Texas A&M takes on its cross-divisional foes in consecutive weeks next season. The Aggies visit Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 1 to face the South Carolina Gamecocks. A week later they host the Tennessee Vols at Kyle Field. Aggies fans will Maroon Out as the team faces the SEC East foe for only the third time in school history.

That’s not so unusual considering Texas A&M has only been in the SEC since 2012. The two meetings between the Aggies and Vols were both bowl contests. Tennessee has won both times, including the most recent matchup with a lopsided 38-7 victory in the Jan. 1, 2005 Cotton Bowl.

The only other time the two teams have met was at the 1957 Gator Bowl, a 3-0 slobber-knocker that went the way of the men in orange.

This year, Texas A&M will be up against a strong UT ground game like in the 2005 matchup. In what was a battle of AP ranked teams, the Vols ran roughshod over the Aggies, going for 241 yards. The No. 22 Aggies, then members of the Big 12 Conference, finished the season at 7-5 after a 5-3 conference slate. No. 15 Tennessee improved to 10-3 and won seven of eight games in SEC play.

Until this year’s 45-6 victory over Northwestern in the Outback Bowl, it was Tennessee’s most lopsided bowl victory in school history. The Vols also came within 5 minutes, 13 seconds of recording their only shutout in their 51-game bowl history.

The Aggies avoided the blanking when QB Reggie McNeal tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Earvin Taylor.

Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione and his staff had no answer for Tennessee third-string QB Rick Clausen. The JUCO transfer, playing only because of injuries to the Vols’ two top quarterbacks, threw for 222 yards (18-for-27) and 3 touchdowns.

The Aggies get the Vols in College Station this time on Oct. 8.