Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
We continue our series by spotlighting one underrated positive for each SEC team. Today, we head to College Station to focus on the Texas A&M Aggies heading into the 2026 season.
The schedule
There are a lot of people very high on Texas A&M going into the 2026 season. They are one of just six teams in the conference that returns their starting quarterback from last season.
Marcel Reed is basically going into year three as a starter, despite not being the full-time starter in 2024. He’ll have to carry the load this year for the A&M offense since they lost so much up front on the offensive line and production at wideout with the loss of KC Concepcion to the NFL.
Still, there are a ton of positives for this team going into 2026 and it’s easy to see why many around the country think they can get back to the CFP for a second consecutive year. That seems like a tall task with what they lost, but A&M does have one glaring positive in their corner that others in the SEC don’t this year, a manageable schedule.
The SEC will go to nine conference games this year and it will be nearly impossible to dodge competition. After all, this isn’t the Big Ten where you can somehow make it to November without playing a single ranked opponent.
Here’s a look at their schedule for 2026.
Week 1: Missouri State
Week 2: Arizona State
Week 3: Kentucky
Week 4: at LSU
Week 5: Arkansas
Week 6: at Missouri
Week 7: Citadel
Week 8: at Alabama
Week 9: BYE
Week 10: at South Carolina
Week 11: Tennessee
Week 12: at Oklahoma
Week 13: Texas
The 2026 SEC football schedule is HERE 🚨 pic.twitter.com/uGwDs5yHrA
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 12, 2025
The first thing that stands out is that they have no back-to-back road games at any point during the year, and they get four of their first five games at home. The 30,000 foot view of the 2026 slate looks tough with games at LSU, Alabama, South Carolina and Oklahoma. Those are sprinkled in with home games against Texas and Tennessee.
The first two months of the season are tailormade for entering November with no more than two losses. The road games at LSU and Alabama are a month apart, and the lead up to each game is much different for them than their opponents.
They go on the road in week four to LSU, a team they’ve beaten in two consecutive years, but play three consecutive home games prior with Kentucky at home the week before. Meanwhile, LSU opens the season with Clemson and will travel to Ole Miss the week before A&M in the most anticipated game of the entire college football season.
It won’t be easy for LSU to get up physically and emotionally for two weeks in a row after that Ole Miss game. That doesn’t mean A&M is going to beat the Tigers, but that’s still an advantage.
“How did it feel to start against LSU?”
“It felt amazing, I don’t lose to LSU.” – @Marcel10Reed 😂 pic.twitter.com/FSuWX0MF79
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) May 30, 2026
Then, there’s the trip to Tuscaloosa. Alabama replaces a ton of talent this year, and is one of the youngest teams in the league with only seven seniors on the roster. The Aggies play at Missouri and then host the Citadel prior to that game. Alabama, on the other hand, gets Georgia and a road trip to Tennessee in the two previous weeks. That’s not exactly the same, and is another advantage for A&M.
This is obviously all on paper and who knows what these teams will look like by week four or eight. But, the name of the game this year for SEC teams seems to be getting to nine wins to be in contention for the CFP.
That November slate for A&M is brutal, but they do at least have a strategically placed bye week before it starts. If A&M can get to November with one loss they would just need to go .500 to get to that coveted ninth win.
That seems doable. I mean, it’s not like A&M to have a total and complete meltdown in the final month of the season is it?
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