On the surface you could certainly say A&M sucked the last decade in the Big 12 so how can they compete? If you look under the covers a bit you see something else.

In '10 A&M struggled early but after they switched to Tannehill rolled through the Big 12 and beat NU, OU, and Texas. Then last year they were favored in 12 of 13 games but found a way to only win 7. The recruiting has steadily gotten better at A&M the last 3 years especially. They also got lucky on several project players that have turned out to be awesome in Demontre Moore, Mike Evans, and Jarvis Harrison for instance. All of which were freak athletes that had to learn the game but now are starting to show big time ability. Sherman had many flaws but the guy was an NFL GM for a reason, he could recognize talent and could find diamonds in the rough. Sumlin is more of a classic super recruiter and his #1 qualification for every Asst was they were either the RC at their previous school or they were proven closers. The X factor is putting it all together. A&M has a lot of serious talent. They don't have LSU/Bama talent but they aren't as far off as some might think. It's more depth than anything.

A&M hasn't had a coach with as much swagger as Sumlin since Jackie Sherrill walked the sidelines. Of course it took Jackie 4 years to get it all together. This year should not be the year and I will still be happy with 8 wins but A&M is a dangerous team and they are getting more confident every week.