The SEC schedule release came down this evening, finally revealing the dates of each team’s games. We already knew when certain non-conference matchups were set to take place, but now fans get to see exactly how the slate plays out over the course of the season.

After taking a look at the slate that the conference gave to Texas A&M football, I have only one conclusion. Aggie fans should be absolutely steamed with the way the SEC built this schedule for A&M.

The first thing that jumps out at you is that the Aggies go over a month without a home game— right in the middle of the conference slate. After the Ags play Florida on October 11, they won’t return home until November 15, when they play the South Carolina Gamecocks.

That’s bad enough, from a fan’s perspective. But even worse is what this means for the Aggies, prospectively.

As I covered a while ago, winning back to back games on the road in the SEC is the rarest of all birds. Before this season, it had only been done 8 times in 78 such occurrences over the last decade, and 3 times in 38 occurrences over the last five years (the same disclaimer applies here as in the linked article: this tally does not include trips to Nashville or games separated by a bye week).

Those three teams were 2019 LSU, 2022 Georgia, and 2023 Alabama; in other words, two national champions and a top-4 team. Each of these teams had a “down” performance in one half of said back to back, but were able to overcome it when all was said and done.

This year, there were 5 such occurrences; teams won both games in zero of them. This includes Ole Miss’s loss to LSU— which looks increasingly inexplicable the further away we get.

The Aggies were saddled with just such a scheduling albatross this year, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. This is the first year that the Southwest Classic will not be played at Jerryworld since 2014, and that means the Aggies are traveling to Fayetteville the week before they head to Death Valley. Had that contract still been in place, A&M doesn’t have to face this stretch.

Even so, it would have been taxing, as— though a bye week comes after LSU— A&M has to turn right back around to head on the road to Missouri. This is a schedule built to give the Aggies the worst possible late-season draw.

What I’m saying is this: this could be a far-improved Aggie team next year that ends with a similar record. There are simply too many things working against them with these home-road splits. Prepare yourself for thinkpieces about whether Elko is building teams that can finish out the season— after this year and what we’re looking at for next season, reporters are no doubt already typing them up.