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Alabama might have fallen to No. 2 in ESPN colleague Mark Schlabach's Way-Too-Early Preseason Top 25, but I'd like to think that most of the college football world still considers the Crimson Tide to be the favorites to win the national championship again.

Alabama lost nine draft picks, including three first-rounders, but Nick Saban has a host of talent returning on both sides of the ball, and the Tide's schedule isn't too daunting after the first two games.

But there are teams that will test the Tide's road to a national championship trifecta in 2013. Colleague Travis Haney picked five teams from around the country that could challenge Alabama's title hopes this fall. Ohio State topped his list, while Texas A&M made it from the SEC.

No surprise there with the Aggies. Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel returns with a bundle of riches to accompany him in the Aggies' backfield.

Johnny Football might not have Luke Joeckel protecting him, but Jake Matthews provides quite the safety net with his move to left tackle, and there is still talent and experience up front. Mike Evans leads a young but talented group of pass-catchers.

The defense is a concern, with five members of last season's front seven gone, but the Aggies will still be equipped to win most shootouts.

A&M benefits from getting Alabama at home early in the season, but has to play Arkansas, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri on the road. Even beating Alabama early doesn't guarantee the Aggies will make it to Atlanta over the Tide.

We almost had quite the quarterback matchup on our hands this fall.

According to ESPN's Brett McMurphy, Texas A&M and Louisville were in discussions to open the 2013 season at Houston's Reliant Stadium. That would have given us Johnny Manziel vs. Teddy Bridgewater. Or, Johnny Football vs. Teddy Ballgame.

Unfortunately, things just didn't get worked out between the two parties, so we're left with the Aggies taking on Rice at home on Aug. 31. It just won't be the same as seeing the Aggies take on what should be another talented Charlie Strong-led Louisville squad. And after what the Cardinals did to Florida in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Louisville is a hot ticket and qualifies as must-see TV.

Oh, the early Heisman talk that would come out of that game, too.

"It would have been a great experience to play against last year's Heisman Trophy winner and arguably the best player in college football," Bridgewater said. "He lays it on the line like I do. It would have been a great matchup."

Louisville is clearly looking to sit at the big boys' table, because the Cards not only tried to play the Aggies, but they also wanted a neutral-site game with the defending champs ... and almost got it.

According to McMurphy's report, Louisville almost played Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta. Virginia Tech, which will face Alabama on Aug. 31 at 5:30 p.m. ET inside the Georgia Dome instead, was ready to back out of the game if quarterback Logan Thomas made an early jump to the NFL. If Logan had skipped his senior year, the Cardinals would have replaced the Hokies in Atlanta.

However, Thomas opted to stay, so Alabama will start the season against Virginia Tech, which isn't a bad matchup at all.

We might get to watch Johnny Football take on Teddy Ballgame, but there are some pretty exciting nonconference games that SEC teams are involved in this fall. Here are five (outside of Alabama-Virginia Tech) that I'm most excited about:

LSU vs. TCU (Arlington, Texas), Aug. 31: The Tigers did just fine last time they were in this building, but after losing a chunk of defensive talent, LSU has to face a TCU team that returns nine offensive starters and will be less than 20 miles from campus.

Georgia at Clemson, Aug. 31: The Bulldogs will be without 12 players who either started or saw significant time on defense in 2012. Clemson, led by quarterback Tajh Boyd and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, should provide problems with its offense. However, Georgia should like its offensive matchup with a Tigers defense that surrendered nearly 400 yards a game last season.

Mississippi State vs. Oklahoma State (Houston), Aug. 31: Mississippi State's defense has a lot of questions to answer up front and in the secondary, and its first test comes against the Big 12's top scoring offense from a season ago. Seven OSU starters return on an offense that averaged 547 yards last season.

Florida at Miami, Sept. 7: Miami isn't close to the power it once was, but taking an offense that has a lot of questions surrounding it on the road early will make this quite the test for the Gators. The good news for Florida is that Miami returns nine starters on a defense that was last in the ACC in total defense, passing defense and rushing defense in 2012.

Ole Miss at Texas, Sept. 14: Players in Oxford are already talking revenge after getting blown out by 35 against the Longhorns at home last season. Both sides of the ball should be improved for the Rebels this fall, and even though the jury is still out on Texas, the Horns return 19 total starters.

