Will UT And Texas A&M Ever Meet Again On The Football Field?

The Longhorns and Aggies have an age-old rivalry that ended in 2011. What are the chances that these two football powers will compete again?

By Nahila BonfiglioNovember 23, 2017 10:30 am,

For about 100 years, the week around Thanksgiving meant a face-off on the gridiron for two Texas teams. The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M have a rivalry so deep that it’s practically built into the foundation of both schools. That rivalry didn’t end with their last football game in 2011. People from both schools have been working to bring back the pigskin showdown.

Gov. Greg Abbott said in October that his next goal as governor would be to reunite the Texas-Texas A&M football rivalry. And Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp told Texas Monthly magazine that he wants to revive the game. So does Longhorn football Coach Tom Herman, not to mention countless fans, like Texas A&M student Chipper Adams.

“I feel very confident that we will be able to bring the game back. To me, it is a matter of when, not a matter of if. This just goes to show how big of a deal this rivalry is to people in the state of Texas,” Adams says.

University of Texas Student Body Vice President Micky Wolf led a recent student vote to bring the game back.

“I feel good about us getting this back on before our term ends. We had around 7,800 students vote, 97 percent voted yes. So really really great support from the UT student body. On the A&M side, our counterparts over there put out a survey in the Spring that had around 3,000 participants and 94 percent said yes,” Wolfe says.

With students from both schools almost unanimous in their support, Wolf argues university leadership will have little choice but to listen to what he calls a “united, student-led movement.”

However, the chances of a Longhorn-Aggie football matchup before 2025 are slim. Wolf says the non-conference schedule, where this game is likely to fit, will not have open spaces until 2025 or even 2026. Leaders at both schools are trying to get their “reinstate the rivalry” campaign launched on a statewide level.

 

 

Written by Nahila Bonfiglio.