After another disappointing finish last season (the Aggies went a combined 1-4 in November and December), Sumlin enters the season firmly on the hot seat. And with a young club, he might not have enough opportunities to pick up wins to coach himself off it.

A&M opens against UCLA, an improved team that the Aggies needed overtime to beat last year at Kyle Field. From there, they have what appears to be an incredible stroke of luck – seven of their next nine games at home, and eight of nine in the state of Texas. Dig deeper, however, and that isn’t as advantageous as it may seem. One of those home games is against Alabama (good luck with that) and another is against Auburn, a school that has won its past two games at Kyle Field. Mississippi State – a team that beat A&M in Starkville last year – visits too.

And if the Aggies somehow survive all of that, their final two games of the season are at Ole Miss and at LSU. For Sumlin to survive into 2018, he will not only have to avoid his annual late-season swoon, he’ll need to do it by winning in two of the SEC’s most hostile environments in the final month.