If you asked a random college football fan before the start of the season to point out which games would be the toughest on Tennessee’s 2026 schedule, they likely would’ve pointed to this weekend’s road game against Texas A&M as one of the tougher matchups.

The Aggies entered the season as a top 10 team with national championship aspirations.

But that isn’t how things have played out for Texas A&M this fall.

The Aggies are 4-5 and they’re firmly out of the College Football Playoff picture ahead of their matchup against the Vols.

Tennessee is favored by 2.5 points against a Texas A&M team that hasn’t lived up to expectations, but that doesn’t mean anyone on Rocky Top should be overlooking this game.

That’s the exact message, in fact, that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit had for Tennessee this week.

“I know A&M’s not having a great year, but be careful,” said Herbstreit. “… All I’m saying, and I’ve watched A&M almost every week, is that it’s not like they’re a bad football team — they are not putting it all together. I’m just saying if they accidentally put it together in this game — I mean, they’ll play a good half or they’ll play good three quarters — if they for whatever reason get fired up, it’s a dangerous game for Tennessee. It’s a dangerous game.”

I think Herbstreit is spot on here. The Aggies are very talented, and they’ve played well at times in SEC games. For whatever reason, though, they haven’t been able to do it for a full 60 minutes, and it’s cost them in some close games (most notably against Kentucky, Alabama, and South Carolina).

Herbstreit, by the way, isn’t the only analyst to warn the Vols about the Aggies this week.

Former Georgia standout David Pollack had a similar message this week.

“Here’s the thing,” said Pollack. “This time of year, when you’ve got teams like Texas A&M who are super talented — they’re talented. They’re not good — don’t mishear me. But they’re like Oregon, too. They’re super talented and they have nothing to lose. They’re dangerous as shiznick. They become extremely dangerous, and they’re going to beat somebody down the stretch.”

I don’t think anyone in Tennessee’s building is overlooking Texas A&M, but these warnings serve as another reminder of how difficult this game could be for the Volunteers.