, and has established himself as the current and future starting back.
In Week 9, ten SEC teams took the field, as Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas, and Missouri all secured blowout victories to keep pace in the conference race, while the Aggies are tied with Arkansas with just one win in SEC play. Heading into Week 10, the race for bowl eligibility begins for Texas A&M, as sad as that sounds.
After the Week 9 bye, Texas A&M dropped one spot to No. 23 in ESPN's Football Power Index with a rating of 13.8. The Aggies are currently the ninth-highest-ranked SEC team, trailing Florida (No. 22), Missouri (No. 19), Tennessee (No. 14), Ole Miss (No. 9), Texas (No. 7), Alabama (No. 6), LSU (No. 5), and Georgia (No. 4).
Following the bye week, ESPN's FPI also currently projects Texas A&M's win-loss record at 5.7-6.3 and a 3.4% chance to win out. Per ESPN's FPI, Texas A&M also has a 0% chance to win the SEC and a 0% chance to make the College Football Playoff.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Where Texas A&M sits in ESPN FPI rankings after Week 9 bye
