Texas A&M announced a home and home series with the Clemson Tigers in 2018 and 2019 on Thursday night. Earlier in the evening, it was reported that the Aggies had cancelled their home and home series in those same years that had been planned for the same seasons.
The Aggies will host Clemson on September 8, 2018 at Kyle Field and will play in Death Valley on September 7, 2019. The two schools have played four times. Texas A&M leads the all-time series between the two 3-1, but Clemson has the most recent victory when the two met in 2005.
The athletic directors for each school released statements:
"We are excited to play the Clemson Tigers, who have been on Texas A&M's non-conference schedule previously," Texas A&M Director of Athletics Eric Hyman said. "As a fellow land-grant institution, Clemson is very similar to Texas A&M with a great football tradition and passionate fans. This will be a great non-conference series for both schools."
"We are looking forward to playing Texas A&M as the two schools share a rich military heritage and of course passionate fan bases," said Clemson Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich. "We know our fans make Clemson a great game day experience and the Aggie fans make Kyle field also one of the great venues in all of college football."
The reason for Texas A&M's cancellation of the series with Oregon and the subsequent addition of Clemson was to ensure that the Aggies play seven games each season at Kyle Field.
"Our goal is to play seven home games at Kyle Field each season," Hyman explained. "Playing at Oregon in 2018, combined with the Arkansas game in Arlington, would leave us with only six home games that season. In even numbered years such as 2018, we only have three SEC home dates as long as we continue to play Arkansas in Arlington."
