The Texas A&M football team will open its 2011 campaign with its highest preseason ranking since 1999 after being ranked No. 9 in the initial USA Today Top 25 Coaches poll, which was released on Thursday.
The Aggies were ranked No. 8 in the 1999 preseason coaches poll after a Big 12 Championship and Sugar Bowl appearance in 1998. Today's ranking also marked the first time that the Aggies have received a preseason Top 25 ranking since 2007 when A&M was No. 25 in both the Associated Press and coaches polls.
Fourth-year head coach Mike Sherman's Aggies are coming off a 9-4 season in 2010 that saw A&M win its first share of the Big 12 South division crown since 1998 and earn a spot in the AT&T Cotton Bowl. A&M returns an experienced roster with 60 letterwinners, which is the most in school history, including 18 positional starters.
The Aggies' rugged 2011 schedule includes five teams in preseason Top 25: No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 21 Missouri and No. 24 Texas.