Lone Star Showdown: Why Texas Should Not Renew Its Rivalry with Texas A&M

What a thrilling conclusion to the third-oldest rivalry in college football. 

Many fans of college football, including myself, are deeply saddened to know that Texas and Texas A&M may never play each other again, or at least not for a very long time. Understandably, many believe that Texas should still schedule A&M and continue the rivalry as an out-of-conference game.  Texas A&M officials have stated that desire. However, the University of Texas has every right, for practical and philosophical reasons, to have no desire to see this rivalry further. 

Texas A&M leaving for the SEC begs the question: which side truly ended the rivalry?

The sad and unfortunate answer is that TAMU abandoned it.

They left the conference. Why should Texas continue playing a school that nearly helped destroy the Big 12? By leaving the conference they sent the message that they no longer wanted to be a part of the rivalry, no matter what Aggie fans would say.

TAMU cannot leave the conference over the power that UT wields, only to say at the same time, “Hey, we may have left because of you, but we have no real rivals in our new conference, so can we still please play you annually?”

In addition, Texas has a very simple and practical excuse for not wishing to continue the rivalry.  They already have their out-of-conference schedule filled out for about the next twenty years! The Aggies fully knew this. It would be very unfair to the school that would have been displaced by A&M's trying to force themselves into UT’s schedule.  That team would have to scramble to find a replacement opponent and would give Texas a reputation as a school that doesn’t stick to its scheduling agreements. 

Also, why should Texas have to play a hard out-of-conference game? Out of conference games are typically fluff games that are considered easy wins.  That’s why Alabama plays Georgia Southern and LSU plays Western Kentucky. An arrangement with A&M could have only worked back in the days of the old Southwest Conference, as evidenced by Texas playing OU.

The Big 12 is already the second-best conference by consensus, and top to bottom, probably the most competitive in college football, playing schools like Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, TCU, a resurgent Baylor, and the always-annoying spoiler Texas Tech.

And, don’t forget that Texas also has an out-of-conference game against Notre Dame in the next few years. 

It is sad that the Aggies still want Texas to play them each year, even after their conference defection.  I thought Texas A&M wanted to leave the Big 12 to escape the influence of Texas, not to continue it. By begging Texas to continue the rivalry they are, in essence, admitting that they have college football’s biggest inferiority complex. Their entire existence is built on hating Texas—without Texas, what's A&M football?

Texas already has a huge rival in Oklahoma. The Longhorns don't need A&M, but A&M needs Texas. Maybe the Aggies don't want to change their fight song and chants. They'll regret leaving the Big 12, because they'll no longer have a marquee game on the schedule that would get them on TV.

So long to A&M.