Holding Steady
8. Mississippi State (8-4, 4-4)
There’s no shame in batting .500 in the West, which is exactly what the two teams in our Holding Steady category managed to do. And you have to be impressed with the job Dan Mullen has done in Starkville. It’s hard to win down there, yet he’s managed to do just that. No, they didn’t have quite the run they had last year, but by and large, the Bulldogs met expectations this year.
7. Texas A&M (8-4, 4-4)
Texas A&M was hard to peg this year. Quality wins over teams like Arkansas were offset by lopsided losses like the blowout against Ole Miss and a not-so-good Auburn team. Still, most folks had Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss vying for the first couple of spots in the West, which means this Aggie team landed about where many had predicted. They get the slight nod in the final RTI SEC Power ranking by virtue of their head-to-head win against their Holding-Steady peer, Mississippi State.
