Future sched news - '24 M&W game on 4/20

Another Bill Byrne turd for our enjoyment.

I do miss having name-brand programs on the non-con schedule

Miami, Notre Dame, Pitt, Clemson, Va Tech, etc

Thanks, BB

Personally I couldn't care less if we play Lamar vs any other FCS team. I'd actually prefer a crappy FCS to a good one in Sam. You have nothing to gain from the game as it is so you want to make sure you blow them out badly, playing the 2 Time National Champ runner up FCS team doesn't score you any more points than playing the worst FCS team. It's a modified scrimmage either way. You need a few of those games as well because they are cheap buy outs. I bet we are paying Lamar well under $1 million, maybe even $500k. That saves us hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I also don't think once the new Kyle is finished there is going to be a bunch of extra seats. The demand is off the charts now and a nice new stadium attracts a whole new crowd. The problem in the past was you had crappy games in a crappy stadium that you couldn't even see the game in the seats they couldn't sell. We will still have some crap games but the stadium experience will be much better, even in the cheap seats, and the size of the market who want A&M tickets has exploded.

I do think we will see one quality Non Conference opponent as a regular addition to the schedule and we will likely play some neutral site games in some years as that seems to be the SEC thing to do.

That said, the real elephant in the room is still when the Texas series comes back. I know it is a tired subject but at some point it is going to happen. Really the big barrier right now is still one man, DeLoss Dodds. He is getting very old and is hanging by a thread to his job as it is. At some point he will leave (as likely will Mack and Powers) and the real reasons for us not playing each other will be gone. Even Loftin will be gone on our end so both sides will have fresh leadership. Texas needs that game badly, just look at their home schedule and how far they have fallen back in media attention. Long term they have only the RRS to really sell and that game is never at DKR, the occasional big OOC game really does nothing.

That game is also still very useful for us as well even though a lot of Ags will have trouble admitting it. Big time rivalry games are a selling point even if you lose. That would mean that EVERY year we would have Texas, LSU, and Alabama on the schedule and every other year we would play 2 of them at home. If we play Texas early season and keep LSU at the end it is a jumbo win because we would have big games spread all across our schedule and thus be in the national spotlight all season, it also virtually guarantees we sell out Kyle in season tickets for the forseeable future because people will pay big just for those games. Having that game annually gives us a leg up on LSU and Bama recruiting wise. It just makes way too much sense for A&M and Texas to play each other, to not do so just leaves millions on the table for both schools.

One last factor is the coming 9 game SEC conference schedule. It's pretty easy to read between the lines that starting in '16 that's what will happen.

we all know I'm sure, but just bumping to say miami added in 22-23