The first meeting was in 1894. By 1911, Texas led the series 15–4–2. The series went back and forth until 1939, with games overwhelmingly won by the home team, but Texas still led 27–15–4. UT Dominated the rivalry over the next 4 decades with a 36–7–1 record. A&M enjoyed their greatest success in the series thereafter from 1984–1994 with a 10–1 run. From there on Texas won 12 of the last 17 between the two programs.
In July 2011, A&M elected to join the Southeastern Conference beginning in 2012.[5] The move to switch conferences resulted in the ending of the annual rivalry. On November 24, 2011, UT faced A&M in College Station in the final scheduled annual meeting. Texas won 27–25 on a field goal by Justin Tucker as time expired. In January 2013, a Texas state legislator filed a bill that would require them to play each other every year.[6] The bill was referred to the House Committee on Higher Education on February 18, 2013.[7]
Attempts to revive the series
In June 2017, A&M's former athletic director, Bill Byrne, was quoted in an article saying, "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...there were other forces at work to make sure we didn't play."[8] Byrne's comments refer to his last year as athletic director in 2012, during which A&M was in the midst of transitioning to the Southeastern Conference.
In September 2017, UT students were polled in a university-wide referendum in which 96.71 percent said "Yes" when asked if they were in favor of bringing the game back or not. Later, in February 2019, during Texas A&M's spring student body elections, 88.71 percent (13,359) of 15,060 voters said "Yes" when asked if they were in favor of reintroducing the rivalry as a non-conference matchup.[9] Both polls were organized by student representatives from both schools in a movement entitled, "Reinstate the Rivalry."
In December 2017, Chris Del Conte was named athletic director of the University of Texas.[10] Shortly thereafter, Del Conte contacted Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward with a proposition to schedule a home-and-home series in 2022–23, but Woodward declined, as Texas A&M's non-conference schedule was already filled for those seasons.[11][12] Again in 2019 during a panel at the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival, Del Conte stated his support for a resumption of the series.[13]
In November 2018, GOP San Antonio Rep. Lyle Larson proposed and filed a bill that would require Texas and Texas A&M to play every year on or around Thanksgiving day.[14] In February 2019, the bill gained the support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott who also voiced support for the resumption of the rivalry.[15] The bill never gained wide support and died in committee,[16] but later in June 2019, Gov. Abbott stated that he had been working with leadership of both universities to schedule a two-game matchup at some future point.[17]
In July 2019, coaches of both schools' football teams reaffirmed their desire to resume the rivalry game.[18]
Resumption of the rivalry
In 2024, Texas left the Big 12 Conference to join the Southeastern Conference, which means the rivalry will resume as a conference game.[19] Texas traveled to Texas A&M during the 2024 season to play the first game between the two teams in 13 years,[20] winning the game 17-7.[21]
Aspects of the rivalry
Each school mentions the other in its fight song or similar:
Texas Fight includes "and it's goodbye to A&M". The song's author, Col. Walter S. Hunnicutt, originally wrote "Texas Fight" as a retort to A&M taunts, songs and yells that he claimed ridiculed "The Eyes of Texas".[22]
World War I Marine and A&M student J.V. "Pinky" Wilson originally wrote the Aggie War Hymn as "Goodbye to Texas University". This is mentioned twice in the second verse, and the second verse also says, "So long to the orange and white" and "'The Eyes of Texas are upon you' / That is the song they sing so well", sometimes followed by "Sounds like hell!". After the second verse – the original song – is sung twice, Aggie fans link their arms and legs and sway left and right to replicate the motion of a saw blade and "saw Varsity's horns off" in reference to the Texas football team simply being known as Varsity before adopting the Longhorn as their mascot.[23]
The football series is the third longest in college football. The last regular season football game is usually reserved for the match-up. Each school has elaborate pregame preparations for the annual football clash, including the Aggie Bonfire and Hex Rally. Texas has a unique lighting scheme for the UT Tower after beating Texas A&M. The State Farm Lone Star Showdown, a full sports rivalry between the two schools, began in 2004, and ended in 2012 when Texas A&M moved to the Southeastern Conference.
1999 Bonfire game
The 1999 game at Kyle Field between the 5th-ranked Longhorns and the 17th-ranked Aggies took place just eight days after the annual Aggie Bonfirecollapsed during its construction, killing 12 people – 11 current students and one former student – and injuring 27. Texas A&M players helped clear some of the fallen logs. In addition, the Texas Exes student chapter canceled the Hex Rally in favor of a "Unity Gathering" at the UT Tower and extended an invitation to all Aggies and their friends. The tower was darkened out of respect for those who had died in the collapse or been affected by it, and participants lit white candles instead of the usual red in memory of the fallen Aggies.[24]
The game began with a flyover of F-16 jets, all piloted by former A&M students, in the missing man formation. US Senator Phil Gramm, who taught economics at A&M from 1967 to 1978, donated the flyover he was entitled to upon his death as an elected official, asking instead that it be given in the honor of the 12 Aggies who died. 12 doves were also released before the game, one for each Aggie who had perished. Former US President George H. W. Bush attended, as did his son, Texas Governor and future US President George W. Bush.
At half-time, the Texas Longhorn Band dedicated their performance to the students lost and injured in the collapse, and ended by playing "Amazing Grace" and "Taps", then removing their white hats in a show of respect as they walked off the field. The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band also played a tribute to the victims and, contrary to the usual tradition, marched off the field in a silent cadence. Aggie students, who normally sit only when the opposing band plays, stood throughout both performances and gave both standing ovations. Texas A&M upset Texas 20–16 after scoring a go-ahead touchdown with 5:03 remaining and then forcing and recovering a fumble with 23 seconds to play.[25][26]
In October 2006, General Mills announced they would honor the then third-longest running college football rivalry with a special edition Wheaties box. The box featured the helmets of Texas and Texas A&M and their respective home stadiums, Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium and Kyle Field, on either side. Although several individual college basketball and football teams had been featured previously on special edition boxes, this was the first time Wheaties had honored a rivalry series.[27]
The game's tradition figures into the plot of the 1978 stage musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and its film adaptation; in the show, each year the game's winners (in the story, the Aggies) would celebrate at the "Chicken Ranch," until an overzealous news reporter (a character based on Marvin Zindler) endeavors to close the legendary brothel.
