Coming off a 9-4 season and a Chick-fil-A Bowl victory, the Texas A&M football team enters the 2014 season ranked No. 18 in the ESPN Top 25 Power Rankings.
The Aggies, who started fall camp on Aug. 1, are less than three weeks away from a nationally-televised season-opening clash with South Carolina on Thursday, Aug. 28 in Columbia, S.C. The first-ever matchup between the two schools, the Aggies and Gamecocks will battle in the first-ever college football game on the SEC Network, which debuts on Thursday, Aug. 14.
The ESPN Power Rankings included seven teams from the Southeastern Conference: No. 2 Alabama, No. 5 Auburn, No. 9 South Carolina, No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 LSU, No. 18 Texas A&M and No. 19 Ole Miss, five of which are on the Aggies' 2014 schedule. Texas A&M has never played more than four top 25-ranked conference opponents in a single season.
Texas A&M returns 11 starters (five on offense and six on defense) and 51 total letterwinners from last year's squad that posted a 9-4 record and finished the year ranked No. 18 in the Coaches and Associated Press polls. The Aggies' 51 returning lettermen (22 offense/22 defense/7 special teams) are the second-most in school history.
ESPN arrived at its Power Rankings using a 13-member expert panel combined with its Football Power Index. The Football Power Index predicts and ranks team strength based on expected points added from offense, defense and special teams, adjusted for opponent strength. Using preseason FPI, ESPN Stats & Information has projected each team's chances of winning each game on its schedule based on the difference between the two teams' FPIs, game site and game type.
ESPN's Top 25 voter's panel includes:
Colin Cowherd, ESPN Radio/TV
Butch Davis, ESPN analyst
Heather Dinich, ESPN reporter
Brad Edwards, ESPN Research
Chris Fallica, ESPN Research
Rod Gilmore, ESPN analyst
Desmond Howard, ESPN analyst
Danny Kanell, ESPN analyst
Ivan Maisel, ESPN reporter
David Pollack, ESPN analyst
Mark Schlabach, ESPN reporter
Scott Van Pelt, ESPN Radio/TV
Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN reporter
ESPN Top 25 Power Rankings
1.     Florida State
2.     Alabama
3.     Oklahoma
4.     Oregon
5.     Auburn
6.     Ohio State
7.     Michigan State
8.     UCLA
9.     South Carolina
10.  Stanford
11.  Baylor
12.  Georgia
13.  LSU
14.  USC
15.  Notre Dame
16.  Clemson
17.  Wisconsin
18.  Texas A&M
19.  Ole Miss
20.  Washington
21.  North Carolina
22.  Nebraska
23.  UCF
24.  Texas
25.  TCU