For the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, the Texas A&M football program is chasing the Baylor Bears.
Not even in 2003, when the Aggies went 4-8 under first-year coach Dennis Franchione, were the Aggies looking up at the Bears.
I know the Bears have a worse record than the Aggies -- 3-7 overall and 1-5 in the Big 12 compared to A&M's 4-6 and 2-4 -- but it's all about perception.
Ask a Baylor fan about the Bears, and an enthusiastic answer will follow. Ask an A&M supporter where the Aggies are headed, and it goes something like, "We'll be good again by the year 3000."
Odds are Iowa State, even SMU, will have a favorable run by then. So will Baylor at some time, and with Art Briles pushing the button and freshman phenom quarterback Robert Griffin III directing the show, it could be soon.
Much to the Aggies' dismay, the Bears, with the electrifying Griffin taking snaps, have captured the average football fans' attention. There is even hope among their faithful that the first winning season since the inception of the Big 12 is not too far down the road.
For now, though, Baylor is getting kudos for 45-21 losses on the road. Three-point defeats at home are almost looked upon as wins, at least by those outside the Waco city limits.
In contrast, A&M, which has stomached only two losing seasons during its tenure in the Big 12, is suffering through a campaign worse than its record indicates. In only one of its losses could A&M have looked back at a play or a sequence and said, "If only [blank] happened, we could have won that game." At the same time, three of the four Aggie victories have been by a touchdown or less.
So despite its recent history, or maybe because of it, the Bears are the popular choice as the team headed in the right direction.
The bookies have even jumped on, making the Bears eight-point favorites over the Aggies. The last time BU beat A&M by more than 8 points was in 1980.
Looking back at scores, records and rankings, the most recent time Baylor could have been the odds-on favorite to beat A&M was 1991.
The Bears have been favored by more than a touchdown one other time in 102 Big 12 games, against Missouri in 1996.
Television has even sided with the Bears, or against A&M. The Aggies have been shutout of the Big 12 TV package three times during conference play. The Big 12 has at least four, often five of its games televised every weekend. I'm actually pretty good at math, so for those that aren't, that is not a good percentage for A&M.
Not even highly ranked Oklahoma State could swing the Aggies onto the cable side of college football.
That the Missouri-Iowa State game was given the nod over A&M-Baylor this weekend speaks volumes.
From afar, and this is a statement no Aggie will accept, there are a lot of similarities among the Baylor and Texas A&M football programs besides the fact that both have first-year head coaches.
The biggest is the Aggies and Bears are the two teams that are fodder for the South Division stars. They give a respite from the big guns having to beat up on each other every week.
The Aggies and Bears are a combined 0-6 against the rest of the South and have been outscored 293-125, or by an average of 49-21.
Bears fans have become accustomed to those numbers. Aside from a couple of forgettable results in the Fran era, Aggie fans have not.
Both teams have good young quarterbacks and talented young receivers that give their squads the potential to match many of the high-flying Big 12 teams offensively.
Neither has the defense to stop those high-flying teams that have logjammed the AP Top 10. Both Baylor and A&M held a Big 12 opponent to less than 30 points only once.
This is a bigger game for the Bears than the Aggies.
Baylor can build on the baby steps it's taken this season under Briles, who could use a victory over another Texas team to take with him on the recruiting road. Briles has done well in that respect, getting two Rivals.com 4-star recruits already, which equals the Bears' total over the past three years. Briles brought in one of those, Griffin, after being hired late in the process last year.
Having said all that, with a win, the Aggies have the perfect opportunity to cage the enthusiasm the Bears have gained this season and at least put some semblance back into the pecking order in the South that has been slipping out of the Aggies' hands.
If the Aggies are looking for a sign, the Bears lost the game in which they were favored by 10 over Missouri in 1996. The final was 49-42 Missouri.
Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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