Texas Football: Best Texas-Texas A&M Games

The Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies will meet on Thanksgiving Day to play for the 118th time.

This year’s meeting between the two rivals has something unique and special that the previous 117 meetings can’t match.

It’s the last one.

With the Aggies moving to the SEC next year, this is the last conference battle Texas will have against Texas A&M.

The teams may play again somewhere down the road, but with Texas Athletic Director Deloss Dodds saying the Longhorns' non-conference schedule is already booked through 2018 and not showing any interest in wanting to play the Aggies, it doesn't seem like it's going to be anytime soon.

Through it all, there have been many fights, Heisman trophy winners and conference and national championship implications on the line.

Here’s a look back at the some great moments in the storied history between the two teams.

2006: Texas A&M 12, Texas 7

The defending national champion Longhorns came into this game with a 9-2 record and ranked No. 11 in the country.

Texas had aspirations of playing in a BCS bowl game, and the victory would have clinched the Big 12 South division title for them.

The Aggies refused to let it happen.

Coming into the game with no chance of winning the Big 12 title but still with plenty to play for, the Aggies intercepted Colt McCoy three times and racked up 244 yards against the nation’s top-ranked defense, which was only giving up 42 yards per game.

The game was a defensive battle, with the Longhorns leading 7-6 in the third quarter after a Jamaal Charles touchdown run. But the Aggies, led by Stephen McGee, drove 88 yards down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:32 left.

The win snapped a Texas six-game winning streak against the Aggies.

1998: Texas 26, Texas A&M 24

In Mack Brown’s first year as a coach for the Longhorns, he faced a talented Texas A&M team that came into the game ranked No. 6 in the country with a 10-1 record.

Led by  the 259 yards rushing by Heisman trophy frontrunner and eventual winner Ricky Williams, the Longhorns took a commanding 23-7 lead into the fourth quarter with only about 10 minutes left in the game.

This is when the Aggies staged an almost momentous comeback for the storybooks.

Scoring 17 unanswered points and capitalizing on Texas' turnovers, the Aggies took a 24-23 lead late in the fourth quarter.

But the Longhorns, with only two minutes left in the game, engineered a 70-yard drive that put them in position to win the game.

A 24-yard field goal by Kris Stockton would seal the upset victory for the Longhorns.

The Aggies would still finish the season at 11-3 and as Big 12 champions, while the Longhorns finished 9-3 and with a No. 15 ranking.  

1995: Texas 16, Texas A&M 6

In a game in which the Longhorns couldn’t stop hearing about Texas A&M’s “wrecking crew” defense, it was the Longhorns defense that was strongest.

The Aggies came into the game with a whopping 31 game-winning streak at Kyle Field and ranked No. 16 in the polls.

With the help of Ricky Williams’ 163 yards rushing and an efficient performance by quarterback James Brown, the Longhorns held the Aggies without a touchdown for the first time since 1987.

It was the No. 9 Longhorns first victory in College Station since 1983, and it allowed them to claim the last ever Southwest Conference title.

Texas would go on to play against Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl, a game which they would ultimately lose 28-10.

2005: Texas 40, Texas A&M 29

Undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country, Texas came into this game with national title aspirations.

The Aggies were having an average 5-5 season and had the 109th ranked defense in the country, but Vince Young and the Longhorns struggled to win this game.

Needing a strong performance to keep pace with Reggie Bush for the Heisman trophy, Young had one of his worst games of the season.

He had two turnovers that both led to Texas A&M scores, and he only threw for 162 yards while rushing for 19.

Texas A&M had a 22-21 lead going into the third quarter, but things turned south for the Aggies soon after that.

Michael Griffin blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown, and the Longhorns took the lead and held it for good after that.

The Aggies had to have been shaking their heads over this one, since they outgained the Longhorns in total yards 395-336 and had a rushing attack that the Longhorns were struggling to stop.

The win moved the Longhorns into the Big 12 title game and allowed them to stay on track to play in the BCS championship game, which of course, they would eventually play in and win.

1984: Texas A&M 37, Texas 12

This game is considered to be the turning point in a rivalry that had been one-sided for a long time.

The Longhorns had dominated this series and established themselves on the national scene, coming into the game with a 7-2 record and ranked No. 13 in the country.

The Aggies, on the other hand, were not having a good season at all, and their coach, Jack Sherill, wasn't living up to the hype that Aggie fans had built up.

But the nature of the rivalry had the Aggies fired up, and they jumped out to a 20-0 lead and never looked back in cruising to a 37-12 victory, which was the most points they had ever scored against the Longhorns.

From this point onward, despite the coaching change for the Aggies a few years later, Texas beat A&M only once between 1984-94, and that was only by a single point in 1990.

1963: Texas 15, Texas A&M 13

With President Kennedy being assassinated six days before this game was played, it was as emotional and significant as any other in the history of the series.

Texas had scheduled for President Kennedy to speak on campus the day before the game, but the shocking news came that he had been assassinated.

Many games that were scheduled for the weekend were cancelled in light of this, but the Longhorns and Aggies still played their annual game on Thanksgiving.

The Longhorns came into the game undefeated and as the top-ranked team in the country, seeking the school’s first national championship, while the Aggies had only two wins on the season and hadn’t beaten the Longhorns in their last six attempts.

Still, Coach Royal knew that this game would be a tough one for his team.

The Aggies led the game 13-3 heading into the fourth quarter and looked like they were on pace to pull off a huge upset.

But an A&M fumble that led to a touchdown, followed by a long 80-yard touchdown drive engineered by backup quarterback Tommy Wade, allowed the Longhorns to score the games last 12 points and come out victorious.

Texas claimed its first national championship with the win in a time when championships were handed out before bowl games were played.

The Longhorns would validate their championship anyway, going on to beat a Navy team led by Roger Staubach in the Cotton Bowl.