Texas A&M Football: Best Bowl Game Options for the Aggies

The Texas A&M football team is 7-4 on the season and bowl-eligible for the sixth year in a row. With one game left in the regular season, the Aggies are facing a variety of bowl possibilities. 

The 2014 season is the first year for the College Football Playoff. The top four teams in the country will enter the Playoff, and the rest enter the bowl hierarchy due to their conference affiliation. 

If the Aggies beat LSU on Thanksgiving Day, they will move up in the bowl selection. If not, then their 7-5 record will still guarantee a bowl selection. The extra practices a team gets before a bowl game will be especially beneficial to the Aggies' young roster. 

This is a look at the best bowl options for the Texas A&M football team.

Liberty Bowl

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The AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, picks fifth in the selection order and will consider the Aggies. Bowl selection committees decide on the two teams in their game based on a variety of factors. 

They want to create a matchup between two teams that will generate good television ratings and sell all the seats in the stadium. The selection committees do not always pick the two teams with the best records.

The worst-case scenario would have the Aggies ending the regular season with a 7-5 record. Even if they beat LSU to go 8-4, do not be surprised to see the Liberty Bowl pick a 7-5 or 6-6 Tennessee team over the Aggies.

They would choose the attendance and interest the home-state Vols would bring to the game over an A&M team that might have a better record.

Texas Bowl

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The Texas Bowl in Houston will pit an SEC team against a Big 12 team. The ideal matchup for this bowl in 2014 would be the Aggies against a bowl-eligible Texas team. 

That would be the dream scenario for the Texas Bowl selection committee. In 2012, the Longhorns and the Aggies had a chance to play in the Cotton Bowl, but instead Johnny Manziel and the Aggies faced Big 12 co-champion Oklahoma. 

Texas A&M is the top team in the state when it comes to recruiting. The only way to change the momentum in recruiting would be for Texas to beat the Aggies, which means it would behoove the Longhorns to play A&M in a bowl game. 

The Texas Bowl will try to match these two programs up against one another. It will be interesting to see if the Longhorns and Aggies actually want to play this game.

Birmingham Bowl

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The Birmingham Bowl will pit an SEC team against an unknown opponent in Birmingham, Alabama. If Auburn loses the last two games of the regular season, they will end up with a 7-5 record. 

The Birmingham Bowl would likely pick Auburn over an Aggie team that beat the Tigers because Auburn would be a bigger draw at the gate. If not, do not be surprised to see the Birmingham Bowl pick the Aggies and try to pit them up against another major program. 

The Aggies would benefit from playing a bowl game in the middle of SEC country. They would be able to have recruits from surrounding areas in Alabama attend bowl practices.

It is always advantageous to give recruits a chance to see your program. Recruits from the Birmingham area could visit bowl practices and see how the coaches interact with the players and how the practices are run. You never know when a team is going to make an impression on a recruit.  

Belk Bowl

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The Aggies may go to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, to play an ACC team. There is a good chance the Aggies could face Notre Dame in that game. 

This would be the best-case scenario out of all of the bowl games. The Texas A&M players would get a trip to an area they had not visited before. 

The Belk Bowl selection committee would get two teams that would generate national interest. A Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M game would draw good television ratings and a nice crowd. 

The Aggies would also benefit from recruits in the North Carolina area being allowed to visit practices. College football teams typically open up some of their bowl practices to the public. Any recruit interested in A&M would get the opportunity to see the coaches interact with the players in a practice setting. The Belk Bowl would be the best possible bowl game scenario for the Aggies.