7 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

I love how slim guys feel they aren't fat due to tremendous virtue and will power. If it was as easy for everybody as it is for you, why would anybody choose obesity?

Part of what has always entertained me about the boards is coming to "know" various handles, even though I've never met them in real life. Read their stuff often enough and you start to develop a mental picture of what they look like, whether it's close to reality or not. It cracks me up when you get on here and get ornery about the fat jokes. I picture you as a more corpulent, grey-haired Ron Swanson, and I don't mean that as a slight.

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

Part of what has always entertained me about the boards is coming to "know" various handles, even though I've never met them in real life. Read their stuff often enough and you start to develop a mental picture of what they look like, whether it's close to reality or not. It cracks me up when you get on here and get ornery about the fat jokes. I picture you as a more corpulent, grey-haired Ron Swanson, and I don't mean that as a slight.

I picture you looking like a homeless Dan Bilzerian, with skinnier legs.

2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Part of what has always entertained me about the boards is coming to "know" various handles, even though I've never met them in real life. Read their stuff often enough and you start to develop a mental picture of what they look like, whether it's close to reality or not. It cracks me up when you get on here and get ornery about the fat jokes. I picture you as a more corpulent, grey-haired Ron Swanson, and I don't mean that as a slight.

Oh, I'm a porker. The gray hair is in short supply, however.

8 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

Oh, I'm a porker. The gray hair is in short supply, however.

You know what they say, "First, it turns gray. Then, it turns white. Then, it turns loose."

Mine skipped those first two stages and went straight to loose.

6 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Exactly. Elko is actually doing a fine job managing his weight. Given the stress of the job, he ought to be 450 lbs by now, but he’s not. So there.

Sso we ruin another aggy undefeated season again this year. Noice

3 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I picture you looking like a homeless Dan Bilzerian, with skinnier legs.

Sweet take, bro. Rack’em!

14 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

On 2/10/2026 at 4:28 PM, BurntOrange&White said:

I picture you looking like a homeless Dan Bilzerian, with skinnier legs.

I picture you as a pair of ass cheeks wallowing in a shallow pool of water in slow motion.

On 2/10/2026 at 11:49 AM, Vertuzzi said:

I think coaches making millions every year can afford to DoorDash a couple of salads, even on the road. They are just gluttonous and lazy. Most of these fucking guys hop on a golf cart to get to their respective practice fields.

You can ruin a golf cart that way.

On 2/10/2026 at 3:37 PM, closetojumping said:

Part of what has always entertained me about the boards is coming to "know" various handles, even though I've never met them in real life. Read their stuff often enough and you start to develop a mental picture of what they look like, whether it's close to reality or not.

I just assume everyone who posts on Surly looks exactly like their avatar.

...unless your avatar is a hot girl, in which case I assume you look like this

PFF came out and gave probability ratings or some such for the 2025 CFP teams in regard to making a return. ATM was given a "medium" grade. Tarp writes about it spoilered below and then attempts to polish a turd with his 2026 outlook for ATM making the playoffs.

Thoughts:

-"Craver! Reuben Owens!" is part of the aggie "we're making the CFP again!??" battle cry.

-"Everything for 2026 hinges on Marcel Reed dramatically improving in key areas when he faces strong defenses."

Pro Football Focus ranks Texas A&M's chances on making the CFP in 2026

Reply

Back To Topics

•  TarpStaff

• Pro Football Focus took a look at every College Football Playoff team's chances of getting back to the sport's post season tournament in 2026. There were only four teams that repeated from 2024 to 2025. However, they gave Texas A&M a medium chance among nine programs with either a high (Indiana, Miami, Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas Tech) or medium (Ole Miss, Oklahoma, A&M) opportunity to repeat as a CFP team.

• There are certainly reasons to feel optimistic about Texas A&M's chances of making it back to the playoff. Wide receiver Mario Craver is a rising star at the position and leading rusher Rueben Owens is back as well. The defense lost plenty of pieces, but head coach Mike Elko has proven to be an excellent coach on that side of the ball.

