I admittedly have BAS, but I have also seen a lot of college football over the years and there are a few things that jump out to me about our team that makes me feel like we are in fact a legit playoff contender.

I'm excluding obvious things like our 4-0 record and #5 coaches or #6 AP rankings.
1. 75 Yard TD allowed against UTSA

• One of the biggest triggers all year I have had for BAS was the 75 yard TD run against UTSA to start the second half. It was the kind of play that made you doubt the athletic ability of our team as a whole. "If UTSA is doing this what are SEC teams going to do." What would Love from Notre Dame do? Well we saw Love do well against us running the football. But he also did well running the football against every team in the country last year all the way to the national championship. And look who is #2 in the county in rushing yards. You guessed it, Robert Henry Jr. from UTSA.

Number 1 Rusher is Ahmad Hardy
Ahmad Hardy MIZ 103 Attempts 730 yards 9 TDs 7.1 per carry

Number 2 Rusher is Robert Henry Jr.
Robert Henry Jr. UTSA 68 Attempts 624 Yards 7 TDs 9.2 per carry

2. K.C. and Mario C. have been objectively outstanding.

• They pass the eye test. They have made contested catches, big plays, and were clutch against Notre Dame. They didn't get the targets against Auburn but the game plan IMO for Auburn was to take them out of it. With one fewer game than most other WR, because of the timing of our BYE week, Mario Craver is still 7th in the nation in receiving yards. Winning big games requires a few big plays or contested catches. We are objectively capable in this area.

Mario Craver TA&M 24 Receptions 477 yards 4 TDs 19.9 yards per catch 119 yds/game

3. Giving up 22 pts to Utah State

• Seeing Utah State put up 22 points against the good guys made me cringe and doubt. But since that game Utah State has scored 49, 48, and 35 points, the last 35 coming in a losing effort against Vanderbilt. The Texas Aggies let the Utah Aggies score 8 of their 22 points with only 4 minutes left in the game leading 44-14 and after substituting the starters.

4. The Auburn game

• Auburns terrible quarterback looked terrible. Don't you know that Texas A&M's specialty is making terrible QBs look like Heisman candidates the day they play A&M? Instead A&M held him in check and sacked him 7 times. All this despite being a running QB which has been awful for us in the past.

• We ran for 207 yards on their defense which I promise you does not suck. Prior to our game Auburn was allowing 58 yards per game which would put them third in the country in rush defense. In their first 4 games combined they allowed a total of 233 yards rushing. Oklahoma gained 32 on the ground against them. They allowed 207 against us and Moss picked up 130 on his own. When Aggie teams of the past could not gain a yard on 3rd or 4th down and let us down over and over again they NEVER put up numbers like this against even serviceable rushing defenses. Auburn has the top defensive lineman NFL prospect in the country Keldric Faulk (6' 6" 285) and you never even knew he was playing in the game.

• The coaches and players believed that Auburn couldn't move the ball or score. I actually disagree with the coaching decision to not go for the throat and rather chew the clock and call the game conservatively but it was obvious that this was happening late in the Auburn game. Here is why it's actually a great sign. Coaches had confidence that Auburn had no chance of advancing the ball. And they didn't. I have not seen an Aggie defense play with that mindset since 2010 when Michael Hodges and Von Miller were leading the defense.

5. We still haven't played our best Football.

• We've won in a shoot out and we've one in a defensive grinding game. Notre Dame on the road was chalked up as a loss by every Aggies suffering from BAS. Except we didn't lose. This team pulled out the W. Penalties plagued both teams in the Auburn game and we gave up a crucial turnover (the only one of the game) and still pulled it out by running the ball and playing great defense.

6. Conclusion

• We still have some great challenges ahead of us. I actually think Mizzou is the biggest problem. LSU, and the sips in Austin will be difficult. Heck even Mississippi State could trip up the Aggies. But there is not a single team left on this schedule that we can't beat. And we don't have the play a perfect game to beat any of them. We just have to play sound and smart football. To be clear I am not a fan of Coach Elko's comments about being too doom and gloom. We should have high expectations and there are obvious issues with the team that can and should improve. Coaches should be harder on their teams when playing well and encouraging when struggling. But there are objectively many reasons to believe the Aggies will continue to be successful this year.