Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp splashed a little fuel on a simmering fire between the Aggies and Texas when he took a couple jabs at the Longhorns during an interview with the Texas Tribune.
Sharp told the Tribune (via a transcription by the Dallas Morning News) that when he first took the job at A&M he was asked to inquire about rekindling the rivalry between the two Texas schools. Sharp said he had lunch with University of Texas chancellor Francisco Cigarroa and University of Texas president Bill Powers and they had no interest in restarting the rivalry.
“I mean, we did go to them. We asked them to play,” Sharp said. “I will say there is less enthusiasm among the Aggie network now than there was back then. We have new friends and we like playing LSU and we like playing these folks. We’re hopeful that sometime in the future there will be a bowl game that we’re able to play in, you know, if [Texas] gets there. But the great thing about playing us is that you can get on real TV if you play us.”
Did you note those two little jabs at the end about the Longhorn Network and Texas’ struggles in past years?
Ah, once a rivalry, always a rivalry, even if it’s been dormant for a few years. It should be noted that Sharp told the Texas Tribune he was kidding after his remarks, but it was definitely too late to backpedal at the point.
While the subject of whether this rivalry will come back or not seems to be a yearly offseason topic, it’s apparent that neither side is going to be quick to say they want to play it.
Still, the verbal barbs should be enough to keep the bad blood between these two programs boiling.
For more Texas A&M news, visit AggieYell.com.
For more Texas news, visit Orangebloods.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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