Texas A&M’s schedule for 2026 has already received a lot of scrutiny to this point in the college football calendar. That’s largely due to the incorrect assumption that the Aggies had success in 2025 due to the effect of an overly easy schedule— something that is easily disproven by checking any strength of schedule metric out there, like SP+, which rated the Aggies’ slate as 18th-toughest in the nation last year.
That in mind, Aggie fans have been keeping receipts from everything that opposing fans have been saying about the upcoming year, including the common comment that the Aggies are going to find out what a real schedule looks like very soon. Opposing fans have to keep that same energy once the Aggies start rolling through this slate.
Texas A&M fans now know the kickoff times and channels for their first few games of the 2026 season, including their marquee non-conference matchup for the year. The Aggies will be facing off with the Missouri State Bears at 6 PM CT on ESPN, Arizona State Sun Devils at 11 AM CT on ABC, and the Kentucky Wildcats at 2:30 PM CT on either ESPN or ESPN2.
Texas A&M’s first few kickoff times revealed, showing their big chance to make an early impression
The clear biggest matchup of these three is going to be the game against the Arizona State Sun Devils, which will be taking place in the big prime time window early in the day on week two. The big game that week will be Ohio State and Texas, and since it’s hosted in Austin, FOX won’t be using their “Big Noon Kickoff” window to show the game.
That means that this is, in all likelihood, going to be the big game of that day in that time slot. Narratives fashioned in the early part of the season tend to stick around in a sort of annoying way, so this will be the Aggies’ shot to give a great first impression, much like they did in the Notre Dame game last year.
The first three Saturdays are locked in. #GigEm | https://t.co/vjh5s6JY9R pic.twitter.com/Kj46zwnM2B
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) May 27, 2026
Arizona State is not projected to be anywhere near the team that the Irish were last year, and the Aggies should be pretty heavily favored in this one. It will be a real test for the Aggies’ secondary in particular, as ASU took in two of the top three receivers from the portal this past cycle.
Texas A&M needs to make a big statement in this game at home in Kyle Field. Though the weather will be completely oppressive, being an early game in mid-September in Texas, the crowd will no doubt be out in force for Texas A&M in this game. Texas A&M will have to be ready to shut down the opposing offense as they break in a new quarterback, elite receivers or no, because the Sun Devils also have to know that this is a big early opportunity for them as well.
All of these are going to be on big time networks, which is a boon for the Aggies. They will have a lot of exposure through these first few games, and they will also no doubt get the same treatment for their fourth game, in which they will visit the LSU Tigers. The Aggies will have a lot of chances to show their stuff early next season, and so they had better come ready.
Add us as a preferred source on Google