The college football season is upon us and so is our annual Top 25. This year Yahoo Sports revealed the teams from No. 11 to 25 at once before we publish each of our top 10 in separate posts in the days leading up to Week 1. That continues with No. 7 Texas A&M.
Previously: 11-25, No. 10 Oregon, No. 9 NC State, No. 8 Notre Dame
No. 7 Texas A&M
The last 12 months have shown that Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher are prepared to take on Alabama. Fisher became the first former Saban assistant to beat the Crimson Tide last fall and didn’t back down in the offseason when Saban said that A&M had “bought” its recruits via endorsement money through donor collectives. A&M ended up with the top recruiting class of 2022 according to Rivals.
Fisher vs. Saban was quickly the hottest story of the throes of the offseason as Fisher called Saban’s comments “despicable” and even called his former boss a “narcissist.” But the feud simmered as quickly as it boiled, perhaps thanks to some influence from the SEC itself. No conference does a better job of publicly keeping everyone on the same page.
A&M, meanwhile, hopes that the 2021 win over Alabama is the first step in doing a better job of hanging with Alabama on the football field. While the Crimson Tide have racked up College Football Playoff appearances, A&M is still searching for its first 10-win season since 2012. Is this Aggie team capable of doing what no team has done since Johnny Manziel was on campus?
Who’s the quarterback?
The biggest question for Texas A&M comes at quarterback. The Aggies went 8-4 a season ago with Zach Calzada as the starting QB for most of the season. He’s now at Auburn after completing 57% of his passes and throwing for 17 TDs to just nine interceptions — though his best game of the season by far came in that win over the Crimson Tide.
Haynes King opened the 2021 season as the starter but went down in the second game of the season against Colorado. He’s back in 2022 and will compete with LSU transfer Max Johnson to be the starter. Johnson completed 60% of his passes in 2021 and threw 26 TDs and seven interceptions with the Tigers.
Whoever ends up winning the starting QB job will have plenty of skill-position talent around him. Devon Achane could end up as a first-team All-SEC running back. He averaged seven yards a carry and gained 910 yards on just…