A RIVALRY FOR THE AGES: TEXAS - TEXAS A&M
It's August here in Texas... which is just another way of saying "The beginning of football season". It's a way of life down in the south; a Texas Tradition that may only be rivaled by barbecue. In celebration of the upcoming season, we just launched the first few tees for our football collection, representing the biggest rivalry in Texas History: University of Texas vs. Texas A&M.
“The first meeting was in 1894. By 1911, Texas led the series 15–4–2. The series went back and forth until 1939, but Texas still led 27–15–4. After that, Texas went 36–7–1. A&M then won 10 of the next 11 games in the series, although A&M was subsequently disciplined for multiple NCAA violations that occurred during this time period. Texas would then win 12 of the last 17 games in the rivalry. Although Texas leads the series overall, A&M existed for most of its history as an all male, all military college. Between World War II, the Korean war, and the Vietnam war, A&M remained an unpopular choice for football recruits until the university was opened up to women and civilians in 1972.
In July 2011, A&M elected to join the Southeastern Conference beginning in 2012. The move to switch conferences resulted in the ending of the rivalry. On November 24, 2011, Texas faced A&M in College Station in the final scheduled meeting of the rivalry. Texas won 27–25 on a field goal as time expired. In January 2013, a Texas state legislator filed a bill that would require them to play each other every year. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Higher Education on February 18, 2013.
Each school mentions the other in its fight song (“and it’s goodbye to A&M” in Texas Fight; the whole second verse of the Aggie War Hymn is about Texas). The football series was the third longest in college football. Since 1900, the last regular season football game was 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.”
Even though the iconic rivalry has officially ended, it will live forever in the hearts of UT and A&M fans forever.