Ben Baby, Texas A&M beat writer for SportsDayDFW.com and The Dallas Morning News, answered your questions about the team and the SEC in a recent live chat. Here are some highlights:
Which team do you see as the surprise team in the SEC?
Baby: Hmm. This is a great question. Last year, Kentucky was the team that shocked everybody. I'm not sure who it might be in 2019. South Carolina feels like a good option (like it was before last year's lackluster season), but the Gamecocks have a schedule that's tougher than A&M's. And like the Aggies, even if S.C. is better this season, the record might not indicate the improvement because of the strength of schedule.
Florida could be a team that makes a significant run. Quarterback Feleipe Franks will have another year under coach Dan Mullen.
Do you ever see Arkansas and A&M, playing home and away?
Baby: Great question. I actually talked to someone at A&M last week about this situation. On the surface, it seems A&M-Arkansas should move to a home-and-home series because of the dwindling attendance. But it's a lot more complicated than that.
Because it's a neutral-site series, both schools make money that they normally wouldn't with a basic home-and-home series. However, the contract also means A&M can't play other neutral site games such as the annual kickoff classic at AT&T Stadium or NRG Stadium. And A&M will still want to play seven games a year at Kyle Field, so that's something to consider as well. It will be an interesting decision when the contract runs out in 2024.
Do you drive or fly to LSU? Is Ed Orgeron in a must win situation?
Baby: I fly to LSU because the Morning News keeps letting me. And at seven hours, it's a bit too far to drive. In 2017, I flew into New Orleans and then drove west to Baton Rouge.
Anyways, back to football. I don't think Orgeron is in a must-win situation. A lot of people thought LSU was going to be a 7-5 team that flopped in 2018. But the Tigers proved everyone wrong by going 9-3 in the regular season and finished sixth in the Associated Press poll. Were it not for a last-second touchdown by Texas A&M, LSU might have had a shot at the Sugar Bowl.
But there will be pressure on Orgeron to win, especially now that the athletic director who hired him, Joe Alleva, is out at LSU. And the speculation of new AD Scott Woodward eventually bringing Jimbo Fisher back to the Bayou has already started, despite how far-fetched it seems right now.
