Texas A&M Football schedule: 5 toughest games in the 2018 season
By Jeff Shull
Texas A&M football has a tough schedule slated for Jimbo Fisher’s inaugural season, maybe the toughest of all the SEC teams. Here are those games, ranked.
When Jimbo Fisher officially takes the reins of Texas A&M football and coaches actual games, he will have a tough go at it early and often. The Aggies have one of the toughest schedules in the entire SEC, and frankly the entire country, as is typical of an SEC West team.
Athlon Sports recently ranked the schedules in the SEC in order of toughness, and damn it if they didn’t rank our boys in Maroon and White No. 1, and for good reason. A&M plays five teams who finished last season ranked inside the top 20.
More: 5 reasons Aggies can contend in year one
Usually you can lump all SEC teams together in terms of strength of schedule, but A&M has a non-conference opponent riding through College Station the second week of September that sets them apart from the rest.
Familiar to Fisher, Dabo Swinney and his Clemson Tigers will be the first major test of the season. They are ranked No. 2 by Sporting News and CBS Sports, and No. 1 by USA Today in some way-to-early polls. Although these polls are early, you should expect the Tigers to be right there in the official AP poll come game day.
Clemson will be one of the toughest non-conference opponents to ever set foot in Kyle Field; tough way to start a season with such high expectations.
If that wasn’t tough enough for September by itself, A&M goes to Tuscaloosa two weeks later to take on the defending national champions. They also play Auburn and Mississippi State on the road this season.
Fisher will need to have a winning record against these five opponents if he has any hopes of contending in year one. These are the five toughest games on the schedule.