When the Texas A&M Aggies left the Big 12 after the 2011 football season to join the SEC, it brought their annual rivalry game with the Texas Longhorns to an abrupt end.
In the years since, state legislators, school administrators, coaches, and everyone in between had tried to get the two teams to play each other once again, but the rivalry has remained dormant since November 2011.
That will change this year. Once Texas joined the SEC, it was seen as a certainty that they would once again play A&M to end the season, and that will be the case when the teams square off on November 30.
Former Texas quarterback and Texas native Colt McCoy appeared on the Always College Football podcast this week to express his joy over the game’s return, also discussing what it means to Texans.
“I’m so happy that game is back. This game, all of my entire childhood was watching this game on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I had family members that went to A&M and I didn’t know where I was going to go. I remember that game was what you watched. That’s what you did on Thanksgiving. What it meant for your little football community, what it meant for the state. All those things,” McCoy said.
The four-year starter seemingly made the right choice by committing to Texas. He won virtually every award a quarterback could win besides the Heisman Trophy, and was a member of the 2006 BCS National Champion Longhorn squad in his true freshman season which was spent redshirting. McCoy set or tied 50 school records during his time at Texas, and his number was retired in 2010.
McCoy said that while the famed Red River Rivalry against the Oklahoma Sooners is great, the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry is just different.
“Oklahoma is its own deal. It’s played in the Cotton Bowl, halfway in between Norman and Austin. It’s the tradition split down the middle. Walking through the same tunnel. Texas-Texas A&M is a state rivalry. That is the game. Everyone in Texas tunes in and you know it’s around Thanksgiving. So to bring that game back, holy cow,” the 38-year-old said.
