Texas A&M opens its 2026 season on Saturday night against a Missouri State program that still feels new to the FBS stage, but not exactly overmatched by it.
The Bears visit Kyle Field at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5, and while the Aggies have never faced them before, Missouri State is coming off a first year in the FBS that turned heads. The Bears went 7-6, played eight one-score games, and came out 5-3 in those tight finishes. That success came with a cost, though: head coach Ryan Beard left for Coastal Carolina, and Missouri State now turns to Casey Woods, who coordinated three top-12 national scoring offenses in four seasons at SMU.
Woods inherits a team that can make some noise through the air. Missouri State’s biggest edge is its passing game, led by Skyler Locklear, a quarterback with 16 starts at UTEP.
He’ll work with former offensive coordinator Mark Cala, and his last start at UTEP produced 338 passing yards and four touchdowns. Around him are plenty of options, including Jmariyae Robinson, Makai Cope, transfer receiver Mekhi Miller and tight end Jeron Askren, the CUSA’s lone Mackey Award watchlist representative.
Robinson is the name that jumps out first. The fifth-year senior has spent all five of his college seasons in Springfield, and by the end of this year he could own the program records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
Last season he put up 632 yards and seven scores in a passing attack that ranked 16th nationally in yards per game. He also handles kick returns and gets work on jet sweeps, making him one of the Bears’ most dangerous and versatile pieces.
Missouri State does have some questions, and the biggest one sits up front. The Bears allowed 52 sacks last season, the second-most in the FBS.
They tried to address that problem by bringing in three transfers on the offensive line, including left tackle King Large, who followed Woods from SMU, and center Isaiah Villanueva, who was already named a team captain after playing at Jackson State. Even with those changes, the best protection plan may be Locklear’s mobility, which gives Missouri State more escape ability than last year’s starter, Jacob Clark.
There are also some reasons the Bears shouldn’t be brushed aside on defense. Jack Curtis takes over as coordinator after serving as a defensive analyst at Auburn from 2023-25, a stretch that included two trips to College Station.
Missouri State brings back leading tackler Jared Lloyd at middle linebacker, two starting safeties and a defensive tackle pairing that includes Gilles Tchio. At 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds, Tchio is the group’s biggest body, and his return matters after he was lost on the first defensive snap of last season.
The Bears are still a team built with more upside than certainty, especially with a new coaching staff and low returning production. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to roll into College Station expecting to fold. Missouri State was overlooked before last season too, then survived a 60-point Week 1 loss at USC and still found a way to finish 7-6.
That’s the larger picture here: Missouri State is trying to be the kind of Conference USA dark horse nobody sees coming. The league has produced surprises before, and the Bears have been given just a 35 percent chance to reach bowl eligibility in the Bowl Confidence Index the CUSA releases.
That’s not much. But it’s also not zero.
And for anyone trying to sort out the campus color palette, there’s one final warning: “Not every shade of maroon walking around campus Saturday will be a Texas A&M fan.”
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Texas A&M Opens With One Problem Fans Need Solved Fast
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The immediate concern is not hard to spot. The Aggies want cleaner play, especially when it comes to turnovers, and they still have a couple of spots to settle, including tight end and kicker. David Olano has won the Week 1 kicking job, but the bigger question is whether the rest of the operation can tighten up quickly enough for Texas A&M to turn optimism into the kind of start that matters in September. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Has Plenty Of Bulletin Board Material This Week
Texas A&M is heading into the week with a little extra edge, thanks to Missouri State captain and offensive lineman Isaiah Villanueva, who publicly predicted a Bears win before the matchup. The comment stands out not just because of its confidence, but because Villanueva is a Texas native with familiar ties to the Aggies, having played high school football alongside DJ Hicks and Daymion Sanford.
Statements like that tend to linger in a locker room, especially when an underdog is willing to say it out loud before kickoff. For Texas A&M, it adds a layer of intrigue to a game that already carries the usual early-season uncertainty, with the Aggies now having a chance to answer the chatter on the field rather than in a back-and-forth outside it. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Already Has One Big Offensive Line Concern
Texas A&Ms first depth chart ahead of the 2026 season opener against Missouri State offered an early look at just how much turnover the offensive line is facing. Four new starters are penciled in up front, including former blue-chip guard Blake Ivy along with transfers Trovon Baugh and Wilkin Formby, a group that will be asked to settle in quickly as the Aggies try to build some cohesion before league play ramps up.
Mike Elko already made clear the line is not locked in, and that uncertainty is part of the concern. For a team that knows consistency in the trenches can swing the tone of a season, the competition up front figures to remain one of the more important things to watch as Texas A&M moves from the opener into the SEC portion of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]