Texas A&M has a two-game losing streak, a 5-4 record and received zero votes in the latest Associated Press Top 25 college football poll.
But the Aggies remain a Top 10 team in the estimation of the Sagarin college football rankings, one of six computer-based ranking systems used to tabulate the BCS standings.
A&M, which lost leading rusher Christine Michael to a season-ending knee injury in Saturday’s 41-25 loss to Oklahoma, is No. 9 in the latest Sagarin rankings, published today in USA Today.
The Sagarin rankings REALLY like the Big 12, with seven league schools ranked among the nation’s top 15 teams. In order, the Big 12 members fall this way in the Sagarin rankings, with season records in parentheses:
3. Oklahoma State (9-0)
4. Oklahoma (8-1)
8. Texas (6-2)
9. Texas A&M (5-4)
12. Kansas State (7-2)
14. Missouri (4-5)
15. Baylor (5-3)
That places seven Big 12 teams ahead of Houston (9-0), the Lone Star State’s lone undefeated college team. The Cougars, who are 11th in the latest BCS standings, checked in at No. 18 in the Sagarin rankings. Sagarin’s top seven does closely mirror the BCS, with No. 1 LSU on top in both systems and Alabama at No. 2 in Sagarin (third in BCS). The rest of Sagarin’s top seven shows OSU, Oklahoma, Boise State, Stanford and Oregon.
Then we get to Texas at No. 8 – eight spots ahead of the Longhorns’ BCS position – with Texas A&M at No. 9, one spot ahead of an Arkansas team that defeated the Aggies, 42-38, on Oct. 1. The Razorbacks (8-1) are eighth in the BCS standings.
Other placements for Big 12 and Texas-based college teams in the latest Sagarin rankings:
31. TCU (7-2)
40. Texas Tech (5-4)
43. Iowa State (5-4)
45. SMU (6-3)
46. West Virginia (6-3; Big 12 member-to-be in 2012)
78. Rice (3-6)
81. UTEP (4-5)
83. Kansas (2-7)
85. Sam Houston State (9-0 in FCS)
127. North Texas (3-6)
_ Jimmy Burch
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