A lot can (and will) change before we get into the teeth of the 2013 season, but who would you take right now as the top receiving duo in the SEC?

The most productive receiving tandem in the league a year ago was the Vanderbilt combo of Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd. They combined for 2,097 receiving yards, 144 catches and 13 touchdown receptions.

The good news for the Commodores is that they’re both back.

It’s tough to pick against a proven twosome like Matthews and Boyd, but Texas A&M also has a tandem to watch next season.

Mike Evans/Malcome Kennedy (Texas A&M): The Aggies also signed a trio of talented freshmen who will be on campus this summer. Evans has built off a terrific redshirt freshman season and has been a force this spring. He had more than 200 yards receiving in the scrimmage last weekend. Kennedy had the big catch against Alabama last season and is one of those guys who could really blossom as a fourth-year junior.

In keeping with our March Madness theme, I decided to take a look at one area everyone loves about the Big Dance and translate it to the football field: upsets.

We saw some good ones last year, like Louisiana-Monroe upending Arkansas, Texas A&M knocking off No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Louisville embarrassing Florida in the Sugar Bowl.

Since anything -- and everything -- can happen on any given Saturday, we'll probably see some fun upsets yet again this fall.

Here are some potential upsets involving SEC teams to look out for in 2013:

TCU over LSU, Aug. 31: The Tigers have a lot of holes to fill on defense, and TCU just happens to bring back nine offensive starters. Plus, quarterback Casey Pachall is back. This game will also be played in Arlington, Texas, which is less than 20 miles away from TCU's campus.

Ole Miss over Texas A&M, Oct. 12: The Rebels choked away a second-half lead in this game last year, so there's plenty of motivation on Ole Miss' side. This game is in Oxford again, too. The Aggies have to replace five starters in their front seven, and the Rebels' explosive offense, which returns eight starters, could be a bad matchup for a younger defense like that.

Players are gathering in Indianapolis, so that means this year's NFL combine is officially underway. The first two days are all about the interviews and eye tests, while the on-field workouts begin Saturday.

But before any of them stepped foot in Indy, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. released his pre-Combine Big Board . Naturally, it's loaded with SEC players. Twelve of the 25 players on Kiper's Big Board are from the SEC, including six of the top 10 players.

Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones kept his place in the No. 1 spot, while Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel jumped in front of teammate Damontre Moore to move from No. 3 to No. 2.

Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd made a major move up Kiper's rankings, moving from No. 15 to No. 8.

Here's where all 12 SEC players ranked on Kiper's Big Board heading into the Combine:

1. Jarvis Jones, LB, Georgia

2. Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M

3. Damontre Moore, DE, Texas A&M

6. Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama

8. Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida

10. Chance Warmack, OG, Alabama

12. Barkevious Mingo, DE, LSU

15. Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri

16. D.J. Fluker, OT, Alabama

18. Alec Ogletree, LB, Georgia

21. Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee

25. Matt Elam, S, Florida

Kiper also updated his position rankings this week. Twenty-eight SEC players made Kiper's position rankings, and the league was represented by at least one player at every position, except fullback.

Here's where Kiper put SEC players in his position rankings:

Quarterbacks

4. Tyler Wilson, Arkansas

Running backs

1. Eddie Lacy, Alabama

5. Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina

Fullbacks

None

Wide receivers

1. Cordarrelle Patterson, Tennessee

Tight ends

3. Jordan Reed, Florida

Offensive tackles

1. Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M

3. D.J. Fluker, Alabama

Offensive guards

1. Chance Warmack, Alabama

3. Larry Warford, Kentucky

4. Dallas Thomas, Tennessee

Centers

2. Barrett Jones, Alabama

Defensive ends

1. Damontre Moore, Texas A&M

4. Barkevious Mingo, LSU

Defensive tackles

2. Sharrif Floyd, Florida

3. Sheldon Richardson, Missouri

Inside linebackers

1. Alec Ogletree, Georgia

3. Kevin Minter, LSU

5. Jon Bostic, Florida

Outside linebackers

1. Jarvis Jones, Georgia

4. Zaviar Gooden, Missouri

5. Cornelius Washington, Georgia

Cornerbacks

1. Dee Milliner, Alabama

3. Johnthan Banks, Mississippi State

Safeties

2. Matt Elam, Florida

4. Eric Reid, LSU

5. D.J. Swearinger, South Carolina

Kickers

2. Caleb Sturgis, Florida

Punters

2. Brad Wing, LSU

Renderings of the $425 million renovation to Kyle Field are starting to leak out, and they look mighty impressive.

