Traveling in for the game? Whether you’re looking for comfortable hotels, delicious dining for every palate or exciting attractions for the whole family, College Station has something for everyone!

_

Matchup: Texas A&M vs. South Carolina

Date: November 15th, 2025

Location: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas

Kickoff: 6:00 p.m. CT

The 2026 season arrives as Texas A&M looks to build on the 11-1 regular season and a playoff berth from 2025. The Aggies kick off the season by hosting Missouri State at Kyle Field. With two new coordinators and several new starters, Texas A&M has a ton of questions to answer heading into the third year of the Elko Era.

On the offensive side of the ball, Holmon Wiggins will be replacing Collin Klein as offensive coordinator. Texas A&M’s offensive line will feature four new starters along with returning center Mark Nabou. Most of the questions for this unit heading into the season revolve around Wiggins’ first year as a play caller and the turnover in the trenches. The Aggies should be able to handle Missouri State with the amount of talent on the roster, but what does success look like in Game One?

The offensive line questions won’t be completely answered against Missouri State, but how Texas A&M handles their first in-game action will be a key indicator for the rest of the season. The offensive line needs to function as a cohesive unit. Yes, they should be able to dominate the Bears up front, but I’m more concerned with seeing how a group who hasn’t spent a ton of game time together communicates. Missouri State will likely need to get creative up front to avoid getting blown off the ball - how will this offensive line pass off twists and blitzes? Are we going to see pre-snap penalties? A true measure of a successful offseason will be whether this offensive line can avoid the mental errors that often plague units that lack continuity.

We know Texas A&M has an edge at the skill positions as well. Marcel Reed and this incredibly talented receiver room ought to be able to pick apart Missouri State. I think Holmon Wiggins will call a relatively vanilla game. Instead, I’m looking at how Wiggins handles certain situational pieces of the running offense. End-of-half offense, red zone offense, or situations where Texas A&M is backed up to their own end zone will be key scenarios to watch. It is particularly hard to handle clock management in your first year as a play caller, and how Wiggins handles that on Saturday will be extremely important.

I have fewer questions on the defensive side of the ball. Though Lyle Hemphill is replacing Jay Bateman as defensive coordinator, this is still a Mike Elko defense. The Aggies will look to win on early downs to get Missouri State behind the chains and then get after the passer in obvious passing downs. Still, in order for the first game of the season to be considered a success, Texas A&M will need to minimize errors. 

Missouri State Head Coach Casey Woods’ has worked under offensive minds such as Gus Malzahn and Eliah Drinkwitz, and most recently served as offensive coordinator under Rhett Lashlee at SMU. With that in mind, I expect to see some different looks on offense that will challenge the abilities of the defense mentally. First-time coaches can be difficult to prep for; seeing how the secondary, in particular, limits big plays will be a key indicator of success for this contest.

I’ll also be looking at the gap discipline of the defensive line and the linebackers in the run game. Failing to execute assignments bit the Aggies at times last season, and with a new leader in the linebacker room in Daymion Sanford, I’m curious to see what the front seven looks like. Of course, with Sanford coming off an injury, I’m also expecting limited snaps for him in Week One. In turn, I’m also very interested to see what the group around him looks like - particularly Noah Mikhail and Tulsa transfer Ray Coney.

To close out this preview, we also need to touch on special teams. The kicking game was a thorn in Texas A&M’s side last season. Executing in the third phase can make or break your season, and the Aggies will need to look to Illinois transfer David Olano to be a reliable option in the kicking game. I almost hope we get to see a few Texas A&M drives stall out in scoring territory so we can see if the field goal operation has improved enough for the Aggies to feel comfortable in games that come down to kicking.

Texas A&M shouldn’t have any problems handling an outmatched Missouri State squad. However, I’ll still be watching communication and execution very closely. I have the Aggies winning this one 48-3.