The rivalry had a perfect ending, but only for half of the parties involved: In late November 2011, what was assumed to be the last meeting in series history between Texas and Texas A&M ended with Justin Tucker’s 40-yard field goal attempt splitting the uprights as time expired to hand the Longhorns the 27-25 win.
This was it for the Aggies, who were set to leave the Big 12 for the SEC the following summer, chasing the riches afforded in that new conference and, most crucially, the chance to escape the Longhorns’ long shadow.
Well, so long, partner, Texas said. The Longhorns’ win had gone down as one of the most brutal sendoffs in college sports history, a final noogie and wedgie from the bullying big brother who had largely dominated the series from inception to expected conclusion.
“We knew the stakes at the time, that we would have a chance to send Texas A&M off to the SEC with a sour taste in their mouth, and we did exactly that,” Tucker said this week. “We knew for the foreseeable future that it was going to be the last matchup. So to be on the winning side of that was a special moment for anybody that cared about Texas football.”
Welcome back to a rivalry renewed. Thirteen years after the No. 19 Aggies’ split, the two programs were brought back together this past summer with the No. 3 Longhorns’ arrival in the SEC. With epic bragging rights on the line, the series officially restarts on Saturday night with the bonus of immense regional and national stakes.
“The game is the game,” said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. “As far as what we are trying to accomplish, you know, to win that game, to get to the SEC championship game. But I’m not naive to know the rivalry is the rivalry, and what this game means to the entire state of Texas, you know, and households being divided Thanksgiving weekend.”
GIVING THANKS: It’s Rivalry Week: Embrace the college football crazy
WEEKEND FORECAST: Experts picks for every Top 25 game in Week 13
More than bragging rights on line for Texas, Texas A&M
There’s a second level of depth to the matchup in College Station. The winner will earn a spot in the conference championship game opposite No. 6 Georgia and play for an appearance in the College Football Playoff; for the Longhorns, a win should be enough to lock down a playoff berth regardless of what happens against the Bulldogs.
To have this much on the line is a rarity for a series that was first held in 1894 and then annually from 1915-2011. The Longhorns are 76-37-5 against A&M, including a run of just three losses over the course of more than three decades from 1940-74. The Aggies’ best run came with 10 wins in 11 games from 1984-94, with the one loss, in 1990, coming by a single point.
While at least one team was ranked in every meeting in this series from 1997-2011, the Longhorns and Aggies have met with both ranked in the top 20 just seven times in the modern era: in 1941, 1943, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1985 and 1995.
In terms of impact on the national championship, the closest analog to Saturday night was the 1975 game that saw No. 2 A&M beat No. 5 Texas to remain unbeaten, though the Aggies would drop their final two games of the season.
“I think everyone understands how big this game is and that they need to lock in and focus,” Texas A&M left tackle Trey Zuhn III said. “We’re playing for the SEC championship right now. We’re playing for the College Football Playoff. We can’t leave anything out there this week, and we’ve got to go all out on the field.”
One measure of the hype around Saturday’s reunion are rising ticket prices. The average ticket is selling for $1,100 and the cheapest seat for $520, according to StubHub. As of Wednesday, the most expensive tickets from the vendor are a pair located along midfield selling for roughly $2,600 apiece. According to another reseller, TickPick, Saturday’s game “is the most expensive regular season football ticket on record,” college or NFL.
“I’m way less concerned about being the last man to score in the rivalry and much more excited about the opportunity to watch the game for years to come,” Tucker said. “I think it’s one of the greatest rivalries in sports, not just college football, not just football.”
A regenerated rivalry. An SEC championship game appearance. The possibility of making the playoff; the chance to play for and win the national championship. There’s a reason this game has been circled as one of the must-see matchups of the 2024 season.
“Even though it hasn’t been played, it just doesn’t feel like it’s ever really left the fabric. I really don’t think it’s as removed from the psyche as maybe it feels,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said. “I think our kids are very much aware of what this is all about.”
Texas, Texas A&M bring hate and mutual respect
There is no shortage of hate between these two fan bases; this is college football, after all, and this is a rivalry, so disgust is baked into the recipe.
There is no shortage of hate between these two fan bases; this is college football, after all, and this is a rivalry, so disgust is baked into the recipe.
To illustrate, the ‘Aggie War Hymn’ written in 1918 specifically mentions its rival in the first verse with the lines, ‘Goodbye to Texas university. So long to the orange and white.’ And since, A&M fans refer to their rivals as ‘tu’ rather the popularized ‘UT’ that Texas prefers.
But the animosity is tempered by long-standing connections that have come to transcend the series, bonds developed in some cases by the familial blending of Aggies and Longhorns — A&M didn’t allow women to openly enroll until 1969, so generations of male undergraduates would make the roughly 100-mile trip to Austin to meet and marry female students at Texas.
“You hear about all the hatred and all this stuff, and I’m sure some people might have some,” said former A&M coach R.C. Slocum, who participated in a record 30 games in this rivalry as an assistant and head coach.
“But I know a whole bunch of people who have been involved in this game and there’s a lot of mutual respect there. Great desire to win. You want to beat them. When you go out on the field you’re going to do everything you can. To me, respect is a much better emotion.”
No moment in the series has come to encapsulate this underlying theme of mutual respect than the 1999 game which was held eight days after the collapse of a bonfire built on campus killed 12 current and former students and left another 27 injured.
With a late touchdown. Texas A&M won that memorable contest that counts as one of the program’s victories.
“I think that’s a great picture of what the feelings are when you get below the surface,” Slocum said. “It was a big display in the big picture of things. This game is not as important as people and the loss of these kids.”
That game has come to define the hate-but-respect vibe that permeates this series. But the rivalry has never had a moment like what is set to unfold on Saturday night.
“It’s probably going to be like the Alabama game, the Notre Dame and the LSU game on steroids,” said Texas A&M linebacker Taurean York.