The work is supposed to begin on Nov. 10, a day after Texas A&M plays its final home game of the 2013 season.

The new seating capacity is expected to exceed 100,000 and could make Kyle Field the largest stadium in the SEC. Currently, Tennessee's Neyland Stadium has the largest seating capacity (102,455).

To get a glimpse of some of the renderings of the new Kyle Field, click here.

With Kyle Field expected to surpass 100,000 in seating capacity, that means the SEC would have three stadiums that seat more than 100,000. Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium has a seating capacity of 101,821.

Eight of the 14 home stadiums in the SEC seat at least 80,000 people.

• Tennessee (Neyland Stadium) -- 102,455
• Alabama (Bryant-Denny Stadium) -- 101,821
• Georgia (Sanford Stadium) -- 92,746
• LSU (Tiger Stadium) -- 92,542
• Florida (The Swamp) -- 88,548
• Auburn (Jordan-Hare Stadium) -- 87,451
• Texas A&M (Kyle Field) -- 82,589
• South Carolina (Williams-Brice Stadium) -- 80,250

We checked on the SEC's 3,000-yard passers from 2012 on Thursday, so we're taking a look at the running backs who hit the coveted 1,000-yard mark last fall.

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Last summer, we looked at 10 running backs we thought could eclipse the 1,000-yard rushing mark. The SEC had four players reach 1,000 yards on the ground in 2011, and had nine, including Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, in 2012. I thought it was supposed to be the Year of the Quarterback?

Here's how the Texas A&M running backs we looked at last year did in 2012:

6. Christine Michael, Texas A&M: Like Lattimore, Michael was coming off of an ACL injury this fall, but he never seemed to really fit in the Aggies' new spread scheme. Eventually, he really wasn't Texas A&M's first option at running back and he finished the season with 417 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in 11 games of action.

Who was overlooked:

• Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M: The Heisman winner was arguably the nation's most elusive player in the country when he took off running. He shredded defenses all season and led the SEC with 1,410 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also averaged 7 yards per carry.

The booming “S-E-C” chants that rang throughout South Beach during Alabama’s 42-14 romp against Notre Dame immediately served as another harsh reminder to the college football world that the SEC is still king.

Alabama’s utter domination of the No. 1 team in the country gave SEC commissioner Mike Slive and his league one more crystal ball to add to a stellar collection. It made seven BCS titles in row for the SEC, and continued to show the massive stronghold the SEC has built in college football.

Alabama’s win also gave the league a 6-3 bowl record, which was the best of any AQ conference. The last time the SEC failed to have a winning record in the postseason? Well, you have to go back to 2005 (3-3). The last time the SEC had a losing record: 2002 (3-4).

More importantly, the league has more crystal hardware for the rest of the nation to glare at.

Alabama’s win helped the SEC’s perception after a few sluggish bowl performances from the Tide’s peers.

Only days before Nick Saban's squad won its second straight national title and third in four years, fans from all over took to social media to berate the SEC for its bowl shortcomings, thanks to flat performances by Florida, LSU and Mississippi State. It didn’t matter that the SEC entered the final weekend of the bowl season with a winning record, those three losses had people screaming that the SEC wasn’t the beast it -- and the media -- portrayed it to be.

Sure, six teams finished the regular season ranked inside the top 10 of the BCS standings, but two fell at the hands of teams deemed inferior. First, it was No. 8 LSU, which appeared to have the Chick-fil-A Bowl in hand late in the third quarter before No. 14 Clemson roared back with three straight scoring drives to win 25-24 on a last-second field goal.

The next day, Northwestern blasted Mississippi State 34-20 before No. 3 Florida was run out of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome by No. 20 Louisville in a 33-23 loss in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2.

Those three games had the SEC temporarily hunched over with its tail between its legs, but there was much more to the bowl season than just three losses.

You had Vanderbilt’s 38-24 win against NC State in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl in which the Commodores dominated just about every moment of the game. Tenth-ranked South Carolina registered a thrilling, last-minute Outback Bowl win against No. 18 Michigan, while No. 7 Georgia won a back-and-forth game with 16th-ranked Nebraska 45-31 in the Capital One Bowl to take some pride away from the Big Ten.

