RPI Thru 5/3/2026 (thru SEC Week 9 (end of SEC regular season))

Well, I failed to do this last week. But, one more view of RPI here as we close the regular season.

The SEC holds 6 of the top 8 spots in RPI (with Nebraska and UCLA being the other teams in that top 8). The big upward mover over the past 2 weeks was Missouri (up 9 spots) just by winning 1 of 3 against both Arkansas and Tennessee. And our Aggies were the biggest downward mover (down 5 spots) after losing series to South Carolina and Oklahoma.

I know there is other input into the bracket and host spots, but RPI says we have some work to do at the SEC tournament to get off the top 16 hosting bubble. So, lets get to it. First game is coming up Wednesday at 10 am against either Missouri or Auburn.

Movement as compared to the RPI from 2 weeks ago is listed in parenthesis after ranking.

RPI - SEC Schools
1 - (-) Arkansas
2 - (+1) Alabama
4 - (-2) Texas (road, Ags lose series 1-2)
5 - (-1) Florida
6 - (-) Oklahoma (home, Ags lose series 1-2)
8 - (-1) Tennessee
11 - (-1) LSU (road, Ags win series 2-1)
15 - (-1) Georgia (home, Ags win series 2-1)
16 - (-5) Texas A&M
18 - (-) Mississippi St. (home, Ags sweep 3-0)
22 - (+1) Ole Miss (road, Ags sweep series 3-0)
25 - (+3) South Carolina (road, Ags lose series 1-2)
32 - (-3) Auburn
36 - (+9) Missouri
50 - (-2) Kentucky (home, Ags sweep 3-0)

Selection Sunday just got a lot less comfortable

Odds of hosting just went down to about 10% as we came in on the RPI bubble.

It really stinks to do all that work in the middle of the season to get back in the hosting conversation (and actually on the good side of it) only to go 2-5 down the stretch and end here with one of your handful of worst losses on the season

Disappointing turnout today. I was at the games this past weekend and missed the only one we won (was driving in on Friday!) We looked better against #1 than we did today against Auburn. I hope Coach Ford and co can pull it out. I'm still disappointed we didn't manage to snag a consistent pitcher from the portal. Praying the Cody Campbells of TAMU will come through and buy us one.

LB12MEEN said:

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Who knows. We won the series over both LSU and Georgia. Two teams we most likely will be compared to for one of the last spots.

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We've got those things going for us as well as having a great facility to host these events at. So hopefully those items will carry the day. I'll up my percent chance of hosting to like 30%.

That may cost us. I was pretty confident in hosting, but now I don't know. Maybe 55/45.

Looking back on Ford's entire career, you really have to wonder about her ability to close. She's had a Top 8 seed 3 times and failed to reach the WCWS twice (including last year's history making loss). She's lost twice in home regionals - last year and once at ASU - and once in a home super regional at ASU. Her record is something like 4-3 in post-season regionals her teams have hosted. That doesn't inspire much confidence.

I did not mention this season at all in my post. But since you mentioned it, the SEC tournament falls into the end-of- season category. Thankfully there is more softball to be played.

Having been a season ticket holder for 15 years and a regular at Aggie softball games for 20 years, and looking at 50 in my rear view mirror, I think I've gained enough perspective to make sound judgments, so the advice really isn't needed. Thanks for the offer though.

It is all about pitching that Coach Ford and her staff need to upgrade if the softball team wants to improve going forward

I hope I don't come across as being a total pot banger when it comes to Aggie softball. It's not like I think Ford should be fired or anything, but I call things as I see them.

Ford and the program need support to get to the WCWS. It would be so much better to have some postseason success to sell to donors. Taking sip to game 3 of a super regional 2 years ago isn't going to be enough.