One of the biggest tragedies of college football today is the discontinuation of several historic annual rivalries between former conference opponents. Like, say, Texas A&M vs. Texas.
Apparently, the higher-ups at Texas A&M aren't too torn up about the hiatus. According to a report from the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, Aggies athletic director Scott Woodward earlier this year received an offer from Longhorns AD Chris Del Conte for a home-and-home series in 2022-23. It would have been the first time they would have played since 2011, the year before Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC.
Woodward told Del Conte no.
“We were already booked,” Woodward told the Chronicle. “We’re booked 10 years out. He had an opening at the time, and it suited (Del Conte), but it didn’t suit us.”
Texas ended up going with a home-and-home against Alabama. A&M will play a home-and-home series those two seasons against Miami (Fla).
Del Conte confirmed the phone conversation in an interview with SportsDay. He said he reached out to Woodward after Ohio State — which had scheduled the Longhorns for 2022-23 — wanted to move their series to 2025-26 so the Buckeyes could play Notre Dame first. So Del Conte reached out to A&M to see if it had an opening.
"They did not," Del Conte told SportsDay. "No sweat off of my back. Fortunately Alabama did have openings in those two years."
Still, Woodward's decision not to move Miami to make room for Texas isn't necessarily deviant from A&M's past stance on the rivalry. Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp in 2017 said he'd like to renew it someday, but emphasized the Aggies' tough SEC schedule as a reason why it wouldn't work at the time.
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Woodward echoed those sentiments in his discussions with the Chronicle.
“We have a hell of a home schedule,” Woodward said. “You have Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State rolling in here every other year, and Arkansas in Dallas every year. That’s a pretty darn good schedule. And as brutal and hard as our schedule is in the SEC West … it’s definitely the toughest division in football. That’s proven year in and year out.
“You look at where national championships come from, and the caliber of play, and you see it every week. It’s hard on a team, and it’s a pounding. So you have to be careful how you schedule your nonconference games.”
So apart from that rugged SEC schedule, who will the Aggies play in nonconference play over the next several years? A high-profile home-and-home with Clemson takes precedent in 2018-19. From there, according to FBSchedules, A&M will play home-and-homes against Colorado (2020-21), Miami (2022-23), Notre Dame (2024-25) and Arizona State (2026-27).
For what it's worth, the Longhorns won that last meeting in 2011, winning 27-25 to give them a 76-37-5 advantage over the Aggies. And while Woodward's decision won't count on the board for either team, it's definitely a loss for both Longhorns and Aggies.
