Texas A&M (1-0) will host No. 2 nationally-ranked Clemson (1-0) this coming weekend in one of the top matchups in college football. New Aggie head coach Jimbo Fisher is very familiar with the Tigers from his time in the ACC. He and Clemson's Dabo Swinney are two of only four active head coaches to have national championships under their belt.

With ESPN's College GameDay coming to town, it will be a crazy environment in Aggieland on Saturday. Though there is a different coaching staff at Clemson than the last time the Tigers came to College Station in 2004, the current coaches are well-aware of how loud Kyle Field can get.

"Obviously will be a huge challenge on the road, hostile environment," co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Jeff Scott said. “This is kind of what we’ve become used to at Clemson now. It’s kind of our normal, going on the road in a hostile environment against a very talented team. So this will be a great challenge for our team and offense early in the year."

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables has experience playing in College Station as he did so when he served in the same role at both Oklahoma and Kansas State prior to his current post.

"1996 was my first time when I was at Kansas State, and it’s a very difficult place to play," Venables said. "Their fans are engaged from the beginning to the end, very well prepared. There’s a lot of pageantry with the military and again, their fans, they do a great job of staying on cue. They put a lot of people in there, very passionate fan base and prideful fan base. We’ve been in a lot of tough environments. This will be another one."

The Clemson team has actually been using headphones with very specific crowd noises for its players during practice and the staff hopes they will help prepare the team for 100,000-plus Aggie fans.

“I think it’s a good tool to have for sure. I don’t know if we have Texas A&M on there yet or not but we’ll have it after this game," Scott said. "There’s a lot of different uses of that. Especially for the young kids that haven’t been in that type of environment. For Justyn Ross, that was big environment for him Saturday in front of 80,00 people that were cheering for him. Now it’ll be like the opposite this week. At the same time, coach Swinney says to our guys all the time that external factors should not have an impact on our execution and if it does then we’re not gonna be a consistent team. Something coach Elliott and I talk to about our offense all the time is this offensive DNA. Even though some of these guys that have played in big games maybe have moved on in the NFL, this is a normal game. 15 of our last 16 road games have been at night. Last couple of years we’ve had some big road games at night against ranked opponents, and that’s more normal than going somewhere and playing in a very quiet environment at noon so just reminding them who they are and the fact the only thing that will matter come Saturday night is how we execute.”

Though Fisher brings a new scheme on both sides of the ball to College Station, he has faced Clemson numerous times before.

"You don’t really know what you’re going to get. Any time you have a new coordinators, new head coach, a whole new program," Scott said. "We have close to 1000 plays that we’ve broken down from three spots. You really have to compare all of it, but you also have to understand you could get something different. Even though the scheme may be similar what he does within the scheme varies with the type of personnel he has. I would say he has different personnel than he did at other places. You have to be prepared for everything. There are probably going to be a few things on video. Same thing for us. Coach Fisher has played us, so he has some familiarity with our offense, so we’ll take that into account as well."



Though most of the current players were not recruited by Fisher, Venables thinks the new coach has what he needs to fit his schemes.

"I mean I think it fits very well. They’ve recruited extremely well," the defensive coordinator said. "The skill, offensive line, quarterback, running back, receivers, at tight end it sounds like they’ve really found a great one there. They’ve recruited very well on the offensive line. So I think there’s a misconception that he’s an I-back guy. He’s going to run the I. He’s going to run two-tight personnel one-back, two-tight two-back. He’s going to line up with one tight and two backs. And he’s going to line up in spread probably 60 to 65 percent of the time. And that’s who he’s always been and that’s what he’s done since he’s been down there. He knows how to utilize the personnel and put them in successful situations in both scheme and situationally. So he’s just getting them all moving in the right direction."

As for individual players, there are a few that have jumped out to the Tiger staff.

"He’s very explosive, got great balance, good speed, good vision, instincts, can really accelerate," Venables said of junior running back Trayveon Williams. "He can run through trash and get outside and split the defense, so a very, very good player.

"[Kellen Mond has] got good awareness and just very savvy with what he’s doing, doesn’t get rattled and keeps his eyes down the field to make things happen and extend plays. Those are always the most dangerous kind of quarterbacks. [Tight end Jace Sternberger is] tough. He can run really good routes, has good speed, and knows how to manipulate you. He’s got fantastic hands. So we’ll have our hands full underneath for sure."

Being the offensive coordinator, Scott is more familiar with the defensive side of the ball for the Aggies. He knows A&M defensive coordinator Mike Elko from when the new Aggie coach was at Wake Forest.

"I also have a lot of respect for Mike Elko, their defensive coordinator," Scott said. "He’s got a reputation for being one of the better defensive coordinators in the country. Obviously we’re familiar with him playing at Wake Forest from 2014-2016. He did a good job at Notre Dame last year and they’re already off to a good start this year.

"Very talented defense. I saw a little bit of their game on Thursday night and first thing that popped out is they’re very athletic and they have great speed and they’re very long. I looked at their defensive roster depth chart and both corners are 6-2. They’ve got great length. There’s a linebacker who’s 6-2, 6-3 and 245. Those guys up front are very talented guys so it will definitely be a great matchup and one we’re looking forward to."

Texas A&M and Clemson will kick off at 6 p.m. Central on Saturday at Kyle Field. The game will air on ESPN.