Texas A&M and Texas first played on October 19, 1894, this will be the 118th meeting with Texas leading the series, 75-37-5. Sadly, this will be the last game in the the series for the foreseeable future.
In 1893, two brothers, Paul and Ray McLane, who had been attending school in the East returned to University of Texas and brought with them a game they watched IVY League schools play… a game called football. The brothers put together a make shift team @ UT, traveled to Dallas and took on the Dallas Athletic Club, who had been playing the game for about a decade. The boys from Austin prevailed, 18-16 and Longhorn football was born (although the Texas Football Team would not be referred to as the Longhorns until 1903).
The next year, Texas took on Texas A&M, who at that time were known as the Cadets (1894), then later the Farmers (1900) and were not referred to as the Aggies until after WWII (Officially 1950). The A&M squad traveled to Austin and proceed to win the coin toss; that however, was the only thing they won as the Texas “Varsity” put a 38-0 whipping on the A&M “Cadets” (worse than you may think as a TD only counted for 4 points in those days). In fact, A&M was so demoralized by the beat down, they canceled the rest of their season (although six weeks later, they did agree to play a high school team, Galveston Ball). Sorry, I do not have a score!
These teams have met in each of the past five years: in 06, A&M beat the Longhorns 12-7, in 07, the Aggies won again, 38-30, but in 08, Texas put a whipping on A&M, 49-9. The teams met again in 010 with the Horns out scoring the Aggies, 49-39 and last year, the Aggies outlasted the Longhorns, 24-17. So Texas A&M has beaten Texas in 3 of the last 5 contests.
Texas A&M enters the game armed with the sixth best offense in the country averaging 514 YPG, while Texas counters with 402 YPG, the 48th most productive offense in the FBS. In Total Defense: Texas is giving up 295 YPG (10th best) while A&M is surrendering 400 YPG (76th best). When considering 3rd Down Defense: Texas A&M is ranked 81st while Texas is the 16th best in the nation. On the other side of the ball, the Aggies are ranked 19th in 3rd Down Conversions (47% conversion rate) while Texas is successful 45% of the time on third down.
This is the last meeting between these teams until, at least, 2019 and fittingly, the game is being played at Kyle Field, A&M home stadium (first game, in 1894, was played in Austin). Emotions are always high for this game… but no-where near what they will be like tonight.
Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, primarily for the reason (their perception) that Texas has used its name / power to benefit itself at their and other conference teams expense. The way revenue is shared in the Big 12 is not based on an equal distribution model, as in the Big Ten or the SEC. Texas gets the yeoman share of Big 12 dollars and A&M, like Nebraska (left for the Big Ten) and Missouri (also headed for the SEC) have had enough of what they believe is a system that favors Texas; and does so in a manner, that they believe to be inconsistent with the rational for establishing an athletic conference.
A old rivalry that has IVY League origins will end tonight with A&M singing: “We got a ticket to ride”…. a straight shot to SEC West! Make sure you find time to watch this one… Enjoy the Game! Texas A&M 35 Texas 17
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