• The biggest question surrounds quarterback Marcel Reed and how he develops as a passer with a new offensive coordinator in Holmon Wiggins. He was only on target for 53% of his passes in 2025, which was just 124th in the FBS.

• From the standpoint of metrics, almost everything gets directed back towards Reed and how much he improves in 2026 as a passer. He won his first 11 games last season by being a playmaker even while struggling in some games with turnovers. However, when the big plays dried up in the Aggies' last two contests of the season, so did A&M's offense as they scored only 13 points and lost both games.

• However, one of the things that must be kept in mind is that quarterbacks usually get better as they get older. Reed has over 20 college starts and has a diverse game as a passer and a runner.

• Most of all, while Reed finished seventh in NFL passer rating in the Southeastern Conference in 2025, five of the quarterbacks that finished ahead of him have departed college football. Not only that, two other quarterbacks that finished behind him also ran out of eligibility.

• Thus, Reed (along with Texas' Arch Manning) is only one of two quarterbacks in the top ten in passer rating who is returning to lead his team. The only other experienced performers who have done better than him in the past are South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers and John Mateer (and those performances came in 2024).

• If Reed can not only hit more throws to his teammates (which should also help him hitting opponents so often and thus cut down on his turnovers), he will help to compensate for losses up front on both sides of the ball (especially premier pass rusher Cashius Howell). It will also help if the Aggies run the ball better than they did down the stretch run in 2025 (to take some of the pressure off of him) and if an influx of transfers can help replace the losses throughout the two deep on both offense and defense.

9 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Everything for 2026 hinges on Marcel Reed dramatically improving in key areas when he faces strong defenses."

9 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

-"Everything for 2026 hinges on Marcel Reed dramatically improving in key areas when he faces strong defenses."

FYI given purely anecdotal evidence (based on stories from my son's current aggy friends - who in historical aggy fashion still inexplicably swear by his ungodly talent), Marcel likes to go those shitty Northgate bars and rent out entire sections for his crew and his ho's. Pulls a lot of wool but I don't think he's going to make a huge jump based on his lifestyle/work ethic.

46 minutes ago, satyanash said:

I just assume everyone who posts on Surly looks exactly like their avatar.

...unless your avatar is a hot girl, in which case I assume you look like this

That’s exactly what @BurntOrange&White looks like. Guaranteed!!

1 hour ago, satyanash said:

I just assume everyone who posts on Surly looks exactly like their avatar.

Uploading Attachment...

1 hour ago, goathumper said:

Does that include the whole '22 class, including all the guys that transferred out?

3 hours ago, Scholz said:

FYI given purely anecdotal evidence (based on stories from my son's current aggy friends - who in historical aggy fashion still inexplicably swear by his ungodly talent), Marcel likes to go those shitty Northgate bars and rent out entire sections for his crew and his ho's. Pulls a lot of wool but I don't think he's going to make a huge jump based on his lifestyle/work ethic.

Aren’t there pics of him at one of the bars a couple nights before the Texas game this year?

13 minutes ago, Etexhorn13 said:

Aren’t there pics of him at one of the bars a couple nights before the Texas game this year?

Yes I believe so.

From @closetojumping spoilered Tarp piece:

"Most of all, while Reed finished seventh in NFL passer rating in the Southeastern Conference in 2025, five of the quarterbacks that finished ahead of him have departed college football. Not only that, two other quarterbacks that finished behind him also ran out of eligibility."

He's got a valid point here.....that is....assuming those 7 other teams don't find new Quarterbacks....

Edited February 12Feb 12 by MirrOlure

9 hours ago, closetojumping said:

If Reed can not only hit more throws to his teammates (which should also help him hitting opponents so often and thus cut down on his turnovers), he will help to compensate for losses up front on both sides of the ball (especially premier pass rusher Cashius Howell).

Absolutely fucking terrible sentence structure aside, I can't believe Tarp said he just needs hit his own teammates more often and the other team less often.

Edited February 13Feb 13 by TheBryMan81

18 hours ago, nnm said:

Does that include the whole '22 class, including all the guys that transferred out?

