Updated Sep 3, 2015 at 2:22p ET

Texas A&M has been mentioned by some this offseason as a dark-horse playoff candidate, but among ESPN’s panel of experts, none see the Aggies seriously contending in the SEC West, let alone winning the conference and competing for a national title.

ESPN’s five SEC bloggers released their season predictions Wednesday, and all five have A&M finishing with nine wins or fewer. Edward Aschoff has the Aggies at 8-4 and tied for fifth in the division, David Ching predicts 6-6 and last in the division, Sam Khan foresees 9-3 and fourth in the division, Greg Ostendorf predicts 9-3 and fourth in the division, and Alex Scarborough sees 9-3 and tied for third in the division.

Averaging out the predictions yields an overall record of 8-5 and a fourth-place finish in the West.

Of course, that would be almost an exact repeat of 2014, when A&M went 8-5 overall and 3-5 in conference while finishing fifth in the division. The hiring of highly regarded defensive coordinator John Chavis, the progression of quarterback Kyle Allen and a loaded group of skill-position players apparently is not expected to produce much in the way of wins, although that might be related more to the Aggies’ schedule, which is expected to be one of the most difficult in the country.

Regardless, predictions are just that: predictions. We’ll start to find out just how good Texas A&M really is on Saturday against 15th-ranked Arizona State.

(h/t Saturday Down South)