How many wins remain on the A&M schedule?

Texas A&M sits at a disappointing 3-3 at the midway point of the season, following a heartbreaking 24-20 loss to Alabama last week. Had the Aggies won, they’d be in a four-way tie for second place in the SEC West, and control their own destiny against every team other than Mississippi State. But as it stands, it seems the best A&M can hope for is to play for a better bowl game.

So looking at the rest of the schedule, just how many wins are left?

• Oct. 22: at South Carolina Gamecocks 4-2 (1-2)
• Oct. 29: Ole Miss Rebels 6-0 (2-0)
• Nov. 5: Florida Gators 4-2 (1-2)
• Nov. 12: at Auburn Tigers 3-3 (1-2)
• Nov. 19: UMass Minutemen 1-5
• Nov. 26: LSU Tigers 4-2 (2-1)

DraftKings Sportsbook currently lists the betting odds* for A&M’s regular season win total at 7.5 games, meaning they expect A&M to only win four or five of their final six. The good news for A&M is that their most challenging games remaining (Ole Miss, Florida, LSU) all look to be at home. Road games at South Carolina and Auburn, while far from guaranteed wins, look to be A&M’s best chances for convincing SEC victories, having just defeated those two teams by a combined 64-17 a year ago.

But the simple answer is that this A&M team will likely continue to be very hard to project. There exists a world where they get healthy, freshmen get better with experience, the offense continues to make strides (as they have no doubt made over the past month), and this team rattles off a six-game win streak to close out the season 9-3 (and at this point we’d all be thrilled with that result). But as we saw with games like the Appalachian State loss, this team also has it in them to lose to almost anyone, so being closer to 6-6 is also very much in the cards.

My prediction? As much as I hate us playing into the meme, I think 7-5 or potentially (cringes) 8-4 is probably where this team is headed. If forced to make game-by-game predictions, I’d say we beat South Carolina, Auburn, UMass and LSU but fall to Ole Miss and Florida. As much as another 8-4 season feels like anything but progress, with as many injuries as this team has suffered and the number of freshmen who are playing, that could still be a springboard for a big season in 2023 if players continue to be developed an A&M’s offensive scheme improves this offseason.

*Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.