Just includes players who were on the '25 team

On 2/12/2026 at 12:55 PM, Scholz said:

FYI given purely anecdotal evidence (based on stories from my son's current aggy friends - who in historical aggy fashion still inexplicably swear by his ungodly talent), Marcel likes to go those shitty Northgate bars and rent out entire sections for his crew and his ho's. Pulls a lot of wool but I don't think he's going to make a huge jump based on his lifestyle/work ethic.

historical, didn't you mean hysterical?

I have a hard time believing that a career WR coach whom has never called plays before is going to be successful as their OC. If this was Hartline or Chris Jackson I could take a little solace that it is ultimately the head coaches offense. At A&M it isn't like Elko can just take over or draw up the plays. They have qb coach Lynch that looks like he's from the Shawn Watson school of Success as probably the only other coach on staff that can jump in and call plays. The offense analysts are two guys with no bios so no guys like Paul Chryst just sitting around.

https://12thman.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/joey-lynch/1969

Here's Elko talking confidently to the media about the glory he's covering the program in with this new transfer class. Clearly, he's ready to start talking about ATM contending for national titles.

Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko breaks down transfer portal additions to Aggies defense

On Monday, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko spoke with the media about some of the transfer portal players that the Aggies added to their defense this offseason.

A month after signing a top 10 recruiting class for the second consecutive season, Texas A&M's coaching staff got right back to work by making some important additions via the transfer portal.

A&M added 18 transfers in the singular transfer portal window, which lasted from Jan. 2 through Jan. 16. In comparison, they only lost 11 scholarship players via the portal, a net gain of seven transfers.

Half of those additions via the transfer portal came on the defensive side of the ball. The Aggies ended up signing five defensive linemen/edge rushers, two linebackers, a cornerback, and a safety. Their highest-ranked portal addition was Tennessee cornerback Rickey Gibson III, who was the No. 1 player at his position and a top-50 portal player overall.

‌

Head coach Mike Elko recently spoke with the media about A&M's offseason, portal additions included. He stated that when it came to the defensive line/edge rushers — where they made the most additions — their approach was similar to offensive line recruiting, which featured four transfers last month. 

"Yeah, I think for sure it was the same thing as the offensive line. We needed some old, experienced guys," Elko said. "We needed guys who had played snaps at the collegiate level. Obviously, there's a talent marker. If you're trying to find guys to project, I think one of the reasons why we've had so much success with the transfers is we've looked and found guys who fit our scheme, our system, our needs. I think each one of them does that."

Texas A&M lost a few defensive linemen via the transfer portal in Dealyn Evans (Mississippi State), Rylan Kennedy (FSU) and Solomon Williams (Cal). They also lost Albert Regis, Cashius Howell, Dayon Hayes, and Tyler Onyedim after their eligibilities had expired. 

With d-line very much being a developmental position group and a significant amount of growth can transpire in a single offseason, Elko says that he doesn't yet have an idea what the starting group will eventually look like. 

"Again, it's interesting, different from some of the other years past," Elko said. "I don't know how these jobs will play out. I think in the past, we've just had these big holes that we needed to fill. I think this year, it's like, well, we've got these young guys that I think have a chance to make a giant step this offseason. We've got these older guys who have played a lot of football. It'll be really cool to see who ultimately comes out on top of a lot of those competitions. I think that would be really good for our program."

Looking at the secondary, Elko was asked about the addition of Tennessee's Rickey Gibson, especially considering Will Lee III's departure. Gibson started as a sophomore for Tennessee two seasons ago, and tallied 32 total tackles (25 solo), three pass deflections, and a forced fumble while playing 636 defensive snaps. Last season, however, he missed all but one game due to an upper body injury. 

Elko views him as a solid fit with the combination of his proven talent and experience. 

"Rickey was a kid that obviously was an elite corner in this league two years ago," Elko said. "Played at a really high level, probably expected to be in the NFL Draft this year, but unfortunately had an injury in the first game and wasn't able to play as much as he would have liked to last year. That one certainly seemed like one that made a ton of sense for us, adding an experienced guy to come in. We have Julian Humphrey to compete as well and some of our young kids. I think all of that just added up and lined up the right way together."

