A&M's College Football Playoff path to Miami begins against Miami

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Texas A&M’s quest to win the college football national championship will begin with Miami and, hopefully, end in Miami.

The College Football Playoff Selection Show on Sunday revealed the No. 7 seed Aggies (11-1) are matched against No. 10 seed Miami (10-2) in the first round of the 12-team tournament.

The game is on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 11 a.m. CT at Kyle Field.

The national championship game will be held on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

“It’s an honor to be able to play in the playoffs and especially get another home game at Kyle Field,” A&M senior tackle and team captain Trey Zuhn III said on Sunday. “There’s no better feeling than that, you know, but we didn’t come here just to get to the playoffs. We came here to win it all. That’s our goal.”

There was a large measure of intrigue and uncertainty about who would be A&M’s playoff opponent.

The Aggies were No. 7 in the previous rankings, so they did not figure to move up or down.

However, the rankings of Miami, Notre Dame (10-2) and Alabama (10-3) were subject to nationwide discussion and debate.

Miami defeated Notre Dame, 27-24, in the first game of the season on Aug. 31, so the Hurricanes seemed to have an edge.

But in the previous rankings, Notre Dame was ranked 10th. Miami was ranked 12th.

Meanwhile, Alabama, which was No. 9 in the previous rankings, was soundly beaten by Georgia, 28-7, in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday.

A&M linebacker and team captain Taurean York said trying to consider all the possibilities gave him a headache.

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Texas A&M most recently met Miami on Sept. 9, 2023. The Hurricanes beat the Ags in Miami Gardens, 48-33.

“You just listen to all these people talking,” he said. “The talk shows. The radio. ESPN. You name it. It gives myself a headache, so I’m just waiting a long week to get here.”

The selection committee did not penalize Alabama for that loss. The Crimson Tide remained No. 9 and will face No. 8 seed Oklahoma in its first-round matchup.

That left Miami and Notre Dame. Ultimately, the committee obviously gave Miami the nod because of that previous victory over the Irish.

Zuhn said it didn’t matter which opponent the Aggies drew.

“It could have been anybody that we’re playing,” he said. “We’re going to attack them the same, so we’ve just got to prepare for this game like any other game, and we’ll be ready to go.”

There was another school of thought that the committee might move A&M up to the No. 6 seed. The Aggies dropped from No. 3 to No. 7 after losing to Texas in the regular-season finale.

But A&M’s schedule is rated more difficult than that of No. 6 Ole Miss. Also, Ole Miss lost its head coach, Lane Kiffin, and most of its offensive coaching staff to LSU.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

A senior captain, the first-round home game will allow Trey Zuhn III to play in front of the 12th Man one more time.

Though the No. 7 ranking is debatable, Zuhn said it’s not an issue.

“I don’t think any of that will really matter when we end up winning it all,” he said.

Should A&M defeat Miami, the Aggies will advance to face No. 2 seed Ohio State in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 31.

If the Aggies reach the semifinals, they’d play the winner of the first round match between No. 11 seed Tulane and No. 6 seed Ole Miss or No. 3 seed Georgia.

The semifinals will be played in either the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, on Jan. 8 or the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Jan. 9.

Zuhn admitted there’s a temptation to look ahead at the Aggies’ path to Miami, the city, but he insists they remain focused on Miami, the opponent.

“It’s hard not to (look ahead),” he said. “But for me, especially, it’s just the next game because none of that means anything if we don’t handle business against Miami.”