Texas A&M Football: SEC Attracted to the Aggies' Mediocrity

The new word on the street is that Texas A&M has indeed verbally notified the Big 12 of their intention to pull up stakes and leave their ever shrinking Longhorn laden home conference.

How concrete is today’s news?

Well, the source is the University itself, who published a news release today on their institutional website entitled “Texas A&M To Seek Affiliation With Another Athletic Conference,” which represents an informant that’s really difficult to discredit.

The obvious assumption is that the Aggies are making tracks due east and will try to finagle a membership deal with college football’s most dominant conference, the SEC.

So, what’s the attraction…you can see why A&M wants in (other than the potential of getting their bell rung every Saturday in the fall) but why is the SEC interested in Texas A&M?

Though reasonable arguments could be made for reasons as varied as academics, financial stability, tradition, facilities, fan base, etc, what about good old fashioned mediocrity?

That’s right, what about the SEC being tantalized by the Aggies alluring mediocrity on the football field?

Think about that for just a moment, Texas A&M is the perfect candidate for admission into the powerful SEC; they’re a big school with a huge football tradition (i.e. they have the big name), but (and this is an important but) they are short on recent results.

Big name and soft play—a perfect combination for a conference where the caliber of competition is way beyond stiff already (i.e. why shoot yourself in the foot by asking the Sooners to sign-up?).

Now you might be thinking, how fluffy are the recent Aggies?

Well, here are some statistical highlights from the last decade (2001-10) to illustrate the point:

Overall Record:  66-57 (53 percent)

Big 12 Record:  37-44 (45 percent)

Bowl Results:  1-5 (16 percent)

Last Bowl Win: 2001

AP Rankings in Last Decade:  One (2010)

Average Big 12 South Finish: 4.2 (out of six teams)

Divisional/Conference Titles: Zero

The numbers are hard to refute, the Aggies represent the perfect suitor for a powerful bridegroom—they sound good, they look good and heck, they might even smell good; but they are soft and syrupy in the middle, in a very scrumptious way.

Would you like one more reason why the SEC is seduced by Texas A&M?

The Aggies haven’t beaten an SEC opponent since 1995 when they bested LSU 33-17 in College Station.

Yep, it’s the perfect storm and so let's all sit back (once again) and watch the guys in bow ties decide the fate of the greatest team sport in this country.