College Football Expansion: Realignment Likely to Cost Texas-Texas A&M Rivalry

The bully on the block has tried to impose its will upon the college football nation once again. Texas has now sent a notice to their longest running rival, Texas A&M, stating that their non-conference schedule is now full through the 2018 season. 2018? Really?

Texas has gone out of the way to solidify its singularity in the world of college football. The Longhorns have always carried a swagger, but this has become downright silly. Texas vs. Texas A&M is the third oldest rivalry in college football. It is a game that has been played since 1894 and has hosted some of the best college football in history.

The Longhorns and the Aggies have the longest inter-state rivalry and even mention each other in their own fight songs. The tradition and pageantry of college football seems to be dying, and this is sure sign of the beginning of the college football apocalypse.

Texas began paving its road to elitism years ago, but the recent inception of the Longhorn Network was the final straw that has changed the game forever. Shortly after the gains to the network were announced, it became obvious that Texas was willing to leave the rest of its conference behind and pursue its dreams of Longhorn excellence in broadcasting.

Texas A&M did what any logical entity would do in such a situation: They sought out realignment. They sought the SEC, and the SEC listened. The Aggies are now a part of the most successful and powerful conference in college football, and they receive evenly shared revenue.

Now that’s a concept.

Texas has done its due diligence to try and maintain the upper-handed power play against the Aggies, and it hit a fever pitch on October 14^th with the release stating that Texas’ athletics director, DeLoss Dodds, told A&M athletic director Bill Byrne that Texas was filled with opponents until 2018.

With a few strokes of the keyboard, Texas has officially left one of the oldest rivalries in the dust for its apparent need to prove its worth. Is conference realignment something that should change this rivalry? Not in my opinion.  

In no way am I a solid traditionalist. The new uniforms for some teams can be cool. Changes in the way that we see big games and label a national champion will always be fluid. At the end of the day, what makes college football great is the games that you expect every year.

What if college football dropped legendary games like Ohio State versus Michigan, USC versus Notre Dame and Auburn versus Alabama? Would the game continue to see the fan following that it has now?

It is hard to project that college football will die because certain games aren’t played any longer, but when the dust settles, fans need their rivalries.

College football is known for its pageantry, but with the realignments and scheduling changes, the pageantry is losing its luster faster than expected. The money game has taken precedence, and the institutions have forgotten how they made the money in the first place: producing a consistent and wholesome product. That is now gone.

I am not saying that conference realignment is a bad move for anyone. But if you sacrifice the identity of your school and your traditions, then there becomes an issue. Unfortunately for the Longhorns and Aggies, things just won’t be the same.

College football changes without this game. Another casualty of the money game has made its way to the funeral line.