In that same question, Elko was asked about the addition of Ray Coney to replace the departing linebacker Taurean York (NFL Draft). Coney comes from the Group of Five level as he played for Tulsa. But he quickly became a sought-after linebacker in the portal as he recorded 129 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks, two passes defended and a forced fumble in 12 games this past season. Pro Football Focus had Coney as the second-highest graded linebacker transfer this offseason. 

(Photo: Brian Bahr, Getty)

 

Coney said after his commitment that starting was the main thing for him, and Elko is excited to see that competition play out this year. 

"Ray Coney was a kid that we wanted to get one older, experienced linebacker," Elko said. "I thought that was critical. A kid who's been really, really productive at Tulsa, has been a dominant player in that league. Felt like had the skillset that projected to make this jump and be a successful player. But again, it's similar to a lot of positions. You've got Noah Mikhail, you've got Jordan Lockhart, who we think are really talented players that are going to put themselves in a position to make the jump to be SEC starters and wanted to bring in one older guy to be a guy to compete with them.

"It's a really unique dynamic that you have that at a lot of these positions," Elko continued. "You have these young guys that you bring those guys in here and put them on the stage, and they're going to tell you, 'I'm not sitting behind anybody.' You've got these older guys who've started a lot of college football games that have certainly come here to win starting jobs. I think that's going to create a really, really competitive environment, and I think that's really good."

The Aggies are losing experience from last year's roster, which helped them make their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance. But that doesn't mean they don't have additions that know what that level of competition looks like.

Gibson made the playoffs with Tennessee a couple of seasons ago, which resulted in a loss to the eventual national champions Ohio State Buckeyes. Wide receiver Isaiah Horton and offensive lineman Wilkin Formby were in the CFP with Alabama last year, winning against Oklahoma before losing to Indiana. 

Elko is looking forward to building upon what the program accomplished last year and reaching more milestones next season and beyond. 

"For us to become the program we wanted to be, there are certain check marks that we had to hit as a program that we just haven't done," Elko said. "Certainly getting invited into the playoffs, being part of the playoffs, playing for SEC Championship Game opportunities down the stretch. We haven't done any of those things. The fact that we're doing them now, that was always going to be the first step we had to take before we became the program everyone wanted to see us become.

"Yeah, I think experience matters," Elko continued. "I think comfortability in those situations matters. I think now having higher expectations for what your program is capable of matters. I think all of that comes together. Yeah, I think that'll play a big role moving forward."

On 2/12/2026 at 12:27 PM, satyanash said:

I just assume everyone who posts on Surly looks exactly like their avatar.

...unless your avatar is a hot girl, in which case I assume you look like this

You try to trick Hop Sing! You are on our list, Elaine Benes!

1 hour ago, BigHornedLurker said:

Teri Hatcher. The Cool Surface. Meh.

He is shockingly innovative:

He's set up this program so that young guys want to start. Here's the capper, he has older guys that want to start, too! And it creates a competitive environment!

Unheard of in the Pre-Elko Era of college football.

On 2/10/2026 at 2:37 PM, closetojumping said:

Part of what has always entertained me about the boards is coming to "know" various handles, even though I've never met them in real life. Read their stuff often enough and you start to develop a mental picture of what they look like, whether it's close to reality or not. It cracks me up when you get on here and get ornery about the fat jokes. I picture you as a more corpulent, grey-haired Ron Swanson, and I don't mean that as a slight.

My avatar is my high school graduation photo. I am way uglier with less hair now. I like to keep it real.

11 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

He is shockingly innovative:

He's set up this program so that young guys want to start. Here's the capper, he has older guys that want to start, too! And it creates a competitive environment!

Unheard of in the Pre-Elko Era of college football.

On 2/23/2026 at 4:29 PM, RomaVicta said:

He is shockingly innovative:

He's set up this program so that young guys want to start. Here's the capper, he has older guys that want to start, too! And it creates a competitive environment!

Unheard of in the Pre-Elko Era of college football.

Remember the mentalist he brought in and mind screwed his QB, now at UH.

It's gonna be a lot of fun watching these guys go back to 8-4 this fall.