That was all before Johnny Manziel and his ninth-ranked Aggies rolled past No. 11 Oklahoma 41-13 in the AT&T Cotton Bowl, and Ole Miss creamed Pittsburgh 38-17.

Still, it took an Alabama beatdown for the rest of the country to quiet down about all the overrated talk. Did the SEC come up short in a couple of games? Absolutely. Florida and LSU were the more talented teams, but laid eggs for the league, while Mississippi State looked lost from the start against Northwestern.

The league was far from perfect, but it led BCS conferences in bowl wins and captured the biggest one of all -- for the seventh straight year -- to once again leave the rest of the country looking up at the South.

The SEC was 5-2 in bowl games a year ago, which includes Alabama's 21-0 win against LSU in an all-SEC affair in the BCS title game.

Can the SEC better that mark this season? We’ll start to find out Dec. 31 when Vanderbilt takes on NC State in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.

Here’s a look at the best-case/worst-case scenarios for SEC newbie Texas A&M this bowl season:

TEXAS A&M

Best case: The Aggies complete a dream first season in the SEC by beating up old Big 12 foe Oklahoma in the AT&T Cotton Bowl to win their 11th game and send a final resounding message that they’re going to be a serious player in the SEC.

Worst case: After all the Johnny Football hype that goes along with winning the Heisman Trophy, Johnny Manziel finally plays like a redshirt freshman. The Aggies can’t stop the Sooners in a disappointing season-ending loss in Cowboys Stadium.

Jon Solomon of The Birmingham News has an analysis of the 2012 college football attendance figures, and any guesses on who had the largest increase this season in the SEC by percentage?

It was Vanderbilt, which won eight games for the first time in 30 years. The Commodores averaged 37,860 for home games, which was a 15 percent increase.

The largest decrease for an SEC school was Kentucky, which averaged 49,691 fans and dropped 17 percent. The Wildcats finished 2-10 and fired coach Joker Phillips.

Tennessee also experienced a 5 percent drop in attendance. The Vols averaged 89,965 fans in what was their fourth losing season in the past five years. Derek Dooley was fired after three years on the job.

Even Florida, which went 11-1 and is headed to the Allstate Sugar Bowl, saw its home attendance drop by 2 percent.

The SEC led the nation in attendance with an average of 75,444 fans per game, but that was the league's lowest mark since 2007.

As Solomon points out in his piece, a face-value ticket for an SEC game reached $100 for the first time this season. The most expensive SEC ticket four years ago was $65, and that was the Alabama-Auburn game.

Below is a rundown of attendance figures for all 14 SEC schools:

• Alabama: 101,722 (minor decrease)
• Georgia: 92,723 (minor decrease)
• LSU: 92,626 (minor decrease)
• Tennessee: 89,965 (5 percent decrease)
• Florida: 87,597 (2 percent decrease)
• Texas A&M: 87,104 (minor decrease)
• Auburn: 82,646 (4 percent decrease)
• South Carolina: 80,001 (1 percent increase)
• Arkansas: 68,046 (2 percent increase)
• Missouri: 67,476 (9 percent increase)
• Ole Miss: 57,066 (1 percent increase)
• Mississippi State: 55,628 (minor decrease)
• Kentucky: 49,691 (17 percent decrease)
• Vanderbilt: 37,860 (15 percent increase)

If you put a lot of stock in recruiting rankings, the future really does look pretty bright for Kevin Sumlin in College Station, Texas.

With the addition of Ricky Seals-Jones, the top prospect in the state of Texas and the No. 13 overall player on the ESPN 150 list, the Aggies moved from 10th to sixth in ESPN's 2013 class rankings . Texas A&M now has 34 total verbal commitments in its 2013 class, including six ESPN 150 members and nine ESPN 300 members.

The Aggies aren't the only SEC team cleaning up in the class rankings. Florida continued to hold the top spot in the rankings, with its 24 commitments. Ten of those verbals are ESPN 150 members and 14 of them are ESPN 300 members. Alabama is steady at No. 4 with its 19 verbal commitments and nine ESPN 150 members.

LSU (No. 9) and Georgia (No. 10) both fell one spot in the rankings, but round out the top 10 for the SEC.

The SEC has eight teams within the top 25 of the class rankings. Auburn sits at 12th, South Carolina is 16th, Vanderbilt is 17th and Ole Miss is 21st.

