Texas A&M’s 2027 schedule will feature two early non-conference games vs. Texas State on Sept. 4 and Arizona State in Tempe (AZ) on Sept. 11, but after that, the Aggies will take on the new nine-game SEC schedule, and after New Mexico opted out of the previously scheduled Sept. 18 matchup in Kyle Field, coach Mike Elko will look to schedule one more non-conference opponent.
Why is this important? On Tuesday, during the SEC Spring Meetings, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stated that all 16 SEC Athletic Directors voted to play a conference game during the second-to-last week of the regular season, which is usually held for non-conference, and as Sankey stated, “cupcake matchups” that usually result in blowout matchups before highly important rivalary games during the final week.
This year, Texas A&M will host Missouri State and Arizona State during the first two games of the 2026 regular season, and host The Citadel on Oct. 17 before heading to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama in what will be one of the most critical games of the season. This isn’t a shocking decision by any means, knowing that the strength of every program’s schedule plays a significant part in determining College Football Playoff seeding.
Not only will this help teams compete for a CFP spot at the end of the season, but it will also provide more entertaining matchups during a weekend that has usually turned away regular college football fans who aren’t simply watching their team blow out a smaller opponent, even though plenty of upsets have occurred in the past.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: SEC cuts ‘cupcake games’ for conference games next to last week
Reporting by Cameron Ohnysty, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
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