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  * Non-conference games

  * Non-conference games

North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical started the 1895 season coming off their worst season to-date in terms of wins and losses. Despite that, confidence abounded in the team following the conclusion of the year, with one article describing them as a "coming team" whose record was steadily improving, writing that their record in 1894 had been "exceptionally good" and that it would be on-par with UNC's team for the 1895 season (Evening Visitor, December 1st, 1894, p. 4). North Carolina's football scene as a whole, though, came into September 1895 bleakly. An article by The Press-Visitor wrote that "the probability is that there will be no games between the State's colleges this season," as Trinity and Wake Forest had previously announced plans not to field a team (The Press-Visitor, September 5th, 1895, p. 1). The state of football began to steadily improve, though, as by late September it was announced that Trinity, A&M, and Wake Forest have teams. The announcement came with a blow to A&M fans, though: multi-position standout Joel Whitaker, who had been captain of the team since he came to A&M as a freshman, would be joining UNC's team (News and Observer, September 19th, 1895, p. 1). Additionally, Vick, who was voted to be captain of the team, did not return immediately, though he did eventually play in some games. His role as captain was forfeited to Kendall.

Despite the loss of Whitaker, A&M still retained some key players from the previous season; stars Mosely and Hunter were retained. By September 23rd, it was announced that the team was practicing "daily" and that matches had been scheduled, with one against UNC taking place on October 11th, and another two matches scheduled to take place in Atlanta, with "the entire student body" traveling to the Convention City (The Press-Visitor, September 23rd, 1895, p. 1).

Football was also at an interesting place in 1895. Under increased scrutiny for its violence and brutality, lead figures of football decided that the rules should be changed to provide for more safety. While a good idea, the outcome led to discrepencies in rules, with one set of rules being promulgated by Harvard, Cornell, and Pennsylvania, and a second set being used by Yale and Princeton. Some colleges also opted to retain the previous year's rules, leaving 3 active sets of rules to choose from. Reportedly, teams would have to agree to a set of rules two weeks before playing a game (The Press-Visitor, October 3rd, 1895, p. 3). The main goal of the rules was to remove football as a sport further from rugby by encouraging players to line up across the length of the field, avoiding the infamous "piling plays" that led to many of the worst injuries (Herakovich, p. 2).

Since starting in the 1891 football season, A&M's football team had truly begun to grow and flourish. Though the 1894 season was rough from a win-loss perspective, the year served as a major year of growth for the team. The 1895 season served as a continuation of that growth. Unfortunately for the football program, however, the 1895 team was not put in a great place to succeed. Joel Whitaker summarized the 1895 season and the following four years by saying "the A. & M. team struggled along without a coach and without money" (Joel Whitaker, p. 155). Whitaker was partially wrong on at least one count, as Bart Gatling entered his first year as a head coach, "fresh from Harvard" (The Press-Visitor, October 16th, 1895, p. 1). C. D. Harris's well-intentioned but generally somewhat imprecise history of A&M's football team further supports this by describing the 1896-1898 teams in the same terms as Whitaker, but discluding the 1895 season (C. D. Harris, p. 176).

One surprising feature of the 1895 team was that it contained NC State's first international football player in Teisaku Sugishita of Kofoku, Japan. Sugishita played as a substitute player, a halfback, and a quarterback on the team, starting over team captain Kendall in a few games. His playing was also reported to be among the best of A&M's team in their loss against VMI. 1895 was also the first year A&M wore red and white as their college colors, transitioning from their previously-worn pink and blue (and a brief experiment using brown and white in 1894) to the now-standard colors in September (The Wilmington Messenger, September 29th, 1895, p. 3).

With A&M playing its first-ever out-of-state game came the prospect of an increased travel schedule and the growing costs associated with that. "An expanded schedule with the prospect of travel agitated the faculty. Most opposition centered around a proposed trip to Knoxville for a return match against the University of Tennessee" (Beezley, p. 7). The issue of university support of footbal would prove to be a key issue in the 1896 season.