Posted on 11/30/2019 6:41:30 PM PST by OrangeHoof
I've always thought the only way to get the Longhorns and Aggies on the football field again was through a bowl game. To the uninitiated, Texas and Texas A&M had a bitter rivalry for more than a century but A&M switched to the better-paying Southeastern Conference and Texas has refused to schedule a football game against them ever since.
Accusations have been hurled in both directions but the most salient stems from the day ESPN showed up in Austin and asked the Longhorns if they wanted their own national sports channel. Well, who wouldn't? Texas gets paid zillions of Disney Dollars and their Big XII brothers wondered why they weren't getting a cut.
Nebraska fled to the Big 10 and Colorado moved to the PAC-12 (neither has been very successful ever since). Texas A&M coaxed Missouri to leave to the SEC, forcing the Big XII to woo TCU and West Virginia just to have ten teams in order to remain a legitimate conference.
The football fates of the Aggies and Tigers have also suffered although A&M had a brief bump back when Johnny Manziel was sober. Texas A&M wound up in the same division as Alabama, Auburn and LSU - probably the toughest division in college football.
But then A&M willingly took the deal so it is hard to gather much sympathy.
Meanwhile, Texas has lived the "ESPN Curse" as all that money didn't translate into championships. Since 2009 when they played for the National Championship and lost to Alabama in Colt McCoy's senior season, the Longhorn football program has fallen on hard times themselves.
As I write this, A&M is getting massacred by #2 LSU, 31-0, so it is safe to conclude the Aggies will finish their season at 7-5. What a coincidence! The Longhorns also finished 7-5.
A&M flirted with the Top 25 at times. All 5 losses were to Top 15 teams but their biggest win was over 6-6 Mississippi State. So, are they a good team that lost from a killer schedule or are they an overrated team that can pretend to be better thanks to their opponents? Jumbo Fisher's team still has something to prove.
Meanwhile, the Longhorns lost to Top 10 LSU, Oklahoma and Baylor. But they also lost to Iowa State and TCU. Their best wins were to Top 25-ranked Oklahoma State and Kansas State but both were nailbiters at home. More was expected from Tom Herman's ranks, particularly with an alumni that lusts to be relevant again.
So both teams are of relatively equal strength and both feel they have something to prove to salvage their season. Why not a holiday challenge that will make one of their seasons?
The SEC and the Big 12 have three scheduled bowl matchups. The Sugar Bowl would certainly be a prestigious locale and New Orleans would make a great neutral site but the bowl is contractually obligated to take the best two schools from those conferences not in the College Football Playoff. That's shaping up to be Baylor and Georgia.
How about the Liberty Bowl in Memphis? A neutral site, yes, but the folks there think "UT" means the University of Tennessee. I imagine a giant yawn coming from the locals.
But further down the bowl schedule is the appropriately-named Texas Bowl based in Houston and played at the same site that is home to the NFL Houston Texans. They would have no problem selling out the 72,220-seat facility that has hosted a Super Bowl.
What would otherwise be a rather meaningless bowl suddenly becomes the Championship of Texas (with apologies to Baylor) and a must-see ticket with all the pent-up emotion of eight years since anything was settled on the field instead of in bars.
Plus, if the game turns out to be too ugly between the fan bases, there's no commitment to keep the rivalry going. Texas and A&M last played in 2011 with Texas pulling out a 27-25 upset at Kyle Field. Ever since, the Aggies have wanted revenge.
Maybe it is time to put a toe in the water regarding the renewing of this once-great rivalry.
Gig 'em!
Would be fun!
To heck with the Aggies. I hope we never play them again. Instead of Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma and Texas, let them enjoy their rivaly with Vandy, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Missouri.
They’d win any half-time show with their great Band, but as to the rest, to heck with them. Enjoy the SEC, Aggies, and your long drives to those big away games.
Texas has no need to play A&M.
the Aggies LEFT us... they can be gone, and stay gone. They took MO MONEY, and then blamed UT on the way out. SCREW THEM
BTW, they were offered a chance to be part of a “Texas” network. The original plan was to include all four Texas schools (Including A&M, Tech, and Baylor). They refused.
I hope we NEVER play them again. At least, not while they’re in the SEC.
I imagine the Big XII is eventually doomed. The previous ADs at Texas and Oklahoma said the two schools would not leave without the other. Oklahoma also stipulated they would insist Oklahoma State went along with any move.
I predict those three schools and one more (Texas Tech or Baylor, presumably) would join the Pac-12 and make it the Pac-16. That will cut the other six schools loose where a few may go to the Big 10, SEC or ACC and the rest dropping back into a lower conference.
The big problem is the Longhorn Network. Any conference that takes in Texas will insist Texas divide up the ESPN money and, so far, Texas has refused to budge. They can look to Notre Dame who also doesn’t share their tv revenue from NBC with anyone else.
Eventually, there will be four SuperConferences and their champions will become the four finalists so anyone not in the PAC, SEC, ACC or B10 will have no chance at the national championship. That realization will push Notre Dame to align more with the ACC and force Texas and Oklahoma (with Oklahoma State) to flee to a stronger conference.
Looks like both schools may need new coaches.
Jimbo has one more year to prove he can turn A&M around. I think it’s pretty much over for Herman. It’s just not happening with him.
If I was Texas A&M, I'd totally forget the T-sips as a rival. They're in the SEC now, with plenty of schools there to hate.
It’s not coaching but their recruiting that’s the problem.
As an Aggie, I have moved on from even thinking about playing tu, until I see stupid articles like this. Even the Texas legislature thought about demanding regular games between the two former rivals. Let it go, tsips. You made your bed, now lie in it.
Too Bad A&M lied and stabbed the Longhorns in the back.
I don’t care if the Longhorns EVER play the Aggies again.
Thank God, Highway 6 runs both ways!
Sorry... I don’t agree.
OU also has their own network, ya know... As do about 6 other schools now.
OU and Ok State are NOT good fits for the PAC 12, academically. And, this may surprise you, but THAT matters more to the PAC 12 Presidents than the football programs.
I think Texas would go Indy before they join the PAC 12 or B1G. Just NOT good cultural fits in either of those leauges.
If there is a further consolidation, we’ll end up in the SEC or ACC (with a new name). But, I think it’s more likely that the Big 12 adds two, maybe even 4 teams... (Like, maybe SMU and Houston, or UCF and Cincy)
I also think the CFP will expand to 6 or 8 teams at the end of the current TV deal. Still several years away, but it’ll happen.
You had the first part right. The Aggies are VERY mockable.
But, it is the Aggies who have been begging to play Texas. Not the other way around. We WON the last game. And, they see us as being a lot easier to play that Bama and LSU. We have ZERO reason to play them.
But, it's NOT going to happen. The ONLY way they would ever play is, if they get a designated bowl matchup.
Welcome to Texas!!
What part of Texas? And, just curious what brought you to our great state, if you don’t mind saying.
Lol!!
Burleson, just South of Ft.Ft. Worth.
Have driven through, many times, on our way to FW.
I think we’ve stopped at that Starbucks a few times :)
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