What Cignetti has done is remarkable taking a team that was 9-27 in the 3 prior years to 24-2 in his first two. Doormat program who was in the division with OSU, UM and Pedo. BUT…
2024– Played OSU (L) and UM (W) then 7 of the bottom 8 teams (31-55) and really bad OOC. Great job against really bad competition, went 1-1 in their 2 game schedule before getting knocked out in first round of playoffs. This is A&M this year.
2025- Played Oregon, Iowa, Illinois, and 6 of the bottom 7 teams (23-49), same gauntlet OOC. A 3 game schedule and atrocious competition, but they took care of business and just beat OSU. Conference Champs, heisman, they look like the team to beat. Sideline demeanor reminds me of Saban
Schedules matter, last year they were a paper tiger nearly identical to A&M this year. Undoubtedly a good team, but a record built on playing the worst competition they could possibly have on their schedule outside of 2 games. I’m rooting for them this year, we get to see how well they do against better competition.
Tl;dr Cignetti is a damn good coach but let’s see how he does against good teams over a larger sample size