2016 Texas Bowl, Texas A&M vs. Kansas State: Date, time, location and everything to know

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

The Texas Bowl is set for primetime on Dec. 28, a few nights ahead of bowl season’s biggest games. This one’s not a bad game at all, and it’s played in a venue that – if filled to capacity – can make for a worthwhile, fun atmosphere for all involved.

They play this game at the Houston Texans’ stadium, which also hosted Oklahoma and Houston back in Week 1 of the college schedule. Last year’s event featured Leonard Fournette putting an exclamation point on a remarkable sophomore year for LSU, running over Texas Tech for 212 yards and four touchdowns in a Tigers win.

The Texas Bowl has, like many others, shifted from sponsor to sponsor. It began as the Texas Bowl in 2006, and after a few years being sponsored by Meineke Car Care, has re-emerged as the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl, pitting the Big 12 against the SEC. Organizers have gotten a Texan team into this game every year since 2010.

Date and time: Dec. 28, 9 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: Houston

Stadium: NRG Stadium

Last year’s score: LSU 56, Texas Tech 27

Last year’s attendance: 71,054

Teams with the most all-time appearances: Texas Tech, 2

Teams with the most all-time wins: No team has won it more than once.

Texas A&M (8-4, 4-4 in SEC)

The Aggies’ season could’ve been better than this. Kevin Sumlin’s team was 6-0 heading into a game at Alabama on Oct. 22, and the Aggies even grabbed a brief second-half lead before it quickly vanished. So did their Playoff hopes when they lost two weeks later to a bad Mississippi State team, and things didn’t get better when a drastically weakened Ole Miss starting a true freshman at quarterback won the next week at Kyle Field. It all escalated so quickly.

There’s still a lot of talent here, and perhaps the Aggies aren’t that far away from winding up in a more substantial bowl game. Some things have been out of their control, like the season-ending injury quarterback Trevor Knight suffered in the Mississippi State loss. But some of the bad things have been firmly in their control, like, you know, losing to Mississippi State. Sumlin is a strong recruiter, but what’s happened to A&M in 2016 is pretty difficult to explain.

So, the Aggies are playing for a fourth year in a row in the kind of bowl game they’d prefer to be beneath them. Johnny Manziel’s 2012 Cotton Bowl season seems like it was a long, long time ago – and for the first time since it happened, that’s because it was a long, long time ago.

Kansas State (8-4, 6-3 in Big 12)

Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder has managed to stick around in Manhattan, Kan. by somehow avoiding losing seasons, something not all head coaches are able to say. Since his return as Kansas State’s head coach 2009, the Wildcats have managed to make a bowl every year except for 2009 -- that bowl streak continued in 2016.

K-State opened the season with a road loss to Stanford, and after losses to West Virginia and Oklahoma to drop them to 1-2 in conference play, it looked like the season could be a rough one. However, the Wildcats rallied, putting together wins over Texas, Iowa State, and Baylor to get to six wins, thus making them bowl-eligible. They only get better at the end of the year and whomped TCU, 30-6, in their last regular season game.

Going to bowls isn’t the difficult part for Snyder, however, it’s winning them that has. In the Wildcat’s last six bowls, K-State has won just one of them, the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in 2013. We’ll see if Kansas State can improve upon its bowl record this season.