I was thumbing through X the other day and saw an interesting question posed by J.D. Pickell of One3. To be honest, it wasn’t all that interesting and I’m pretty sure it was just click bait. The question was, “what is the state & future of the Texas vs Texas A&M rivalry?”. I’m not 100% immune to click bait so I quoted it with a GIF of Dwight Schrute asking Darryl if he was serious for wondering how Dwight and Toby could have confused his sister for him.
Well, J.D., since you asked. The state of the “rivalry” between Texas and Texas A&M is not good at all; if you’re an Aggie or someone that enjoys competitive rivalries. In fact, if you “whoop” a lot, go to practice late at night for yelling, and worship a collie dog, it’s just bad, possibly embarrassing.
The state of the rivalry got so bad for Texas A&M that in 2011 they announced they were leaving Big Brother behind in the Big 12 and joining the Southeastern Conference(SEC). They would finally get out from under all the shadiness and backhandedness of the “Sips” and fulfill their destiny as a dominant athletic department.
The Aggies enjoyed 11 years without Texas outside of a Tuesday night baseball game, an out of conference basketball game or the rare matchup in postseason play. The problem? They didn’t win anything in their new conference. They were the exact same teams in the SEC as they were in the Big 12.
Fast forward to today and let’s take a quick look at the state of the rivalry in the 3 major men’s sports.
Football
Football is King in Texas and when you talk Texas and Texas A&M rivalry, this is the one everyone in Texas is really talking about. A few fun facts about the football rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M:
· The Longhorns lead the all-time series against the Aggies 77-37-5
· For those of you not doing the math, that means Texas wins this game 65% of the time
· Texas has won 12 of the last 17 matchups going back to 1996
· For those of you not doing the math, that means Texas has won over 70% of the matchups going back to when both teams joined the Big 12 conference
· Texas beat A&M in their very first matchup as SEC opponents and they did it in College Station in front of the 12th Man
Does that feel like a rivalry to you?
Basketball
I’m not a basketball guy. I find it hard to watch consistently until March Madness. In fact, I hadn’t had a single Texas basketball game playing, in its entirety, in the background while I did something else all season until last Saturday’s matchup with the Aggies. Here are some fun facts about the basketball rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M:
· Texas leads the series over A&M 84-60
· The Longhorns have a 27-9 record against the Aggies going back to 1996
· For those of you not doing the math, that means Texas has won 75% of the games going back to when both teams joined the Big 12 conference
· Texas just managed a split in their first SEC home and home despite the aggies enjoying a Top 15 ranking and Texas being mediocre
· Texas erased a 22-point deficit and led the game for all of 3 seconds in their last victory over the Aggies
Sounds heartbreaking if you’re the 12th man, but heartbreak is synonymous with being an Aggie.
Baseball
Baseball is the one sport where the rivalry hasn’t been a complete disaster for Texas A&M lately. Here are some fun facts about the baseball rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M:
· Texas leads the series over A&M 240-132
· For those of you not doing the math, that means Texas has won 65% of the games in the series
· The Longhorns have a 42-29 record against the Aggies going back to 1997
· The Aggies have enjoyed a nice run lately, holding a 7-3 record against the Horns in their last 10 games, including an elimination of Texas in the CWS in 2022
· Texas just stole their baseball coach the day after they played for, and lost, the CWS championship
While the 7-3record in the last ten games is a big positive for the Aggies, the loss of Coach Schloss to Texas hours after the biggest loss in their baseball history isa personification of how the rivalry has been for A&M against Texas in baseball.
State of the rivalry? To be honest, I’m not sure it is much of a rivalry at all; at least in a competitive sense. Sure, the Aggies hate Texas more than they fancy themselves and literally never stop talking about Texas (go check out X or TexAgs), and for the few days a year that Texas and A&M are actually engaged in an athletic contest, the “Sips” aren’t fond of the “Farmers” either, but is a series where one team wins 63% of the time really a rivalry? Opinions will vary. One thing is for sure, if you want to call it a rivalry, the current state of it is bleak if you’re an Aggie. Big Brother is officially back, and the future doesn’t look much better.