It’s been six years since Texas and Texas A&M have played in football. The two schools met a total of 118 times — the first matchup was in 1894 — until the Aggies moved away from the Big 12 and joined the SEC in 2012.
Texas reportedly asked other Big 12 teams to not schedule Texas A&M, either
Welp.
Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images
Although college football teams schedule a few out-of-conference games each season, these two longtime foes haven’t made any plans to renew the series. According to AL.com, not only did Texas make a point in no playing the Aggies, it reportedly involved the rest of the Big 12.
“Their AD (DeLoss Dodds) at the time came out and said we will never play Texas A&M again, and they worked along with Baylor and the conference to have no one in the (Big 12) schedule us,” Texas A&M athletic director Byrne said. “There were other forces at work to make sure we didn’t play.”
While it’s no secret that Dodds had no intentions to schedule TAMU anytime soon, Byrne claiming that the Longhorns’ AD worked with Big 12 teams to avoid scheduling Texas A&M is quite interesting, if true. Some Texas A&M’s out-of-conference games since joining the SEC included Louisiana Tech, SMU, Arizona State, and UCLA.
“They left,” Dodds said in 2013, via the Dallas Morning News. “They’re the ones that decided not to play us. We get to decide when we play again. I think that’s fair. If you did a survey of our fans about playing A&M, they don’t want to. It’s overwhelming. I know. I hear it. Our fans are important to us. I think there’s got to be a period where things get different. I think there’s too many hard feelings.”
Byrne went on to say that the Aggies don’t really need Texas anymore. Since joining the SEC, the Aggies have gone 44-21 under head coach Kevin Sumlin, along with five consecutive bowl berths.
“We have been the weak sister too long,” he said via AL.com. “We were regarded as No. 2 for so long and being out of that has been a blessing for A&M.”
I think it’s safe to say that these two schools won’t be meeting anytime soon, as much as football fans want to see it happen.
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