Dec. 27, 2025Updated Dec. 28, 2025, 8:24 p.m. CT

Texas A&M’s first-round 10-3 loss to Miami in the College Football Playoff was neither memorable nor heartbreaking for most of the Aggie fan base. It understood the late-season issues that were never fixed in three weeks of rest/practice sealed the program’s fate.

Still, as I’ve stated throughout the week, coach Mike Elko achieved more than most of us expected. The program reached 11-0 for the first time since 1992. Road wins over Notre Dame and LSU knocked down barriers that had kept the program from achieving its playoff goals since its inception. However, this success has been debated over the last two months.

While it’s fair to say the Aggies defeated the teams in front of them, several of those programs (Auburn, Florida and LSU) fired their coaches midseason. Even worse, Texas A&M’s offense, led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed, failed to score more than 17 points against the Texas Longhorns in the regular-season finale and didn’t reach the end zone against Miami.

After the CFP loss, Mike Elko addressed Texas A&M’s lack of success in the trenches on both sides of the ball, especially the run defense, which will hopefully be fixed with better personnel this offseason.

Either way, the 2025 campaign was the program’s most successful season since 2012. Even so, according to one former LSU standout defensive back, Texas A&M isn’t an SEC-caliber team despite being a conference member for more than a decade. His comments join this week’s trend of framing the Aggies as frauds.

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Former All-Pro and Super Bowl champion safety Tyran Mathieu starred with the LSU Tigers in 2010 and 2011 before his dismissal from the program ahead of the 2012 season. Mathieu’s podcast with The 33rd Team, “In the Bayou with Tyrann Mathieu,” gained attention this week because of his comments regarding Texas A&M’s status in the SEC, which can be seen below.

Just like “SEC Unfiltered” founder/host Chris Phillips, who declared Texas A&M had tricked him early in the year into thinking they were championship contenders. This talking point is gaining attention from rival fan bases and media personalities. Still, I’ll let you decide whether Mathieu has a legitimate argument.

This is simply Matheu’s opinion, but Elko has the Aggies on the right track after reaching the College Football Playoff in his second season.

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