Twelve SEC teams round out the top 40 of the class rankings, with Mississippi State coming in at 27th, Tennessee at 28th, Missouri at 34th and Arkansas at 38th.

With the season winding down, we figured we'd start looking to the future. Like, beyond bowl games future.

We are looking into our crystal ball to check out some of the SEC best who could declare for April's NFL draft early. We've talked to people around the league, those in the know at ESPN when it comes to the NFL draft, and came up with the Texas A&M underclassmen we feel are the best bets to come out and go the highest in next spring's draft.

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Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. updated his Big Board this week and featured 12 SEC players in his top 25. Ten were juniors.

We're going in alphabetical order, so here are Texas A&M underclassmen we feel have the highest draft stock:

Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M: It's hard to find a better left tackle out there. Joeckel entered the season as a surefire first-round pick and has only helped his draft stock with an excellent junior season. He hasn't been rattled by the speed of opposing SEC ends, and has provided very good protection in the pass game. It sounds like he could be the first tackle off the board if he declares early.

Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M: The Aggies are really getting greedy with their tackles. Matthews has been excellent all season, and could play either right or left tackle in the NFL. He's very powerful and moves well up front. He could be a late first-round pick if he decides to come out.

Damontre Moore, DE, Texas A&M: Talk about really breaking out onto the national stage. He was excellent as an outside linebacker last season, but has been an absolute monster at defensive end in his first (and probably only) year in the SEC. He really adjusted to the new 4-3 scheme, and might have played himself into a top-10 pick. He has a team-high 74 tackles, leads the nation with 20 tackles for loss and is tied for first with 12.5 sacks.

The hot/not meter was all over the place this past weekend in the SEC:

GLOWING EMBERS

Texas A&M: This SEC stuff is a piece of cake. Just ask Texas A&M, which went into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday and took down Alabama 29-24. The Aggies have now positioned themselves for an at-large BCS bowl berth and are two home wins away (against Sam Houston State and Missouri) from winning 10 games. Teams simply aren’t supposed to come into the SEC and have this kind of success this early. Texas A&M’s only two losses were by a combined eight points to a pair of top-10 teams: Florida and LSU. But the Aggies believed all along that they were equipped to come into this league and be a factor right away. Kevin Sumlin’s up-tempo offense has given SEC defenses fits all season. Redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is the most exciting player in the country, and let’s not forget about the defense, either. Mark Snyder’s guys have held teams to an average of 19.2 points in their past four games since that 59-57 shootout win against Louisiana Tech.

HOT

Georgia’s defense: Now that all of the suspensions are history and everyone is back in their normal roles, Georgia is starting to play like a championship defense. In their past three games, the Bulldogs have allowed a total of 19 points. Nobody ever questioned the talent on this Georgia defense, but there wasn’t a lot of chemistry the first half of the season with all the different combinations on the field. Looks like the Bulldogs are hitting their stride at just the right time.

NOT

Whining about Georgia’s schedule: Enough already. The Bulldogs played the schedule in front of them and are the East champs. Case closed. Did it help the Bulldogs that they avoided Alabama and LSU? Absolutely. Did Florida get a shot at Georgia head-to-head? Absolutely ... and the Gators lost.

HOT

Vanderbilt’s pride: The Commodores’ come-from-behind 27-26 victory over Ole Miss on the road says volumes about the pride in the Vanderbilt program, the mental edge that second-year coach James Franklin has brought to that program and the leadership on the team. Vanderbilt rallied from a 23-6 deficit early in the third quarter and did it with its leading rusher, Zac Stacy, on the bench after suffering an injury in the first half.

NOT

Alabama running back T.J. Yeldon: For the second week in a row, the talented freshman running back lost a fumble with Alabama driving in the second half, and this time, the Crimson Tide couldn’t recover. Yeldon coughed up the ball at the Texas A&M 30 in the fourth quarter, and the Aggies answered with a quick touchdown to take a 29-17 lead.

HOT

LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger: This is the version of Mettenberger everybody expected to see all season. He’s come to life in the past two games, and so has the Tigers’ passing game. Mettenberger followed up his impressive performance against Alabama by hitting 19 of 30 passes for 273 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in LSU's 37-17 win over Mississippi State.

