The Texas A&M Aggies have added the Missouri State Bears to their 2026 football schedule, it was announced Friday.
Texas A&M will host Missouri State at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026. The Aggies will pay the Bears a $1.2 million guarantee for the contest, according to the copy of the contract obtained from Missouri State University via a state open records request.
Texas A&M and Missouri State have never squared off on the gridiron in their history.
Missouri State University, located in Springfield, Mo., is currently a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Bears are moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and will begin play in Conference USA this fall.
Texas A&M now has three scheduled non-conference opponents for the 2026 season. After opening the season against Missouri State, the Aggies are slated to host the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sept. 12 and will host the Tarleton State Texans later in the season on Nov. 21.
Should the SEC opt to move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2026, then Texas A&M’s non-conference slate would be complete.
Missouri State has now announced three of its four non-conference opponents for its second season as a member of Conference USA. The Bears are also slated to host the Marshall Thundering Herd on Sept. 19 and will visit the SMU Mustangs the following week on Sept. 19.
With the addition of Texas A&M, Missouri State now has nine total future games scheduled against power opponents. The Bears will face USC and SMU in 2025, Texas A&M and SMU in 2026, Auburn and Cincinnati in 2027, and Missouri and Texas Tech in 2029, and Missouri again in 2033.
Football Schedules
To get down to three 2026 OOC games it appears two SEC programs (Missouri and Mississippi State) still need to announce they are dropping one game from their 2026 OOC schedules. Same for Kentucky in 2027-28 seasons. Missouri needs to drop one game each season through 2031 and 2033.
Misso 2026 (4): @Illinois, @Kansas, Troy, APB
Missi St 2026 (4): @Minnesota, ULM, Troy, Tenn Tech
SEC programs (Georgia, Florida, etc) likely to adjust future 3-game OOC schedules towards a lighter SOS.
Georgia 2027: @GT, @Florida St, Louisville
Florida 2028: @Florida St, Colorado, Arizona St
Georgia 2030 (4): Clemson, GT, Ohio St, (+NC A&T)
Florida 2031: Florida St, @ND, Arizona St
Georgia 2033: @GT, @Clemson, NC St
Still pulling for SEC go to nine game Conference schedule that is most important of them all.
“The Bears are also slated to host the Marshall Thundering Herd on Sept. 19 and will visit the SMU Mustangs the following week on Sept. 19.”
Hold up.
Missouri State 0 Texas A&M 98
I do not expect that to happen with Montana State-Oregon Week 1 & really like to see a very competitive game & would like to see CBS televise that game.