With kickoff of the 2026 season now only a month away, it’s time for the preseason polls to begin hitting the timeline— and fans were excited to see the first in this series come down yesterday, as the preseason Coaches’ Poll has just come out. The first thing that many Aggie fans notice, of course, is the prominent placement of their program— the no. 8 ranking is their highest yet in the Mike Elko era, and speaks to the expectations of many around the country for just how good this A&M team will be this year.
BREAKING: College Football Preseason Coaches Poll👀https://t.co/gnEe967fmH pic.twitter.com/W2xBYGZWYe
— On3 (@On3) August 4, 2026
This is also the highest preseason ranking for Texas A&M since 2022– of course, that year, things completely fell apart from game two onward thanks to a huge amount of youth on the field and an undisciplined locker room. Neither of those will be factors for the Aggies this season, luckily, thanks to the hard work that Mike Elko and this staff have put in with regard to the transfer portal.
The other thing that fans notice, of course, is the preponderance of teams that the Aggies have on the schedule that also appear in this top 25. The Aggies have their work cut out for them this season if this preseason polls is any indication, but Elko and company are ready for the challenge.
Preseason Coaches Poll demonstrates how difficult Texas A&M’s 2026 schedule is
The Aggies play nos. 4, 9, 13, 11, 18, and 25 on this list throughout the course of the season— and only two of those will be home games. After last season, the Aggies will be playing the role of the hunted rather than the hunter, so it will be extremely interesting to see how they handle that in what will no doubt be raucous road environments to see a big time ranked matchup.
The good news is that the highest-ranked team here is the one that the Aggies get at home. Texas A&M will face off with the Longhorns in the Lone Star Showdown on November 27, which will be at Kyle Field.
The only other game against a ranked team on this list that will happen at home is the Tennessee Volunteers, which will be on November 14. That begins a brutal three-week stretch against all ranked teams, as the Aggies head to Norman to face off with OU the following week before returning home for the aforementioned Lone Star Showdown.
Missouri snuck into the poll down at no. 25, so they clearly have the greatest chance of being unranked by the time the Aggies play them. Of course, it’s also conceivable that LSU loses to Clemson and Ole Miss before they face the Aggies as they break in a new coach, so they could drop quickly out of the poll as well.
This is to say nothing, too, of teams like South Carolina that could leap up into the top 25 before the Aggies play them (Texas A&M visits Columbia, SC on November 7). This will be a gauntlet of the highest order for Texas A&M, but if they want to make it back to the playoff, they have to be the kind of team that can weather it.
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