Aggies, Longhorns renew storied series with 'everything' to play for

Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s Monday press conference.

Huge football rivalries are nothing new to first-year Texas A&M coach Mike Elko. He has been involved in some grudge matches throughout his playing and coaching career.

He played for Penn against Princeton. He was an assistant coach for Notre Dame against USC. He led Duke against North Carolina.

But Elko acknowledges that rivalries are dwarfed by the Texas-sized feud of Texas A&M and Texas, which resumes on Saturday at Kyle Field.

“I think North Carolina-Duke is the one I associate most with,” Elko said on Monday. “Obviously, Notre Dame-USC was one that you felt when you were there. It certainly meant a lot to people, but the proximity wasn’t there. I always come back to proximity matters an awful lot. Then you go way back to the I-75 rivalry (Bowling Green vs. Toledo).

“The magnitude of this one (A&M-Texas) is obviously pretty large. When you put the football side of it in, it’s going to be the biggest one I’ve been a part of.”

Yes. The football side of it. The winner advances to face Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game on Dec. 7.

But even if a championship wasn’t at stake, this game would be in the national spotlight.

The programs — separated by just 90 miles of disgust, distaste and detestation — have played almost annually since 1894.

But when Texas A&M announced its intentions of moving from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference, then-Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds canceled the annual series after the 2011 clash.

“Even though it hasn’t been played, it just doesn’t feel like it’s ever left the fabric,” Elko said. “I’m a guy who isn’t from Texas, isn’t familiar with Texas A&M, spent four years here as defensive coordinator, and I know what this game is all about.

“Even though it hasn’t been played, I don’t think it’s been removed from the psyche as maybe it feels. I think our kids are very much aware of what it’s all about.”

After the 13-year break, the series resumes.

But current players were in elementary school the last time the Aggies and Longhorns squared off.

So, it raises the question if the hiatus affected the hatred. It probably didn’t.

“It’s going to be the most amazing atmosphere I’ve ever experienced,” A&M tackle Trey Zuhn III said. “I can't wait for that, and I feel bad for Texas having to play in that. I’m looking forward to it.

“I was born and raised an Aggie, so I’ve been dreaming about playing in this game my whole life. It’s finally here, and it’s such an honor to be able to play in it.”

Although Zuhn’s family members are Aggies, he is from Colorado. Indeed, he is among eight potential A&M offensive starters who are from out of state.

Elko admitted he had to educate some players to fully understand the magnitude of the game.

Zuhn has been one of the educators.

“At first, some of the guys weren’t fully grasping what this game means and how important it is,” Zuhn said. “Now that we’ve gotten close and now it’s game week, everyone understands how big this game is and how much they need to lock in and focus on this game.”

Quarterback Marcel Reed, who grew up in Tennessee, admitted he had much to learn about A&M-Texas.

"I really didn’t understand the significance, but now I do,” he said. “Now, I understand the rivalry. A lot of people know that football in Texas is just different. This game coming back is going to be big for our university, their university and the state of Texas.”

Linebacker and team captain Taurean York didn’t need a crash course. A native from Temple, he knows about A&M-Texas hostilities. He said it would be like playing “Alabama, Notre Dame and LSU … on steroids.”

He also knows the Longhorns didn’t recruit him. So, maybe he has a score to settle.

“They stayed 50 minutes away from me (in Austin),” York said. “They came on a helicopter to see my best friend Mikal (Harrison-Pilot, who now plays at Texas Tech). They showed love to him. They didn’t recruit me or offer me.

“But it was just cool, honestly. They landed a helicopter in our parking lot. But they still weren’t paying attention to me. I didn’t invest too much into those guys, anyway.”

No doubt, everyone will be fully invested on Saturday.

A chance to win an SEC Championship is up for grabs. Perhaps a chance to get into the College Football Playoff field is at stake. And there is a lot of pride at stake.

“I’ve said this from Day One: When you have two programs as large as these two programs, are as close to each other as they are, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for them not to play,” Elko said. “It always felt weird not playing. Now, to be playing and to be playing for what we’re playing for … I imagine it will be pretty electric on Saturday.”

A gift from God…and Oklahoma

A 43-41 loss to Auburn last weekend could have — maybe should have — eliminated the Aggies from SEC Championship contention.

But with Florida’s upset of Ole Miss and Oklahoma’s upset of Alabama, the Aggies remain alive.

Andrew Kilzer, TexAgs

Dating back to 1894, Texas A&M and Texas have faced off on the gridiron 118 times. The Longhorns hold a 76-37-5 lead.

If they defeat Texas, they will play Georgia for the SEC title.

“I was not a happy camper after we lost,” York said. “But when I found out we had a chance to still go to the SEC Championship, it gave us a little bit of hope.

“We came up one play short (vs. Auburn). That’s how it goes sometimes in football. But to understand that we can still go play in Atlanta … that’s God’s gift. We have to take advantage of it.”

The Ivy League-educated Elko was confident the Aggies were still alive as he was running SEC tie-breaker scenarios through his brain after the loss to Auburn. But he wasn’t 100 percent sure the Aggies were still in contention.

“I kind of had an idea with how things had broken out,” Elko said. “You have some of those tie-breakers on your mind.

“We obviously talked about the disappointment in what we didn’t do right, but we quickly shifted. I told them I’m 90 percent sure this (Texas) game still means everything. We found out quickly after that I was right on that.

“This game was going to be important to us no matter what. It’s important within the terms of Texas A&M and what we stand for in the rivalry part of it, but now also in terms of our individual goals of getting to Atlanta.

“It’s what you hope for. You hope to get to the last game of the year playing for everything. We’re in the last game of the year, playing for everything.”

NOTES

• Guard Chase Bisontis, who missed three games with an injury, played some vs. Auburn. He’s expected to be back in action vs. Texas.
• Cornerback Will Lee III and nickelback Jaydon Hill exited the Auburn game early with injuries. Elko said they were minor injuries and anticipates both will be ready to go vs. Texas.
• Elko did not rule out a return of running back Rueben Owens, who has been out since August because of injury. “Rueben is running, moving,” Elko said. “We’ll see where it goes.”