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Just like every offseason, chatter has once again boiled to the surface regarding the Texas A&M Aggies resuming their football rivalry with the Texas Longhorns. But while that series does not appear to be in any danger of renewing any time soon, an opportunity for A&M to match up with another one of their historic rivals just might present itself in the form of... the Texas Tech Red Raiders. All due to the actions of nobody other than the Pac 12 Conference.
The Pac-12 has discussed an 11-game football schedule, all played against conference opponents. Among the league's non-conference games: Arizona at Texas Tech, Colorado at Texas A&M, TCU at Cal, Oregon St at Ok St plus Bama-USC at AT&T Stadium.https://t.co/VhxvpwzU49
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) May 12, 2020
If the Pac 12 moves forward with a 2020 football schedule comprised of only intra-conference opponents, that will mean A&M will no longer play Colorado, and Tech will no longer play Arizona. Suddenly both schools would have hole to fill in their non-conference slate. On the same day (Sept. 19). It seems almost too good to be true.
“But Robert,” you say, “neither team will want to lose a home game and replace it with a road game.”
As much as I hate to say it, a neutral site matchup could make a ton of sense here, and there are a ton of viable options. The Alamodome is available. NRG Stadium is available. AT&T Stadium is available (albeit with a short turnaround with a Cowboys home game the next day). The bottom line is that if the two teams are willing to work with one another, there is no reason this game couldn’t come together.
Sure, the Red Raiders are not the Longhorns. They are not A&M’s main rival, but there are certainly a rival, one we shared a conference with for decades, and one whose alumni many Aggies interact with on an almost daily basis. We’ve called them classless clowns in our media guide. Mike Leach has waxed poetic about pirates beating soldiers. Anybody who acts like we never cared about them or they never cared about us is kidding themselves.
And while many Aggies will claim superiority to Tech with regards to our respective football programs, the series is tied 11-11 since 1990. So while being a heated rivalry off the field it’s also been a very competitive one.
You may not want an annual game with the Red Raiders, but plugging a one-time hole in your schedule with a hated former conference mate sounds pretty dang fun. While Aggies are very happy with life in the SEC, getting a taste of that old fashioned Big 12 hatred, just for one day, could be something to savor.