Reinstate the Rivalry
It’s Thanksgiving Day and you know what that means. You wake up to the overwhelming scent of the turkey and fresh rolls rising in the oven, sweet potatoes on the stove and there are way too many cooks in the kitchen. You fight with your siblings over who gets to help grandma make the pie and, more importantly, lick the spoon at the end.
After a long morning of cooking you sit around the table with extended family and catch up about school, what your plans are after graduation and of course your aunt asks endless questions about “that boy in all your Facebook pictures”. After all of this, the real Thanksgiving tradition ensues. Football, and lots of it.
For most people in Texas, football on Thanksgiving Day typically meant watching two games: the Dallas Cowboys and the rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M. This, along with a food coma, were traditions you could always count on and brought families together year after year.
Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2011 marked the end of an era.
On that day, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas met on the gridiron for the 118th and final time, closing the chapter on college football’s third oldest rivalry and a tradition that many Texans look forward to every year.
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The first game of this rivalry was held on October 19, 1894 and was played every year between 1915 and 2011. The rivalry ended with the Aggies leaving the Big 12 Conference and joining the Southeastern Conference beginning in their 2012 season. Although the Aggies were worthy opponents for the 118 games of the rivalry, Texas leads the overall series with 76 wins, 37 losses and 5 tied games.
This rivalry helped shape both schools in a multitude of ways. For instance, both the Longhorns and the Aggies talk about the rivalry and mention the other school in their fight songs, the annual matchup created pre-game traditions such as the Aggie Bonfire and Texas' Hex Rally and Texas got the name for their beloved mascot through a prank done by A&M students.
No matter how much time passes, this rivalry runs deep in the blood of students and fans of both schools. It’s been six years since the last matchup and many people are ready to do whatever is possible to bring this rivalry back. Texas student body president Alejandrina Guzman and vice president Micky Wolf are working to reinstate this game. During the 2017 campaign for president and vice president, one of Guzman and Wolf’s key platforms was the promise of a Texas v. Texas A&M game revival.
In that spirit, Reinstate the Rivalry has become a united, student-led movement aiming to reestablish the annual Texas vs. Texas A&M football game. Despite the fierce rivalry, current Aggies and Longhorns are working together to influence the administrations of both schools to Reinstate the Rivalry by demonstrating how passionate students, alumni and fans are about this game.
The student governments at both A&M and Texas put out a university-wide referendum this September and the results came back very positive. 94% of current Aggie students and 97% of current Longhorn students voted in favor of Reinstating the Rivalry. Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Chancellor William McRaven, Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, Coach Tom Herman, and previous Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin have all publicly supported bringing the game back.
