Texas A & M has extended head coach Mike Sherman's contact by one year and also increased his salary. So let's take a look at how the NCAA football model evaluates the Aggies football team over the last three years.
In 2010, Texas A & M from the model finished #44 overall and #42 on offense and #47 on defense. Texas A & M had a number of high profile wins over Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas.
In 2009, Texas A & M from the model finished #46 overall and #12 on offense and #96 on defense.
In 2008, Texas A & M from the model finished #114 overall and #107 on offense and #113 on defense.
The model shows that Texas A & M has made substantial improvement over the last three years on defense, from one of the worst in 2008 to above average in 2010. Overall, the Aggies also improved from one of the worst in 2008 to a team near the top third of all FBS teams over the last two years. Given the amount of quality recruits in Texas, one would expect Texas A & M to be better than their performance in 2008. Given their increase in overall performance, it seems that the administration at Texas A & M is expecting better overall performance.