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Reville XIII naps on the sideline while muching on her stuffed Bevo toy during the A&M-Texas football game at Kyle Field in 2009.

When will the rivalry awaken?

Both sides of the A&M-Texas rivalry eager to restore the game
By Angel Franco

It’s a tale that is almost as old as time, talked about from generation to generation for almost 123 years. The story of Texas A&M and Texas meeting on the gridiron has many chapters and this one is just the latest.

      It is no secret that both the Aggies and the Longhorns want to renew the rivalry that ended when the Aggies made the move to the Southeastern Conference. In fact, in 2013 Texas state representative Ryan Guillen, Class of 2000, filed a bill to renew the now 123-year-old rivalry just one season after not facing one another. 

     When Texas’ first-year head coach Tom Herman addressed the questions regarding the renewal of the rivalry at Big 12 Media Days in July, he—like so many others—was in support of it. 

     “I don’t know why we can’t play A&M as our marquee non-conference opponent,” Herman said. 

Herman went on to say that being in two separate conferences should not be the reason the two schools cannot play one another. 

     “Florida and Florida State find a way to play every year and they are in different conferences,” Herman said. “Clemson and South Carolina, Georgia and Georgia Tech, the list goes on of in-state rivals that are in different conferences that play each other every year.” 

     As a member of the Big 12, Texas has nine conference games on their schedule. Whereas A&M,

member of the SEC, plays just eight. That, Herman says, could be one of the reasons it can be difficult to schedule a game. However, Herman quickly stated if Texas can play other Power Five programs, they can also face A&M. 

     “Those [ACC and SEC] are also conferences that play eight conference games not nine. So, you can schedule your other three accordingly where we only have two,” Herman said. “But if you’re going to play a big boy such as USC, LSU and Ohio State, I would like to see us play the big boy right down the road from us.”

     Also in July, Texas Monthly published a feature article on Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, Class of 1972. Like most former students, Sharp, who is in a unique position of power, would like to see the rivalry return once again. 

     “I’d like to put the UT–A&M game back together. I know the governor wants to put it back together. UT wants to put it back together,” Sharp told Texas Monthly. 

     According to Sharp, due the grueling gauntlet that is playing in SEC and in particular the SEC West, A&M can only face a certain number of Power Five non-conference opponents in a single season. 

     “The players just get the shit beat out of them in those games because of the big SEC defenses,” Sharp said. “They need a full week to recover—some of them don’t even practice until Tuesday or Wednesday.”

      A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin is also on board to renew the rivalry, but said it is not up to him to make the game happen. Following the first day of fall camp, Sumlin addressed the recent comments

by Herman and Sharp saying that his stance regarding the game has been known for years.

      “I’ve got nothing to do with that. You guys have heard me speak about this many times,” Sumlin said. “My opinion has been out there for the last four years. You just have to ask this now because of the people who said it. Guys have asked me that since we’ve been in the [SEC]. It’s documented.”

     However, earlier this year Sumlin said that both teams’ schedules don’t lend themselves for the possibility.  

     “Me, personally? I think over the course of time that’s going to happen,” Sumlin told the Austin-American Statesman in June. “With our move to the SEC scheduling has become a real issue.” 

     The discussion of renewing the A&M-UT rivalry is one that goes on across the country in the college football scene. Will Muschamp, South Carolina head coach and former defensive coordinator at Texas from 2008-2010, said that he would like to see the game return. 

     “I think that A&M and Texas should play,” Muschamp said at SEC Spring meetings this past May. “I think that’s a great college football game that we’ve gotten away from because of conference changes and things that have happened. That’s a great game. Having been a part of it, it’s a wonderful game.”

      For the time being, the saga of attempting to renew the rivalry is still in the talking phase of things. But as always there is interest on both sides to make sure one of college football’s most storied rivalries returns to the gridiron. 

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