Texas A&M is undefeated coming out of September and will be in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 after four weeks of the season. It's a college football tradition unlike any other.

The Aggies whooped up on Arkansas inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday night. The final was 45-24 as Texas A&M ran away with the win in the second half and found itself a rushing attack with over 300 yards and four touchdowns combined on the ground from quarterback Trevor Knight and freshman running back Trayveon Williams.

Not only do the Aggies appear to have found themselves a lead back with explosiveness in Williams, the defense continues to impress. Texas A&M had two goal line stands that ended in turnovers on downs by Arkansas -- aided by some questionable play-calling from the Razorbacks. In the second half, Texas A&M applied tons of pressure to Austin Allen.

Though Texas A&M was 3-0 entering this week, the Aggies had yet to put forth a complete performance that proved they could really hang with good competition. Against UCLA, the offense disappeared in the fourth quarter before escaping with an overtime win. Against Auburn, the Aggies looked good, but it was hard to glean much off of a performance against a Tigers offense that has serious issues.

Saturday night was the Aggies' best four quarters of the season, and they finally created separation from an opponent late in a game. That means it's officially time for the annual tradition of being really excited about the Aggies at the end of September.

Texas A&M in September is the best drug. The Aggies have made a nasty habit of torching teams in the first month before crashing back to Earth for an 8-4 record. Will this season be different, or will we once again be kicking ourselves in November for being suckered in by a Kevin Sumlin squad?

The latter is certainly a possibility, but there's reason for optimism that this is the year Texas A&M really does make a push.

For one, the Aggies have played two real opponents this September in UCLA and Arkansas. Texas A&M has also gone on the road in conference at Auburn, looking good in all three games -- again, fourth quarter of the UCLA game aside. That's at least a little better than the South Carolina-Lamar-Rice-SMU-Arkansas run from 2014 and last year's Arizona State-Ball State-Nevada-Arkansas-Mississippi State run when the Aggies didn't leave the state of Texas.

On offense, Texas A&M has an experienced starting quarterback for the first time since Johnny Manziel left in Knight. While it's his first season in College Station, the Oklahoma transfer has starting experience and shouldn't have as much difficulty adapting to life in the SEC as the previous run of freshman quarterbacks Sumlin has trotted out there behind center.

The defense, in its second season under John Chavis, has some real horses like Myles Garrett, Armani Watts and Daeshon Hall. The group as a whole looks improved as a complete defense, and these guys are flying around like a Chavis defense is expected to.

All of that seems to indicate that the Aggies have staying power this year when there is otherwise a lack of clear challenger to Alabama in the SEC West. With Ole Miss having already lost to the Tide, Texas A&M is the only team that seems to pose a threat to Alabama in the division.

The Aggies are three games and four weeks away from that date with the Tide. A road trip to South Carolina next week followed by a visit to College Station from East division favorite Tennessee on Oct. 8 stand in between.

Skepticism about Texas A&M being a legitimate contender is more than justified after what the Aggies have done after September over the past three seasons. Back-to-back games against Tennessee and Alabama -- with a bye in between -- will either expose the Aggies as pretenders once again or make a statement that they're for real.

I promised myself in July that I wouldn't let myself do this again with the Aggies, but here we are after the final September game on their schedule and I'm riding shotgun on the bandwagon. There's just so much individual talent that I can't help but buy in.

One month from now, I'll either be rewarded for my belief or once again feel gullible for being tricked by fool's gold sold by Kevin Sumlin.