NOT

Mississippi State’s momentum: The Bulldogs are suddenly reeling after winning their first seven. They simply haven’t played well during what has been the toughest part of their schedule and have lost three in a row to nationally ranked foes by a combined score of 113-37. If this is going to be a season to remember, they have to stop the bleeding this week at home against Arkansas.

HOT

South Carolina safety D.J. Swearinger: When you start listing the best safeties in the SEC, don’t forget about Swearinger. In the Gamecocks’ 38-20 win over Arkansas, he had 13 tackles and returned an interception 69 yards for a touchdown. Swearinger leads the team with 39 solo tackles.

NOT

Florida’s offense: It’s been painful to watch these past few weeks. The Gators aren’t doing much of anything well on offense right now, and a big part of their problem is how limited they are in the passing game. Their best offense this past week was the game-saving blocked punt against Louisiana-Lafayette.

FREEZER BURN

Job security: Arkansas and Kentucky are already looking for new coaches, and it appears Auburn and Tennessee will soon join that market. Even for the SEC, four coaches being fired or pushed out in one season is pretty extreme. But when you look at the money being paid to coaches these days and the revenue being lost when a school doesn’t win, administrators aren’t going to be hesitant about pulling the trigger. Auburn has lost nine straight SEC games dating back to last season and is a shell of the program that won the national championship two years ago. Tennessee has lost 13 of its past 14 SEC games and has given up almost as many points in its six SEC losses this season (262) as Alabama, Florida and LSU have given up in 21 combined SEC contests (287).

After a wild Saturday in the SEC, here’s a look at what we learned in Week 11:

1. SEC’s streak in jeopardy: The SEC’s national championship streak is in serious jeopardy. Texas A&M’s 29-24 victory over Alabama means the league’s going to need some help to even make it to the Discover BCS National Championship Game this season. With everybody in the SEC now saddled with at least one loss, the only way for Alabama to climb back into one of those top two spots in the final BCS standings is for two of the three unbeaten teams (Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon) to lose. It will be interesting to see how far Alabama falls in the polls and whether Georgia passes the Crimson Tide. Alabama’s loss Saturday didn’t help the Bulldogs’ chances of playing their way into the BCS National Championship Game, either. Georgia, with an ugly 35-7 loss to South Carolina earlier this season, needed to have Alabama unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the SEC championship game, and then a win over the Tide would have carried more weight with the voters. The other ironic thing to consider is that the SEC’s chances of making it seven straight national championships could now rest in the hands of Lane Kiffin, who made a few enemies in the SEC during 14 turbulent months at Tennessee before bolting to USC. Kiffin’s Trojans face Notre Dame in the regular-season finale and could also get a second shot at Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game.

2. Props to the Aggies: There’s sure to be a lot of people around the country trumpeting how overrated Alabama was in the aftermath of the Crimson Tide’s home loss to Texas A&M on Saturday. And no, Alabama’s not ready to line up and beat any NFL teams anytime soon, as Steve Spurrier suggested a few weeks ago. But the real story here is Texas A&M and what a fabulous job Kevin Sumlin has done in his first season as coach and the Aggies’ first season in the SEC. Everybody wondered how they would hold up in the SEC. It’s safe to say that they’re going to hold up just fine, and a better question might be: Once Sumlin gets a few more recruiting classes under his belt, especially in that talent-laden state, how is the rest of the SEC going to hold up against the Aggies? Johnny Manziel is absolutely worthy of Heisman Trophy consideration, and he’s playing behind an offensive line that made a pretty convincing statement Saturday that it’s in a league of its own. And finally, that same Texas A&M defense that was shredded last month in a 59-57 win against Louisiana Tech made one key stop after another Saturday and has improved by leaps and bounds.

3. Muddled bowl picture: Good luck in figuring out the SEC bowl picture. It’s a given that the SEC will still get two teams into BCS bowls even if the league is shut out of the Discover BCS National Championship Game. The intrigue will revolve around which two teams. As many as six SEC teams could stake a claim. If nobody makes it into the national title game, the winner of the SEC championship game would go to the Sugar Bowl. So right now, that looks like it will be the Alabama-Georgia winner. The loser of that game would still be in play, but so would an 11-1 Florida team as well as LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M if they all win out and finish 10-2. Florida still has to go to Florida State in the regular-season finale, while South Carolina plays at Clemson to close the regular season. Both the Gators and Gamecocks could help their cases with wins over top-10 teams. The AT&T Cotton Bowl would love to get its hands on the Aggies, but they could also get snatched up by a BCS bowl, especially with Manziel putting up Heisman Trophy numbers.

