A new generation of bragging rights on the line with renewal of Texas A&M and Texas rivalry

DALLAS, Texas (KBTX) - If legacy lives in memory, the shine of the rivalry football game between Texas A&M and Texas had certainly dulled before the announcement that the matchup would resume this year.

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers said he has no real memory of the matchup, but relies on the stories told by his father and family members to build a picture in his mind of the scene.

“My dad said that, when he was growing up, that game was bigger than the [Red River Rivalry] game,” Ewers relayed. “So, there’s obviously a lot of history and tradition there.”

In fact, all three athletes representing the Longhorns at the program’s first Southeastern Conference (SEC) Media Days could not conjure up a remembrance of the rivalry that was and is to be again. To their credit, Lego and third-grade reading assignments dominated their lives during the last meeting of the programs.

With Texas’ move to the SEC this season, the Aggies and the Longhorns will renew the end-of-year matchup on November 30 in Kyle Field.

“To have that game back is going to be super cool,” Ewers, a Southlake native, said. “To hear my family and my dad talk about how awesome that game was, I’m excited to play it and it’s cool that it’s going to be in Kyle Field as well.”

Conference realignment has, traditionally, robbed the college football fan of some of the game’s best rivalries — notably when A&M bolted the Big 12 in 2012 to join the SEC. This year, Oklahoma moving into the SEC will likely end Bedlam, the annual matchup between the Sooners and Oklahoma State.

However, in this rare occurrence, Texas’ affiliation with the SEC preserves three important rivalry matchups that have deep histories in the annals of college football: A&M, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

A slick Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, dressed in white pants and a bright orange blazer, made note of this as a perk to the Longhorn’s addition to the conference. Longhorn defensive back Jahdae Barron, a self-proclaimed life long Texas fan, echoed the point with excitement.

However, he declined to rank which rivalry is more important to the Longhorn locker room.

“If you go so far down the years, even Arkansas is a traditional rivalry,” he said. “The only reason I know that is because I grew up a Texas fan, so I know all the rivalries and things like that. All three of those teams, those are rivalries. I wouldn’t rank any of them — all the different fans, they have takes on it.”

There is a game outside the actual game that has continued to fuel the animosity between both schools: Recruiting. The game that has lost its reality in a new generation of players has a tangible aspect when you look at the relationships built between other players and coaches during the recruitment process.

“It’s a very exciting game, especially just to think about the tradition of the game,” Longhorn offensive lineman Kelvin Banks Jr. shared. “Even just having former guys from high school that I knew playing on the team, it’s kind of a bragging rights situation.”

For example, both Ewers and Banks received offers from both Texas and Texas A&M, per 247Sports.com. For Banks, the decision was close between the two ‘great’ schools, he said.

“In my recruitment, I was kind of like, whoever I felt was the best fit and I just took off,” recalled Banks. “But, Texas is the best fit for me. A&M was a great program. They have great facilities — anything you really need as a college athlete. But, I just chose Texas.”

Since beginning college, Banks said he’s held fast to a relationship with A&M offensive lineman Kam Dewberry and defensive lineman DJ Hicks, and had previously played against defensive lineman Malick Sylla.

There are plenty of elder statesmen advising players on both teams on the meaning of the Aggie and Longhorn matchup. Barron specifically noted safeties coach Blake Gideon, who played for the Longhorns from 2008 through 2011, who has related stories of yonder years to the younger generations of players. Gideon played in that final 2011 Texas win over the Aggies and held a 3-1 record over A&M in his four college years.

The current Longhorn players are looking for similar bragging rights as the rivalry game that dates back to 1915 refreshes in 2024.

“I wouldn’t say [there was] trash talk, but even before we knew we were coming to the SEC it was a little chipper back and forth,” Banks said of his A&M friends.