ESPN predicts Texas A&M's CFP and bowl game destinations
· Yahoo Sports
Entering the 2026 season, some are higher on Texas A&M than others, as coach Mike Elko enters his third year at the helm after leading the Aggies to the College Football Playoff in Year 2, which is extremely impressive compared to nearly every other Power 4 coach's early adjustment period. However, losing to Texas for the second straight season and Miami in the first round of the CFP did not go as planned.
This offseason, before Elko saw a record 10 players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, the New Jersey native made several staff changes, elevating Holmon Wiggins as the new offensive coordinator, Lyle Hemphill as the team's new defensive coordinator, and Joey Lynch as the quarterbacks coach.
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These changes, combined with returning 65% of the 2025 roster and adding 17 transfer portal additions, paired with the 2026 signing class, provide Elko with more than enough talent to get back to the CFP, especially given the depth in the secondary and quarterback Marcel Reed returning for his second full starting season.
Texas A&M's 2026 wide receiver rotation is loaded from top to bottom, now including Alabama transfer Isaiah Horton, and led by junior Mario Craver, Ashton Bethel-Roman, and rising junior Terry Bussey, who has been one of A&M's preseason standouts thus far.
Nationally, Texas A&M is considered a fringe College Football Playoff team because of its tough nine-game SEC schedule, including road games vs. LSU, Missouri, Alabama, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, before hosting Texas at the end of the regular season. On Saturday, ESPN writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach predicted two potential postseason outcomes for the Aggies:
- Schlabach: No.11 Texas A&M at No. 6 BYU in the First round of the College Football Playoff
- Bonagura: Penn State vs. Texas A&M in the Citrus Bowl
Both predictions feel right on the money given the uncertainty of how the nine-game conference schedule will impact the Aggies' chances ot winning at least ten games this season after finishing 11-2 last fall, which could be the case for several SEC teams with CFP aspirations.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: ESPN predicts Texas A&M's CFP and bowl game destinations