Ryan McGee will continue to 'root for chaos' this football season

On Tuesday's edition of TexAgs Live, ESPN senior sports writer Ryan McGee joined us to discuss the 2025 U.S. LBM Coaches Poll, which ranked A&M at No. 21. McGee also highlighted Marcel Reed and Le'Veon Moss as key pieces to escape another eight-win season.

Key notes from Ryan McGee interview

• We're about to start our big ESPN Preseason College Football Seminar. It’s the only time all year that we are in the same room. I think everybody thinks it's like a SportsCenter commercial, but in reality, it's the only time that everyone’s in the same place at the same time. The social aspect of it is the best. There are folks we never get to see regionally. The event is talking about rule changes. They’ll get all the former quarterbacks who are analysts, and our defensive linemen who are analysts. They roll out all the graphics and what the promotional material looks like. It gets you juiced up.
   
• With the U.S. LBM Coaches Poll, the reality is, we don’t know what will happen. If you came to me a year ago and said I'm going to go to Atlanta for the national championship and cover Ohio State vs. Notre Dame, I would’ve asked what medications you’re on and said there’s no way. Same if you had told me the teams that we would have in the extended playoffs, like SMU making a run in the ACC Championship. I love the unpredictability of it.
   
• I root for chaos. I don’t really care who wins the games. I want chaos. That’s why, if I could, I would sit there and rewatch the 2007 season. I think half the teams in the Coaches Poll, we won't be talking about anymore once we get to October. They’ll be replaced by teams we didn't think we'd need to be looking at.
   
• If the college football tooth fairy comes to College Station and says you’ll have the same season as last year, plus one more win... I think their own schedule sets them up for success in the next decade. We sat down with Mike Elko. I’ve known him long enough to know when he knows that they are in the right direction. I think so much of the SEC can win the whole thing or settle into an eight or nine-win season. It’s chaos, and I'm here for it.
   
• I like Marcel Reed, but Le’Veon Moss to me is the ticket. Rightfully so. It’s funny because I’ve had this conversation with Elko when he was up at Duke, with the passing game and quarterback getting the attention. If #8 is rolling with it, I think that’s the ticket for them this year.
   
• No one in Gainesville cares what the season looks like. This is why I love Billy Napier. People in Gainesville get frustrated with him because his pulse rate doesn’t change. He’s kind of boring, and he knows that. He cuts his own hair. He goes, "Why would I waste time and money when I can do it myself?"
   
• Florida is a program that was raised on Steve Spurrier and Will Muschamp, and obviously Urban Meyer. Even if they weren’t winning, they weren’t boring. For Week 1 and Week 3, we were in Gainesville. We were there for the A&M game. We went to the AD's house for dinner, and they were all pulling me and going, “We are going to fire Billy on Sunday if they lose.” They were gleefully saying this. We all know A&M won that football game.
   
• I love watching those same people being uncomfortable. I wrote two years ago that if they let Napier do what he needs to do, then they will be building something for the long term. Because of his buyout clause, I think they're sitting with him, but that schedule is so awful. It’s so bad. But if he takes care of business with that schedule, it will be difficult for the playoff committee to keep them out of the expanded playoff field when we get to December.
   
• LSU’s assignment is tough because they have to play the Death Valley Bowl. I think Clemson is top of the class of the ACC this year, and Clemson feels like the way they were back in the day with Dabo Swinney.
   
• I love Garrett Nussmeier. If he is given some defense, he’s going to put points on the board. If they go to Clemson and lose, the talk will already have started. If they lose that first game, then it's going to get very ugly on the Bayou. I like Nussmeier a lot. The schedule is awful, though. They play at Ole Miss and at Alabama. They play A&M at home, but have Oklahoma away. The only thing they do better than drink in Baton Rouge is drama.