By Matthew Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com

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It is still way too early to make definitive statements about the 2013 season, but things certainly appear to be falling nicely into place for the Aggies next season.

Fresh off of the program’s third national championship in the past four seasons, and with the team set to return a plethora of talent in 2013, it is no wonder that the Alabama Crimson Tide are almost unanimously considered the favorites to take the home the hardware again next season.

By default, the Crimson Tide are also considered the overwhelming favorites to repeat as SEC champions.

Although it would be easy to pencil in Alabama as 2013 SEC champions, this is the best conference in all of college football and there is certainly no shortage of talented teams eager to remove the Crimson Tide from the throne.

As is always the case with any conference race, sheer talent is not the only deciding factor. A number of outside factors – schedule, confidence levels, officiating breaks, and sometimes pure luck – always have a say in determining the conference victor at the end of the season.

It is obviously impossible to predict how a ball will bounce or how an official will interpret a close call, but we are afforded the luxury of knowing the talent levels returning to each of the 14 SEC institutions, as well as the schedules which those teams must traverse in order to stake claim to the conference title.

So, looking at the SEC rosters and schedules for the 2013 season, it is clear that Alabama will face minimal opposition on the way to another championship, right?

Not exactly.

While you won’t get an argument from college football experts that Alabama was not deserving of its most recent national title, many people would make the argument that the Crimson Tide were not playing the best football of any team in the country heading down the stretch.

That distinction would go to the Texas A&M Aggies, who won each of their last six contests. Included in those half-dozen games were a 38-13 shellacking of No. 15 Mississippi State, a 29-24 road victory over Alabama and a 41-13 embarrassment of No. 11 Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.

Looking ahead to the fall, the Aggies will be just as talented, if not more so, than this past season. Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel will headline the attack, but A&M will be talented throughout its roster.

Jake Matthews’ decision to return gives the Aggies three returning offensive line starters for next season. The Aggies were the second-best team in the nation in yards per rushing attempt in 2012, and will be powerful once again in 2013 with the return of running backs Ben Malena and Trey Williams.

The Aggies are set to lose three starters at wide receivers, but the losses might not be as severe as it initially appears. A&M’s leading receiver from 2012, Mike Evans, will return next season, as will talented young receiver Malcome Kennedy. Thomas Johnson, who left Texas A&M in December due to personal reasons, could still return to the team at a later date, at which point he would immediately become a starter once again. Additionally, A&M is currently slated to bring in five receivers rated as either four or five-star recruits in its newest recruiting class, meaning that there will be plenty of talent at the position.

There will be a number of new faces on the defensive side of the football for Kevin Sumlin, but the Aggies were a much-improved defensive football team over the second half of the season, and the coaching staff is very excited about the prospects of many of their young defensive players.

While Texas A&M fans are understandably giddy about the players the program has returning in 2013, the greater cause for excitement is the Aggies’ schedule.

After running through the gauntlet in their inaugural SEC season, the Aggies get the SEC version of a reprieve in 2013.

A&M will get a pair of cupcakes in Rice and Sam Houston State to open the season, giving the Aggies plenty of time to prepare for a week three contest against the Crimson Tide.

Alabama has an immediate psychological advantage over just about every team in the country due to the program’s recent dominance.

A&M is one of the few teams to which that logic holds no water, though. The Aggies will be ready for the matchup on September 14 and they will not be intimidated when the Crimson Tide come running out of the tunnel.

Scanning through the remainder of A&M’s schedule, the toughest non-conference opponent all season is SMU, meaning that the Aggies in all likelihood will go 4-0 outside of the SEC. In conference play, in addition to the annual games against SEC West competition, the Aggies are relatively fortunate, drawing Vanderbilt and Missouri out of the East.

With LSU potentially facing somewhat of a rebuilding year following the departure of nine underclassmen to the NFL draft, and with the remainder of the West seemingly still a year away from legitimately competing for a conference crown, the success of A&M’s season hinges upon a select few games.

Wins against teams such as Alabama and LSU would almost certainly guarantee the Aggies a slot in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, and very possibly could land the program in the BCS National Championship Game.

It is still way too early to make definitive statements about the 2013 season, but things certainly appear to be falling nicely into place for the Aggies next season.

A roster filled with star talent, a confident squad, an outstanding coaching staff and a manageable schedule should afford the Aggies with every opportunity to come out ahead of the Crimson Tide in 2013.