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AM's fall down the Big 12 ladder

A&M's downfall is mystifying. Not in the sense that we don't understand how it happened. It's mystifying because no program with that many resources and advantages should be a bottom dweller.

The question is not "why do we suck?," now it's "how do we get back?" The biggest obstacle for them is not us, OU, LSU, or even Tech. It's OSU.

Used to be that when a good player fell through the cracks, A&M was there to catch them. Whatever the reason -- grades, discipline, benefits, or the few kids every year that just don't want to go to either school -- those talented misfits were all Aggies.

Look at the two rosters now. OSU is starting players like Dez Bryant, Parrish Cox, and Osi Uminora, all of whom would've been Aggies ten years ago. Outside of Jeff Fuller and Michael Goodson, does A&M have any player you'd even want? Even Goodson would've been a Cowboy, had they excused him while he whipped this out (you should also account for Richetti Jones, who would've been a superstar had he not been crippled or whatever happened to him).

A&M can't compete with Texas. They used to pluck at least a few guys that OU wanted. Now that model is the OSU blueprint, and the odds of the pendulum swinging back are pretty long. A&M new facilities -- the supposed game changer -- just look like really nice versions of Austin High's. Meanwhile OSU is in the middle of building Dubai, Jr.

A&M also has to compete with the TAKS test, something out of state schools don't need to deal with, and a big reason Dez Bryant is torching people in that awful day-glo orange.

Money, academics, better coaches and a better football team. Had A&M made better choices in the last decade, this could be them. It still can be, but every poor hire they make just puts them one team farther down the rung. Next up: Baylor.