The Texas A&M Aggies waited 13 long years to extract the necessary measure of revenge against their fiercest rival, the Texas Longhorns.
Ever since Justin Tucker’s kick in 2011 framed what the victors called the “eternal scoreboard” in the in-state rivals’ last meeting, the Aggies have stewed. They have chirped. They turned their noses up and in the other direction. They even rebuilt their home field as a show of opulence and boasted loudly about the bold new era they embarked upon without the burnt orange in the SEC.
But most of all, they waited with anticipation for the day they could finally get one back between the lines on the Longhorns. They prepared as such, too, making sure there was not a luxury spared that could hold them back (nor a buyout too large to find the coach capable of doing it).
On Saturday night, back at Kyle Field to play No. 3 Texas yet again before a near-record 109,028 feverous fans, No. 20 Texas A&M had the opportunity, twice, to all but deliver on every one of those 13 years it spent waiting. Nine inches, give or take, from seizing momentum on a pair of fourth downs and delivering a much-needed catharsis to all that angst built up in a fan base that doesn’t know much outside it.
Each time, however, the Longhorns had a simple response to their far more experienced SEC foe in order to secure a 17–7 victory: No.
“A lot of those guys have been hearing, since the day it got announced that we were going to the SEC, that we were going to struggle going into the SEC. That it was going to be hard. That we were going to come into this environment tonight—and it was going to be the toughest environment in college football—and we wouldn’t be ready for it,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “There was a lot of things that we were challenged with that had been brewing inside of a lot of people inside that locker room, coaches and players included.
“That wasn’t a gimmick win. We didn’t hit trick plays, we lined up and played good, hard-nosed football and we executed. A couple balls didn’t bounce our way, but we won the game in a physical manner—which is what we know we needed to do in the Southeastern Conference.”
Win they did, and now it is the Longhorns, not their rivals with a 13-year head start, who will be playing next week in their very first SEC championship game—a berth in the College Football Playoff all but locked up in the process. The trip to Atlanta belies the fact that changing leagues is supposed to be hard. There’s far more involved than just updating a bunch of logos on uniforms and throughout the football facilities.
At Texas, though, they’re making things look easy even when it’s not.
0 Comments