Before the playoffs, I had predicted that we would beat Miami and lose to OSU. That would still be good progress for us from last year.

But what happened was strange, we lost in the first round to Miami by whom I didn't think was that good, but 1 TD. Miami then shocked me by beating OSU. Then they beat Ole Miss and are in the Championship Game!

I don't expect Miami to win but they are in a position to win it all.

ESPN runs a competition to predict playoffs and the person who got everything right until now says Miami will win.
https://fantasy.espn.com/games/college-football-playoff-challenge-2025/bracket?id=18c553b0-d623-11f0-8e6d-1902c04830fa

So effectively we lost to the team that came to the final and may win.

Not bad. I don't feel as bad as I did earlier right after the loss.

The Marksman said:

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I feel significantly worse knowing we could have made a deep run

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Your point is also valid.

But I feel that even if we had beaten Miami, we would have lost to OSU so I don't think Miami beating OSU could be transferred as a win for A&M. Thoughts?

The Marksman said:

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I feel significantly worse knowing we could have made a deep run

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Money if me feels like this but the rest of me feels like the op

I think we just got the worst draw we possibly could have at a time when we weren't playing our best

Had we been seeded every Oregon was we would have made it to last night

Had we been seeeed where ole miss was we at least make it to the second round vs UGA

We got screwed being put at 7 having to play that Miami team

I felt the winner of A&M/Miami had a good chance to beat Ohio st

LB12Diamond said:

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Just shows Elko has us going in the right direction to be having these discussions only in his 2nd year.

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We have no clue if Elko has us going in the right direction. Everyone thought Fran had us going in the right direction when he had us in the Cotton Bowl in year two, we thought Sherman was going in the right direction in 2010 when we tied for the South title and beat Texas, Sumlin after Johnny's seasons and top notch recruiting classes and lastly we all thought Jimbo was going to roll after the 2020 season and the 2022 recruiting class. Considering our late season swoons and lack of ability to stop the run over the last two seasons I am cautious to get too excited yet

I used "we" for these discussions. Which is an accurate use.

But using "We" for "your" specific thoughts.

I see it differently than you.

Fran

He was a mess from the start.

Sumlin

Had JFF, much different than what Elko has accomplished.

But these are my thoughts. If you don't want to see we have the best coach we have had in a long time. Cool

All said and done, I am happy we have Elko. I think we are in the right direction. He needs to get better assistants but I trust that he knows what he is doing. The players like him. No obvious open cancers in the locker room like we had during Sumlin's time.

All pointing in the right direction.

Nothing about the following games improved why we lost to Texas and Miami.

I feel worse about it

Miami didn't exactly cruise to the title game; they had to beat us, osu, and ole piss to get there. A crime was committed by the CFP committee in putting totally untested oregon in the #5 slot where we should have been. Talk about cruising to the semis, oregon only had to beat jmu and tceh before getting mauled by indiana. They received so much totally undeserved credit and all it resulted in was them getting absolutely embarrassed on the national stage. Not saying we'd have won, but we had the capability to put up much more of a fight and make it a much more competitive game. At least we wouldn't have curled up in fetal position like oregon did.

Jbob04 said:

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Moral victory on a Saturday morning

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Glad to see some of the reactionary fans are realizing that Elko's team this year was probably the #3 or #4 best team in CFP. Ags got absolutely screwed by dropping to lowest ranked one loss team. That data didnt support it....yet....the committee clearly has prejudice against us.

We got the bad end of the stick. Landed a 1st round against the #1 or #2 team.

Miami easily beating OSU validated our defeat, if you are looking for that mental boost, not just them making it to the CFP final. Point being we didn't lose to some scrub team that didn't belong.

Miami had BY FAR the best defense we played all season and it wasn't even close. The only SEC d that compares is UGA, not even OU. Still feel we should have beaten Miami, it would have only required 13-17 points and we moved the ball well enough, but can't have 3 TOs.

Our schedule was favorable, sure, we probably have a 10-2 record if we played Bama or UGA or Ole Miss in addition to lsu and Mizzou. BUT maybe not, there are enough common games to warrant our ranking throughout the year (Ole Miss vs lsu and FL, we beat those teams easier / Bama vs USC and Mizzou / UGA vs FL and Auburn, etc), not to mention the schedules of IU and Technical.

Very hard for CFB teams to go 12-0 or 11-1. Miami is an excellent team and for all intents and purposes is the ACC champ. How they lost to SMU no idea other than crazy stupid Ls happen in CFB all the time every season, especially on the road.

Funny that Miami lost to SMU during the regular season.

LB12Diamond said:

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I used "we" for these discussions. Which is an accurate use.

But using "We" for "your" specific thoughts.

I see it differently than you.

Fran

He was a mess from the start.

Sumlin

Had JFF, much different than what Elko has accomplished.

But these are my thoughts. If you don't want to see we have the best coach we have had in a long time. Cool

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Tell me what you see different in Elko after year two then Jimbo after 2020 and Sumlin after year two?

infinity ag said:

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Funny that Miami lost to SMU during the regular season.

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Good teams can still have off games where they make mistakes, turnovers, crucial penalties, etc. Miami dominated SMU for most of the game but crucial mistakes cost them.

In the moment, it felt really bad, AND as others pointed out, we got screwed over on a couple of calls that effectively would have given us the win. However, I can also say, this team doesn't know how to win yet in the high stakes games. IU didn't either last year, so I'm taking this as this is just another normal step in the process.

At this point, I'd like to see some higher caliber talent gets out of the portal, especially since we have that "bag" they're looking for. Also, this year will really tell us if Elko is top notch because if he's doubling down on Marcel, this SHOULD NOT be a rebuilding year

Our fans only paid to attend one playoff game to see a loss. Oregon fans paid for three games and had to watch a blow-out. See, feel better now

infinity ag said:

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The Marksman said:

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I feel significantly worse knowing we could have made a deep run

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Your point is also valid.

But I feel that even if we had beaten Miami, we would have lost to OSU so I don't think Miami beating OSU could be transferred as a win for A&M. Thoughts?

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100%. Transitive property is the worst assumption by sports fans. In fact, it's why Vegas makes so much money. It's about matchups, coaching and execution

Just like weather, when 2 teams play, you can put a percentage on it. Say Miami wins that game 40% of the time, but only beats Ohio state 35% if the time. They just both happened to occur this time through.

infinity ag said:

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Jbob04 said:

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Moral victory on a Saturday morning

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There is no victory. We lost. But the loss is not as bad as I had thought earlier. Barely losing to a good team is better than losing to a scrub.

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Bull****. The loss is still just as bad. We choked at home and scored 3 f'ing points. WHOOP!!!

In hindsight, Miami was hot and playing their best football at the end of the season. We blew it off because they had lost to Louisville and SMU. They won their last 4 or 5 (now 8?).

We happened to be the team they matched up with in the first round. tu and ND would have been tough outs in the first round as well but they didn't get in.

We were a little unlucky with the seeding and the wind at a home game for the playoff. Also, Reed played bad (which his play in games that have direct championship opportunity implications is a bit concerning)

Things can change very drastically in today's college football landscape but for now, it does seem like we may be way better than we thought.

JournoAG said:

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It's ok to be encouraged by the progress of our team, while acknowledging we're not where we want to be yet. I don't understand why that's so hard for people to comprehend.

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It's also ok to acknowledge failure & missed opportunity & reinforce what needs to be corrected so the same failure doesn't occur again


I don't understand why that's so hard for people to comprehend

We lost to tu for a chance to Roll the Tide and get SEC hardware

This season could not have ended worse over last 6 quarters

WE LOST!!!!