Bold CBS Sports Prediction Leaves Aggies Behind in 202
In a stunning twist that has sent shockwaves through the college football world, CBS Sports released a bold preseason prediction for the 2025 season that leaves Texas A&M entirely out of the College Football Playoff conversation — and even outside the top 20.
The report, published under the headline “The Power Shift: New Kings Rise as Old Empires Crumble,” ranks the Aggies at No. 23, a far cry from their No. 6 finish the previous year and a bitter pill for a program that had finally seemed to break through the SEC’s glass ceiling.
New Coach, New Hopes — Crushed Early
After the sudden departure of head coach Elijah Franklin to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in January, A&M was left scrambling. The school made headlines by hiring 36-year-old Marshall Bennett, an analytics wizard from Oregon with zero head coaching experience. While his hiring sparked excitement among the younger fanbase, CBS Sports’ analyst Trent Delaney wasn’t sold.
“Bennett may know schemes, but he’s never been tested in the SEC furnace,” Delaney wrote. “And in a year where Texas A&M faces Georgia, Alabama, and LSU all before Week 8, inexperience could be fatal.”
CBS’s prediction has the Aggies finishing 8-4, with key losses to those traditional SEC juggernauts and a humiliating Week 2 upset at the hands of Appalachian State — again.
Quarterback Carousel, Again
Adding fuel to the fire, A&M enters 2025 with a quarterback battle still unresolved in late July. Sophomore dual-threat phenom Treyson Mills dazzled in spring camp, but the staff seems hesitant to give him the reins over fifth-year senior Gunnar McNeely, a steady game manager with limited upside.
Delaney’s take: “There’s no leadership under center. Mills is electric but raw. McNeely is calm but predictable. Without a clear identity, the Aggies are a paper tiger.”
Recruiting Can’t Fix Culture Overnight
Texas A&M still boasts the No. 4 recruiting class from 2024, and blue-chip talents like linebacker Reggie Vaughn and wide receiver Tyrese Hinton are expected to make immediate impacts. But CBS warned that elite talent doesn’t equal elite execution.
“You can’t plug five-star kids into a fractured locker room and expect championships,” the article states. “They’ll win the tunnel walk. They won’t win the SEC.”
One particularly scathing section quoted unnamed SEC coaches who described A&M’s locker room as “fractured,” “entitled,” and “more focused on NIL deals than downfield blocking.”
Fan Reaction: Furious but Frightened
Predictably, Aggie Nation erupted. Social media swelled with hashtags like #CBSisClueless and #MaroonVengeance. The 12th Man Foundation issued a formal response, calling the prediction “reckless speculation from a network grasping for ratings.”
But privately, some fans admit the forecast isn’t entirely unfounded. “We haven’t beaten Alabama since the iPhone 12 was new,” said alumni and booster Darnell Hughes. “At some point, reputation stops mattering. You gotta earn it.”
A Motive Behind the Madness?
Not all believe the CBS prediction is objective. Some suggest it’s a calculated attempt to provoke controversy and boost early season ratings.
“This is classic bait,” said college football podcaster Sara Delgado. “A&M fans are among the most passionate and loud. CBS knows exactly what they’re doing.”
The Road Ahead
Whether the CBS report is prophecy or provocation, one thing is certain: the Aggies now have a target on their backs — not as contenders, but as supposed pretenders.
Coach Bennett remained stoic at media days: “We don’t play for preseason polls. We play for December.”
Time will tell if Texas A&M proves the critics wrong or becomes the latest in a long line of hyped programs that crumbled under the weight of expectation. But one thing’s for sure — the 2025 season just got a lot more interesting.