Extremely well done assessment of lil bro. Would love one for okie and honestly us as well. My head is inflating with how much better I feel day by day with this team going into next season and would kinda want something more non-partisan or even cynical to evaluate this next team. ou's performance is a lot harder to predict as well. Moreso than the farmers who will undoubtedly melt at the scheduled time without fail.

20 hours ago, chefbeezy said:

Would love one for okie

I can take care of the okie write up:

Ou sucks. Done.

20 hours ago, chefbeezy said:

Extremely well done assessment of lil bro. Would love one for okie and honestly us as well. My head is inflating with how much better I feel day by day with this team going into next season and would kinda want something more non-partisan or even cynical to evaluate this next team. ou's performance is a lot harder to predict as well. Moreso than the farmers who will undoubtedly melt at the scheduled time without fail.

I will certainly do an OU one when their writers are producing the kind of content that we can piggyback on for an initial outlook on their roster. They're further behind than the aggie writers, for whatever reason.

From a cursory perspective, I think ATM is in line to have a better year than OU for a few reasons.

1) OU's schedule is tough, especially early on:

-UTEP

@ Michigan

-New Mexico

-@ Georgia

Bye

-(@) Texas

-Kentucky

-@ Mississippi State

-South Carolina

-@ Florida

-Ole Miss

-Texas A&M

-@ Missouri

They could easily be 2-3 to open. Hell, New Mexico beat UCLA last year and played Michigan and Minnesota close while going 9-4. They won't be just pitiful. @MSU, SCar (if Sellers is healthy), @ UF, Ole Miss, ATM, and @ Mizzou could all be toss ups.

2) They were cheap in the portal and did not end up net positive unless one wishes to take the typical OU fanboi route and claim that all the losses were planned and needed and all the gains are diamonds in the rough. They lost guys with a starting history for them at the following positions: OT, OG, C, WR, TE, QB, RB, LB, CB, Cheetah, and DL. Not saying the exits all were starters when they left, but they had started over their career there. Almost all of those guys went to other P4 programs including UGA, Michigan, Clemson, Ole Miss, UCLA, ASU, Baylor, WVU, Miss State, Pitt, etc.

The guys they brought in? The headliners were Jaggy McJaggerson and Trell Harris, both at WR where they are decimated due to bad recruiting, graduates, and transfers.

Was surprised to see so many Aggies combine invites:

List of the 13 Aggies Invited to the 2026 NFL Combine:

• Offense: Chase Bisontis (OL), Nate Boerkircher (TE), Dametrious Crownover (OL), KC Concepcion (WR), Le'Veon Moss (RB), Ar'maj Reed-Adams (OL), Trey Zuhn III (OL).

• Defense: Cashius Howell (DL), Will Lee III (DB), Tyler Onyedim (DL), Albert Regis (DL), Scooby Williams (LB), Taurean York (LB).

I still don’t understand the OL situation there. It seems like it wasn’t very good, and yet everyone talked about how good it was and these combine invites seem to support that? I’m so confused.

Nothing surprising on the defensive side of the ball.

On 2/23/2026 at 4:34 PM, stork642 said:

My avatar is my high school graduation photo. I am way uglier with less hair now. I like to keep it real.

My avatar is me. Yes I am Chuck motherfucking Norris.

Using the name "Trey Zuhn, III" is so fucking Aggy.....its either Trey Zuhn or [Real Name] Zuhn, III you fucking morons.

2 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Was surprised to see so many Aggies combine invites:

List of the 13 Aggies Invited to the 2026 NFL Combine:

• Offense: Chase Bisontis (OL), Nate Boerkircher (TE), Dametrious Crownover (OL), KC Concepcion (WR), Le'Veon Moss (RB), Ar'maj Reed-Adams (OL), Trey Zuhn III (OL).

• Defense: Cashius Howell (DL), Will Lee III (DB), Tyler Onyedim (DL), Albert Regis (DL), Scooby Williams (LB), Taurean York (LB).

I still don’t understand the OL situation there. It seems like it wasn’t very good, and yet everyone talked about how good it was and these combine invites seem to support that? I’m so confused.

Nothing surprising on the defensive side of the ball.

