We’ve reached the point in the American market landscape where 1990s ventures are getting reboots, whether they were successful the first time around or not. TNMT and Fuller House are flooding the airwaves, and soon, we know now, Crystal Pepsi will return to the shelf.
What, pray tell, does this have to do with Aggie Football? Only this: in Crystal Pepsi’s short original lifespan, Texas A&M Football saw one of its most successful runs in history: a 22-3 stretch that included a perfect regular season and two straight Cotton Bowl matchups with Notre Dame. The choice in 1992-1993 was indeed clear.
Texas A&M Football in the Crystal Pepsi Era (1992-1993)
- Record: 22-3
- Winning %: .880
- Regular season record: 22-1
- Conference record: 14-0
- Conference titles: 2
- Weeks ranked outside the top 20: 0
- Weeks ranked outside the top 10: 7
- Most points allowed at Kyle Field in a game: 18
- Losses at Kyle Field: 0
- Losses in the state of Texas in venues other than the Cotton Bowl: 0
- Losses in states outside of Texas not named Oklahoma: 0
- Games allowing 10 or fewer points: 13
- Average margin of victory over Texas: 15
- All-Americans: 5
This run included wins in each season against future SEC opponents Missouri and LSU, as well as wins over ranked Louisville and Stanford teams. The only loss suffered in the regular season was to #16 Oklahoma in Norman.
There were also a total of five All-Americans during the Crystal Pepsi Era: LB Marcus Buckley and DB Patrick Bates (1992), and DL Sam Adams, DB Aaron Glenn, and KR Leeland McElroy (1993). Both seasons culminated with Cotton Bowl showdowns against a top-five Notre Dame squad. Folks, in the pre-BCS era, especially in the waning days of the SWC, that was pretty much the most elite bowl and matchup imaginable at the time. These years were the pinnacle of what was attainable at the time, and the gold standard for all those grouchy Ol’ Ags on Facebook who have homemade statues of Bob Toledo in their front yards.
There have been plenty of complaints over the years about Kyle Field’s partnership with Pepsi, but given this overwhelming statistical proof of Crystal Pepsi’s link to a dominant Texas A&M Football program, we say let the clear nectar flow from every concession orifice.
Right now.