College Football

2024 Texas A&M football predictions: Ranked No. 22 by RJ Young

Updated Aug. 12, 2024 10:34 a.m. ET

FOX Sports National College Football Analyst

[Check out RJ Young's ultimate 134 college football rankings here]

Conference ranking: 9th in SEC (+1400 to win conference)
Teams ahead of them: West Virginia (21), Kansas (20), Clemson (19), Kansas State (18), USC (17)
Teams behind them: Arizona (23), Iowa (24), Iowa State (25), Miami (26), Wisconsin (27)

[Texas A&M 2024 schedule]

RJ's take: Mike Elko made Duke a winner — overnight. He turned the 3-9 2021 Blue Devils into the 9-4 2022 Blue Devils. Without a healthy Riley Leonard, he still managed to win eight games in an ACC that FSU ran through.

Hell, that’s enough for me to think he can turn around a program with the biggest monetary advantage in the sport and the most fertile recruiting ground state in the middle of our 48. But men with better résumés have been cast off the deep sea rig that is Ampersand U for finishing .500 over the last two years of a contract that always felt ridiculous.

In 12 years as SEC members, Texas A&M has enjoyed just three winning seasons in conference play despite 11 out of 12 seasons with a winning record and creating a Heisman winner in Johnny Manziel.

After going 12-12 the last two years, moneyed oil tycoons in College Station came up with $76 million to tell their former national title-winning head coach Jimbo Fisher you ain't gotta go home, but you can't stay here. And while the last two years have been mediocre, Fisher finished 45-25 at Ampersand U. That is not a group with a long fuse for losing. So make sure you get it done in a hurry, Elko.

Texas A&M's Win Total Odds: Over 8.5 (-120) Under 8.5 (+100)

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