Aggies Fisher Trying to Overcome 2022 October to Forget

Aggies Fisher Trying to Overcome 2022 October to Forget
Fact Checked by Michael Peters

No matter what happens to Texas A&M this October, it can’t possibly be as bad as what coach Jimbo Fisher’s team endured in 2022. 

As we get into the heart of the college football season, BetTexas.com utilized records from Sports-Reference.com to see which SEC coaches have the best record in the month of October. Coaches must have a minimum three years experience to qualify. There is no legal sports betting in Texas. It will be 2025 before the state legislature again considers wagering.

Best SEC Coaches in October

School Coach October RecordWinning %
AlabamaNick Saban 82-19 .812
GeorgiaKirby Smart 17-6 .739
AuburnHugh Freeze 29-11 .725
TennesseeJosh Heupel 13-5 .722
FloridaBilly Napier 12-5 .706
Texas A&MJimbo Fisher 33-17 .660
Ole MissLane Kiffin 24-16 .600
MissouriEliah Drinkwitz 9-7 .563
KentuckyMark Stoops 17-20 .460
ArkansasSam Pittman 5-7 .417

Although there is no BetMGM Texas, nationally the operator gives Texas A&M the fourth-best SEC Championship odds at +1600. Georgia is first at -125, followed by Alabama and LSU (+375).

Lost October Led to Lost Season

The Aggies lost all four games in October last year, setting off a six-game losing streak and dropping Fisher to 10-8 in October at Texas A&M and 33-17 overall in a coaching tenure that includes a national championship at Florida State after the 2013 season. 

The last time Texas A&M lost six games in a row was in 1972. Coach Emory Bellard’s first Aggies team won its opener and then lost six straight, including all three October games to Texas Tech, TCU and Baylor. Three years later, Bellard’s team challenged for the national championship, rising to No. 2 in the nation at 10-0 before losing to Arkansas and then Southern Cal in the Liberty Bowl. 

A&M fans were dreaming of national championships when Fisher was hired in 2018 and given a lot of money to make that happen. He started well in October, going 10-4 in the first four seasons. The best October came in 2020, when the Aggies were 3-1 with the lone blemish being a 52-24 loss to Alabama in the second game of the season on Oct. 3. It was that late because of the pandemic. 

A&M finished 9-1 overall and ranked No. 5 in the country that season, but have followed that up with going 8-4 in 2021 and not playing a bowl because of COVID-19 in the program and then 5-7 following the six-game losing streak in 2022. 

The Aggies finish September with Arkansas on Saturday in Dallas. National operators — there are no Texas betting apps — list A&M as a 6.5-point favorite with a moneyline of -250.

The October schedule includes No. 12 Alabama at home, No. 21 Tennessee on the road and then back home to try to avenge last year’s loss to South Carolina. A&M likely will only be favored to beat the Gamecocks in those three games, and they’ll finish the season without starting quarterback Conner Weigman, who suffered a broken foot in last week’s win over Auburn.

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Author

Douglas Pils

Douglas Pils has been a sports journalist for 30 years in Texas, Arkansas and New York having worked for the San Antonio Express-News, the Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News and Newsday. He most recently ran the Student Media Department at Texas A&M for eight years.

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