How Texas (barely) beat Texas A&M in their only football competition of 2015

To the chagrin of fans around the country, Texas and Texas A&M no longer meet on the football field, but there’s a battle raging between the two programs. It’s just happening on the recruiting trail.

It was still burnt orange against maroon, now featuring the tug-of-war between Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin and new Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong in their first full cycle against each other. In 2014, Sumlin poached several Texas recruits late to augment the nation’s No. 5 class and sustain momentum generated by the top-10 2013 class, while Strong attempted to build relationships with recruits in his new job.

Here’s a timeline of how the cycle eventually played out.

When Texas introduced the former Louisville head coach, the Horns were already well behind the Aggies -- five recruits with offers from former Texas head coach Mack Brown were committed to A&M, including the state’s top defensive tackle, top tight end, and two running backs.

Texas only had one commit who would sign 13 months later, offensive guard Patrick Vahe, who never received an offer from the Aggies. Two prospects held offers from Texas A&M, but neither remained committed to Texas through the end of the month, including then-consensus five-star offensive lineman Maea Teuhema.

One of those two Texas commits with A&M offers, Lanfear eventually flipped to the rival program, becoming the eighth player to pick the Aggies over an offer from the Longhorns.

Sumlin seemingly led with or held commitments from top Texas targets at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, defensive tackle, linebacker, cornerback, and safety.

The Aggies still led the head-to-head battle, 7-2, but the Longhorns made up ground with the March pledges of four-star safety DeShon Elliott and four-star offensive tackle Toby Weathersby.

The culture differences between the two programs became apparent. Strong’s focus on discipline and desire to avoid running a “gadget program” contrasted with the DJ-powered atmosphere at Texas A&M practices.

Meanwhile, tight end Jordan Davis visited Austin for the Texas spring game and left at halftime after brutal quarterback play.

Not long thereafter, the Aggies hired a leadership development and team-building group to help install a boot-camp type of environment.

SB Nation presents: The way-too-early top 10

The state’s best wide receiver, DaMarkus Lodge, joined his friend Kyler Murray in the Texas A&M class, wrapping up a massive four weeks in which Sumlin and his staff destroyed their counterparts.

A&M added pledges from three other prospects with offers from Texas: four-star defensive tackle Kingsley Keke, four-star offensive tackle Keaton Sutherland, and four-star wide receiver Kemah Siverand.

#WRTS. We Run This State. With a 10-2 head-to-head lead over Texas and momentum with other top prospects, it was difficult to argue with the hashtag that spread like wildfire across Twitter. Mid-June marked the high point for the A&M class.

Aggies fans were jubilant, while Longhorns fans melted down on message boards.

The firing of defensive coordinator Mark Snyder and the loss of wide receivers coach David Beatty hurt the Aggies late in the recruitments of the Poteet stars, allowing the Horns to steal both away. It was a watershed moment, as Jefferson’s charisma and connections to other prospects set Texas up for a monstrous finish.

“I made the statement earlier in December, I said that anytime you’re in a recruiting process, there’s got to be a player, there’s got to be a marquee player. That was Malik Jefferson for us,” Strong said on Signing Day. “When he got on board, it got us started.”

With one tweet containing only a picture and no text, Murray shocked the recruiting world.

Three minutes later, Lodge followed.

Suddenly, both were in play for the Horns. So were five-star defensive tackle Daylon Mack, who decommitted from A&M when Jefferson committed to Texas, and five-star running back Soso Jamabo.

The Kyler Murray hysteria ended eight wild days later with five words.

That second ground-shaking tweet from Murray came after an in-home visit from Sumlin and kept the Texas staff from making their own visit the next day. With Murray’s decision, the Horns’ dream finish died, costing Strong’s program a chance at landing Lodge and ultimately extending even further to other prospects connected to the five-star passer.

Days later, Murray said he was “pretty close” to flipping, revealing that the ultimate difference was the loaded Texas A&M wide receiver depth chart, which was more appealing than Texas’ own depth chart at the position.

After Kendall Sheffield committed to Alabama, Sumlin showed an increased emphasis toward recruiting Hill and Boyd, but it didn’t pay off. The two gave Texas the school’s biggest cornerback pledges in years, on an Austin television station.

Unfortunately for Texas, recruiting momentum with Jamabo and Mack started to dry up, as both prospects stopped telling people close to the program that they were headed to Austin.

Only one of the three new Horns pledges on Signing Day held an offer from Texas A&M -- Rockwall running back Chris Warren -- but the big finish helped the Horns edge past the Aggies.

A&M recovered five-star defensive tackle Daylon Mack, but missed on Lodge and five-star linebacker Roquan Smith to finish No. 11 nationally, two points behind Texas in the No. 10 spot, but ahead in average player rating.

The turning point remained the commitments of Jefferson and McNeal, with Sumlin averting disaster by keeping the Murray domino from falling.

The Aggies still finished with a significant head-to-head advantage, with all 14 of the highest-rated signees in the class holding offers from Texas. But the 5-1 finish, beginning with the Poteet stars, resulted in Texas adding nine four-stars and 11 total recruits to help Jefferson live up to the Tim Tebow comparison bestowed upon him by his head coach.

Two teams, two wildly different head coaches, and two outstanding classes. With Texas forced to go national to fill needs created by in-state prospects committing to A&M until the middle of June, the Aggies still run the state, but Strong and the Horns narrowed the gap significantly.

So those who follow recruiting closely in the state might want to stay tuned -- it’s time to write some more critical chapters of the battle between Sumlin and Strong.

Ratings from the 247Sports Composite