Gig Em Gazette
Fansided

SEC's nine-game conference expansion has massive implications for Texas A&M

Will Texas A&M's schedule get easier or harder with the new number of conference games?
ByGraham Harmon|
Nov 30, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Jahdae Walker (9) reacts during the first half against the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns defeated the Aggies 17-7 at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images
Nov 30, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Jahdae Walker (9) reacts during the first half against the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns defeated the Aggies 17-7 at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Well, no sooner does the rumor come out that the SEC is moving towards a nine conference game schedule than the league itself decides to make their intentions plain. The news just came down that the most competitive conference in the sport has decided to add that much-discussed ninth game starting next season.

This immediately has massive implications for Texas A&M going forward. First of all, and maybe most mundanely, it means that we will most likely get the 2026 schedule for the Aggies much more quickly than we would have otherwise, given that things seemed to have reached a sticking point.

Second of all, it means that, no matter which way you slice it, the schedule for SEC teams just got a heck of a lot tougher— and a heck of a lot more fun for fans of teams in the conference to watch. The presumed 3 permanent opponent and 6 rotating opponent model will mean that Texas A&M will— finally— play at every venue in the conference and host every team within the next few years.

SEC's move to nine conference games has massive implications for Texas A&M and every team in the conference

With that 3-6 model, every team in the league should see every other team within a two-year span, and visit every venue in the league within four years. This is an immediate balm to an abiding issue that Aggie fans have had, which is that— despite being in the conference since 2012— they still have yet to travel to Lexington, Kentucky, or host the Georgia Bulldogs.

They saw the Wildcats in Kyle and the Bulldogs in Athens in 2018 and 2019, respectively, but those were the only times they've played each team in 13 years. They're hardly even sharing the same conference at that point.

In that same span, they've played Florida five times (as of this fall, at least), LSU and Arkansas every year, and Alabama every year up until this past one. It was far past time for a change, in other words.

More on the permanent games that the Aggies will have going forward— though we have a pretty good idea— as the story develops. For now, though, there is excitement and trepidation aplenty across the SEC.

Home/Texas A&M Football