Texas A&M’s move to the SEC in early 2012 essentially ended the historic 118-year rivalry between the Aggies and the Texas Longhorns.
But A&M president R. Bowen Loftin, a proponent of the move to the SEC, told the San Antonio Express-News’ Brent Zwerneman that he is all for the Aggies playing the Longhorns in football “anytime, anywhere.”
“I said it before, and I value my integrity,” Loftin said. “I said it two years ago and I meant it then. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t play each other, if we want to. I think they (Texas) will at some point in time feel like it’s the right thing to do, as well, and we’ll get there.”
Loftin, who is stepping down in January, believes that the rivalry will eventually happen again despite the teams now representing different conferences.
“I think that, left to ourselves, we will find a way to get together. We’ve already played them in other NCAA sports – swimming and diving had a meet with them,” Loftin said.
“I think over time there will be an engagement … that will allow us to appropriately play each other as nonconference rivals in a variety of sports.”
Loftin’s sentiments conflict with what A&M’s associate athletic Jason Cook said a few weeks ago.
“We hope to play them again in a BCS or playoff game at some point,” Cook said.
After Steve Patterson was hired as Texas’ athletic director, replacing longtime AD DeLoss Dodds (who was against UT playing A&M after they left the Big 12), the idea of a potential regular season contest between the two schools again was brought up.
Zwerneman goes on to write:
“While Cook offered no further explanation at the time, the message was evident: A&M, under the direction of outspoken chancellor John Sharp, no longer intended to schedule the Longhorns in football in the regular season, even if UT was up for it.”
With that said, those hoping for a rekindling of the rivalry may have to wait a little while longer. The schools last played Nov. 24, 2011 -- a Texas 27-25 win.
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