It's also funny because they lost those OL, and claim to be even "better" this year on the OL.

The posters on texags.com sure like to use a certain phrase:

• “Posters keep bringing up Florida, guess what, the Aggies lost to Texas who lost to Florida. Let that sink in.”

• “…For just the second time in the last nine years, Texas A&M is starting 2-0. Let that sink in.”

• “By successful, I mean championships…we have not had a championship for 28 years…Let that sink in.”

• *“SEC teams were 0-286 (let that sink in) when 27+ point deficits were in play…”

• *“Let that sink in!” – in a forum post celebrating the Aggies being #1 in defensive efficiency in conference play.

• “…Except for maybe Ohio State, what teams have played a complete game? …We are the ONLY undefeated team in the SEC. Let that sink in.”

• “…Three weeks does not make a finish… Sitting at 3-0 and ranked ninth, the Aggies… Let that sink in a minute.”

• “…OU damn near lost to TULANE AND KANSAS! Let that sink in for a moment Mr CFP Committee member.”

• “Y’all realize Arky was losing deep in the 3rd quarter to Rice right??? RICE… let that sink in.”

• “…Longhorns have had only one conference title since the SWC… Let that sink in.”

3 hours ago, MirrOlure said:

Using the name "Trey Zuhn, III" is so fucking Aggy.....its either Trey Zuhn or [Real Name] Zuhn, III you fucking morons.

That’s a really valuable important point. You should go search the internet and find the person or persons responsible for this tragedy.

It means a lot to some people.

9 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I will certainly do an OU one when their writers are producing the kind of content that we can piggyback on for an initial outlook on their roster. They're further behind than the aggie writers, for whatever reason.

6 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

The posters on texags.com sure like to use a certain phrase:

• “Posters keep bringing up Florida, guess what, the Aggies lost to Texas who lost to Florida. Let that sink in.”

• “…For just the second time in the last nine years, Texas A&M is starting 2-0. Let that sink in.”

• “By successful, I mean championships…we have not had a championship for 28 years…Let that sink in.”

• *“SEC teams were 0-286 (let that sink in) when 27+ point deficits were in play…”

• *“Let that sink in!” – in a forum post celebrating the Aggies being #1 in defensive efficiency in conference play.

• “…Except for maybe Ohio State, what teams have played a complete game? …We are the ONLY undefeated team in the SEC. Let that sink in.”

• “…Three weeks does not make a finish… Sitting at 3-0 and ranked ninth, the Aggies… Let that sink in a minute.”

• “…OU damn near lost to TULANE AND KANSAS! Let that sink in for a moment Mr CFP Committee member.”

• “Y’all realize Arky was losing deep in the 3rd quarter to Rice right??? RICE… let that sink in.”

• “…Longhorns have had only one conference title since the SWC… Let that sink in.”

7 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

The posters on texags.com sure like to use a certain phrase:

• “Posters keep bringing up Florida, guess what, the Aggies lost to Texas who lost to Florida. Let that sink in.”

• “…For just the second time in the last nine years, Texas A&M is starting 2-0. Let that sink in.”

• “By successful, I mean championships…we have not had a championship for 28 years…Let that sink in.”

• *“SEC teams were 0-286 (let that sink in) when 27+ point deficits were in play…”

• *“Let that sink in!” – in a forum post celebrating the Aggies being #1 in defensive efficiency in conference play.

• “…Except for maybe Ohio State, what teams have played a complete game? …We are the ONLY undefeated team in the SEC. Let that sink in.”

• “…Three weeks does not make a finish… Sitting at 3-0 and ranked ninth, the Aggies… Let that sink in a minute.”

• “…OU damn near lost to TULANE AND KANSAS! Let that sink in for a moment Mr CFP Committee member.”

• “Y’all realize Arky was losing deep in the 3rd quarter to Rice right??? RICE… let that sink in.”

• “…Longhorns have had only one conference title since the SWC… Let that sink in.”

Places Aggy likes to let things sink into:

So would it shock anyone to know that our favorite midget LB from A&M was at the bottom of his group in both 3-Cone and 20-yard Shuttle?

Anyone taking bets of his 40? 4.62? 4.65?