Aggies ‘can’t wait’ to reignite rivalry
SEC working on scheduling model featuring UT, LSU and Miss. State
COLLEGE STATION — Chip Howard has hosted a weekday sports radio show in Bryan-College Station for more than 20 years, and for the first decade or so he always looked forward to the animated conversations around Thanksgiving week.
He had to shift gears and topics to crank up the holidays starting in 2012, however, much like everyone else who loved the annual Texas A&M-Texas rivalry in football. Better late than never, Howard figures, on the return of A&M vs. UT on a football field starting in 2024.
“I’m sorry I had to miss 13 Aggies-Longhorns games to get to this point,” Howard said Friday. “Both administrations should be ashamed.”
A&M vs. UT is officially and finally set to start kicking again next year after the Big 12 announced this week it had reached an agreement with Texas and Oklahoma for the league’s longtime bell cows to exit the Big 12 one year earlier than originally agreed upon, in joining the Southeastern Conference.
As a result, the Aggies and Longhorns almost assuredly will meet again annually starting in November 2024 at Kyle Field in College Station, this time as SEC rivals after previous engagements as Southwest Conference and Big 12 members.
The news that UT and OU had agreed to pay the Big 12 $50 million apiece to leave a year early and give the SEC 16 members in a little more than a year prompted a mixed reaction around A&M.
“It’s a big move,” said A&M basketball senior guard Tyrece Radford, who potentially could face the Longhorns or Sooners next year should he choose to use an extra season of eligibility granted from the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A&M athletic director Ross Bjork has all along vowed the Aggies will host the first game against the Longhorns no matter the year the rivalry was renewed. (A&M also hosted the last meeting in 2011, a 27-25 UT victory.) Bjork said Friday that “nothing has changed” regarding A&M facing UT at Kyle Field in the first game of the renewed rivalry.
LSU, too, replaced UT as the Aggies’ primary rival during the past decade, and under the current setup A&M would host both of its rivals in the same season (starting in 2024). Meaning the Aggies also would visit Baton Rouge, La., and Austin in odd years.
“The (SEC members) have not decided on the exact football scheduling format, and we anticipate that decision being made this spring,” Bjork said of whether the league opts for eight or nine league games a season starting in 2024. “And since we don’t know the exact football scheduling model, it’s too early to analyze the LSU-UT, home-away concept, until we see some models.”
Most prognosticators expect the SEC to adopt a nine-game format — it makes the most sense in trying to squeeze in the most revered matchups every year — with three “permanent” rivals every season.
A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said last year that he had been told the Aggies’ three permanent rivals would be UT, LSU and Mississippi State. Fisher could not be reached for comment Friday after the news of UT and OU’s earlier-thanscheduled arrival to the SEC.
For his part Bjork added: “We do know there will be more of a rotation in the new scheduling model, so the LSU/UT format may not even matter, since you’ll get more quality games with a shorter rotation between SEC opponents.”
It helps the SEC, too, that the College Football Playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams starting in 2024, considering the league has won 13 of the last 17 national titles and its members pound each other during the course of the regular season. Beginning next year any given SEC team has three times the chance to make the CFP as it does this season ( just like any other league, minus all the national titles of late).
“It seems like since last fall the Big 12 and both (Texas and Oklahoma) were motivated to work out an earlier exit plan,” Bjork said. “This final date provides us with great clarity, so we can make the next round of critical decisions and continue to have a smooth transition.”
Meantime things are bumpy for Fisher this offseason following the Aggies’ 5-7 finish in 2022, the first time they weren’t bowl eligible since 2008. Billy Liucci, co-owner of the popular fan website TexAgs and TexAgs Radio, said A&M needs to build momentum in 2023 for when the Longhorns and Sooners enter the SEC.
“(It’s) a completely new era and you better be positioned properly,” said Liucci, who added that he believes A&M has plenty of talent to do so. “… You’ve got to get that arrow shooting up, and you’ve got one year to do it.”
Mark Passwaters, publisher of Rivals’ AggieYell fan website, said A&M should concern itself with rebounding from the losing season and not worry about the pending entries of the Longhorns and Sooners.
“From an A&M perspective it really shouldn’t matter when they show up,” Passwaters said. “The Aggies should have a strong team (in 2023) and have continued to recruit well. (The early entries) take away a selling point, but that was going away at some point regardless.
“A&M needs to take care of its own business and if it does so, the Aggies will be fine no matter who joins.”
That selling point being the lone team from Texas representing the top football conference in the country — and the one easily producing the most NFL talent. Former A&M yell leader Roy May, a prominent Aggieland businessman, pointed out the soon-to-be entries are not all about football — that the Aggies need to make sure their women’s programs are in a solid spot moving forward.
“All of the talk with them joining the SEC has centered around football, and that’s understandable,” May said. “But … the athletic impact will be felt across all sports, men’s and women’s. Both Texas and OU are bringing powerhouse softball programs, and SEC volleyball and women’s basketball just got stronger.
“Like them or not, the (Horns) have a strong athletic department and a national brand. I can’t wait to beat ’em.”