When Texas beat Oklahoma, I quickly found myself hoping for a simultaneous Aggy slide. I thought - if A&M can lose a couple of SEC games and we can win out, by some miracle beating Baylor, then we might win back some mindshare in the state. We would be able to sell A&M as stagnant, and Texas as on the rise, and win some key head to head recruiting battles and even flip some of their recruits. But we really would need both an Aggy slide and a big win over Baylor to make any real progress.

But this week as I trolled GoodBullHunting to mock Aggy after its loss to Ole Miss, I noticed something. The only barb they could fire back was "3-4." Now, I admit the Aggy brain is quite limited in processing power and creativity, so they may have left other, more wounding jibes on the table. But as I considered this rejoinder, it hit me - we don't have to wait until the end of the season. There is a very strong argument that Texas looks better than A&M right now.

Consider, Texas has beaten a top 10 (at the time) opponent this season, and A&M has not. In fact, A&M has lost to the two ranked teams it played by an average of over 20 points. And the team we beat, Oklahoma, knocked off Tennessee on the road as convincingly as Bama did at home. Admittedly the transitive property does not hold true in College Football as far as predicting wins, but I would argue it can be of some usefulness in comparing team potential. So while I would not say Oklahoma beat Tennessee and we beat Oklahoma therefore we would beat Tennessee, I feel better saying that we are capable of beating Tennessee. Which looked darn capable of beating Alabama. A&M hasn't looked capable of beating Alabama in 2 years.

Consider that A&M has played a far easier schedule than Texas to this point, and is 5-2 against that schedule. Meanwhile, Texas is a missed extra point and a bought off officiating crew away from being 5-2 against a much, much more difficult schedule. I do not care to quibble over the Oklahoma State game - suffice it to say that anybody who watched that game, if they are being honest, knows that if the game were called fairly we would have won by two touchdowns. Any suggestion to the contrary comes from Schadenfreude. But even with that game in the L column, there is still more to sell.

Consider the results if you really analyze the admittedly dwindling perception that the SEC is the toughest conference in the country. The SEC has 14 teams. Of the 14 half are ranked, 2 of whom are in the top 10. The big 12 has 10 teams. 4 are ranked, 2 of whom are in the top 10 as well. It is also likely if Texas had played an easier schedule and went 5-2 with a win over Oklahoma, they would be ranked as well. If Texas had gone 5-2 against the schedule we actually played, we assuredly would be ranked right now. The head to head record this season between the two conferences is 2-0 in favor of the big 12. The SEC has carefully managed its national perception over the past decade by scheduling weak nonconference schedules (except its very best teams), then playing its games in a vacuum so there is no chance for a loss that dents their argument. This is becoming more difficult in the CFP era (as we saw with Bama's first round exit last year). Also, and most importantly, consider that SEC teams rarely play ALL of the good teams in their conference. A&M's schedule this year avoids Tennessee, Florida, AND Georgia. They get South Carolina and Vanderbilt from the East.

Now, consider all of that in light of the following. Charlie Strong is in just his second year. Only his fourth week with a competent AD. His team is full of first and second year players, and many of his most talented guys are true freshmen. Meanwhile, Sumlin is in his fourth year. He is playing primarily with players he recruited, rather than the loaded roster Sherman left him. There is talent everywhere at A&M, but it is disjointed. It is selfish talent. Egotistical talent. Undisciplined talent. That's good enough to throttle less talented teams like Arizona State, Nevada, and Ball State - but not good enough to beat teams with equal but more disciplined talent on a regular basis. Just ask Mack Brown - he lost 5 times in a row to Oklahoma with teams like that.

Texas has a winning narrative to sell, and it can do it right now. Strong's program is progressing. Sumlin's is stagnating. Strong's program is flashing the ability to play with and beat elite programs. A&M hasn't done that since Johnny Freefall was on campus. SEC Shill-In-Chief Paul Finebaum's narrative that Charlie has lost the locker room has crumbled, with ESPN anchors calling him out on national television. But conspiracy theories abound in College Station over the relationship between Kevin Sumlin and Kyler Murray. Charlie's players would run through a brick wall for him; Sumlin's wouldn't even do that for themselves. And lest we forget, last year the SEC altered the bowl schedule to ensure that A&M would not play Texas.

So yeah, Texas is 3-4. A&M is 5-2. But I think Texas has more reason for optimism. It's time to start selling that to recruits.