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AGGIE FLASHBACK: The 1997 Big 12 Championship Game, Dec. 6, 1997

Happy Tuesday. Today in Aggie Football History is one we can’t seem to forget, no matter how hard we try.

Willie Miller

This isn’t meant to make you feel bad. This is just a recollection of that time we played one of the best football dynasties in history, took a beating, and actually were made better for it.

The 1997 Big 12 Championship Game:

  • Turning thousands of Nebraskans loose on the Riverwalk in December is like giving long-haul workers at an Antarctic research station a 48-hour pass in Rio.
  • The influx of these two fanbases made San Antonio 700% Classier for a day.
  • This remains the first and only conference championship game I’ve attended. It was the longest day: I drove with friends from College Station to my parents house in the Hill Country, then to the Alamodome, then back to College Station that night thoroughly broken and defeated.
  • Nebraska was bigger, faster, stronger, and just better at football than anyone else that year, and possibly the years before and after as well.
  • Yes, that’s UCF head coach Scott Frost playing QB for the Huskers, then fiddling with his junk on the sidelines after they’ve built a 40 point lead.
  • Aggie QB Branndon Stewart was sacked six times.
  • Texas A&M’s best offensive weapon was something called a “tight end”
  • Let’s establish this: Texas A&M was the cream of the Big 12 South in 1997-1998. The Ags had just reeled off back-to-back wins over OU and Texas in the back half of November, winning by a combined score of 78-23.
  • The Aggies had a very good offensive line and run game. Nebraska held them to 13 yards rushing.
  • The Wrecking Crew forced 5 fumbles, recovered 4, including one for a touchdown. And still this happened.
  • The Wrecking Crew also gave up 536 yards of offense. This was unheard-of in the nineties.
  • The Huskers ran the ball 67 times for 335 yards.
  • It was over by halftime, 37-3, and still we stayed for all four bloody quarters because you don’t get to witness this kind of perfect killing machine in person very many times in your life.
  • The Aggies would get revenge on Nebraska the following season. But this was a healthy dose of humility, and it’s still a reminder of how unstoppable Nebraska could be in the ‘90s.

Do you have memories from this game, suppressed or otherwise? Share with us, please.