Tennessee at Texas A&M Set for Afternoon Window on ESPN or SEC Network

Tennessee's game at Texas A&M next Saturday still lacks an exact start time, but the SEC announced on Monday that it will kick off between 3 and 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast by either ESPN or SEC Network. The Week 11 announcement narrows a flex window that had previously left open afternoon and evening possibilities between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. ET or 6 and 8 p.m. ET.

The game at Kyle Field in College Station will be billed by the home team as Operation Blackout, with the Aggies set to wear all-black alternate uniforms. Texas A&M, which was ranked No. 8 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, is 4-4 overall and 1-4 in the SEC and plays at South Carolina on Saturday. The Aggies have lost four of their last six, with wins over The Citadel and Arkansas and losses to Kentucky, LSU, Missouri and Alabama.

Before the trip, No. 16 Tennessee, 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, hosts No. 8 Kentucky, 7-1 and 5-1 in league play, on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. ET on ESPN in the annual Dark Mode game at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee leads the all-time series with Texas A&M 3-2, dating back to 1957, and won the most recent meeting 20-13 at Neyland Stadium in November 2023. The Vols' only previous trip to Kyle Field came in October 2016, a 45-38 overtime loss.

The matchup also fits into the SEC's future scheduling picture. Texas A&M will play at Tennessee in 2028 under the league's new nine-game format, with the same set of opponents as this season and the locations flipped.