4. Don’t sleep on the Dawgs: Granted, Auburn is terrible. But it looks like Georgia is starting to play its best football at just the right time. The Bulldogs are closing in on the eighth 10-win season in Mark Richt’s 12 years at the school and clinched their second consecutive trip to the SEC championship game with their 38-0 rout of the Tigers. Richt has had his share of critics, and he’ll continue to have them. But he’s done an excellent job each of the past two seasons of keeping his team focused despite bad early-season losses. The schedule has been a factor, no question. But Richt didn’t make it out, nor did any of his players. Florida had its shot against Georgia and lost, and the Bulldogs have proved that they don’t roll over and play dead just because they lose a game early.

5. Dooley’s days are numbered: It’s not a matter of “if,” but rather “when” for Tennessee coach Derek Dooley. The Vols’ 51-48 loss to Missouri in four overtimes Saturday was almost certainly the knockout blow for Dooley, who’s now lost 13 of his past 14 SEC games. The Vols blew a 14-point lead in the third quarter at home, and Dooley made some questionable decisions down the stretch. But over and above what happened in Saturday’s game, it’s a Tennessee program that is hemorrhaging on several different fronts. If fan apathy hadn’t already set in, it has now, and there’s just not a lot of hope on Rocky Top that Dooley will ever be able to stop the bleeding. He walked into a mess in 2010 when he took the job and has done an admirable job of strengthening the roster. But Tennessee has gone from a top-tier program that had obviously dipped toward the end of Phillip Fulmer’s tenure to a program now that’s totally irrelevant. There really is no decision now for Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart. The only question is if he’ll announce that he’s making a coaching change this week or the next.

It's that time when we check out news and notes from this week's key SEC game:

• The Texas A&M at Alabama matchup is one of the two most efficient offenses in the SEC. The Aggies lead the SEC in highest average points per drive (3.09 / 336 points in 110 offensive drives) with the Tide second at 3.07 (332 in 108) points per drive. The Tide leads the SEC in overall scoring-efficiency percentage (50.9 percent / 55 scoring drives out of 108 total drives) and the Aggies are second at 49.6 percent (60 of 121). In touchdown scoring efficiency, the Aggies lead the SEC at 40.5 percent (49 TD drives out of 121 overall drives) while the Tide are second at 38.9 percent (42 of 108).
• Alabama leads the series history, 3-1. It’s the first visit to Bryant-Denny Stadium for the Aggies. The teams played in the 1942 and 1968 Cotton Bowls, in 1985 at Legion Field in Birmingham and 1988 in College Station.
  
• Alabama’s Jeremy Shelley is the only kicker in the nation not to miss an extra-point (40-40) or field goal (9-9) this season.
• The Aggies are 1-10 in games against No. 1 ranked teams, with the lone victory being a 30-26 win over Oklahoma in 2002.
• A&M has scored first in every game in 2012, and in 14 straight games dating back to 2011.
• Johnny Manziel has already broken A&M’s record for quarterback rushing yards in a season (922).
• Manziel is the only player in FBS to average at least 10 yards per rush and 10 yards per pass attempt in those situations, and his 11 touchdowns responsible for in those situations are three more than any other FBS player. He has gained 634 rushing yards on scrambles. That is 182 more yards scrambling than Denard Robinson, Braxton Miller and Collin Klein have combined. Manziel has scrambled for 28 first downs this season, including 18 first downs on third down.
• Manziel is completing 71.8 percent of his passes on first down this season, one of only six players to complete at least 70 percent of his passes on first down this season (min. 140 attempts).
• Alabama is 21-6 against the AP Top 25 during the last four seasons and 12-4 against AP Top 10 teams.
• Alabama QB AJ McCarron has gone 204 pass attempts this season and 289 dating back to last season without an interception. Since 2000, he is the only player in FBS with at least 25 career touchdown passes (38) and as few as five interceptions.
• The Tide defense averages 5.44 three-and-outs per game and its 45.4 percent rate is second highest in the nation.
• The Aggies and Tide have shared three head coaches in their histories -- Bear Bryant (A&M 1954-57; Alabama 1958-82), Gene Stallings (A&M 1965-71; Alabama 1990-96) and Dennis Franchione (A&M 2003-07; Alabama 2001-02).