A new proposed bill would require Texas A&M and Texas to play each other in football every year.
The Texas Tribune reported the following details:
A Texas House member wants to bring back an annual football game between the state’s two flagship universities: the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.
On Tuesday, state Rep. Lyle Larson, a San Antonio Republican who earned a bachelor’s degree from A&M, filed House Bill 412, which would require the two teams to “play a nonconference, regular-season football game against one another on the fourth Thursday, Friday, or Saturday of November each year.”
UT-Austin and A&M have played each other more than 100 times. But the annual game ceased when A&M moved to the Southeastern Conference. The last game was in 2011.
This is a great idea in theory, but it’s never actually going to happen. The reason why is incredibly simple. A&M, part of the SEC, has eight conference games, and Texas has nine in the Big 12. That leaves four and three non-conference games respectively. If this law were to pass, it would essentially lock in the game as their marquee non-conference game every single year.
There’s zero chance Texas is going to have to play A&M and then play another Power Five team in one of their remaining two conference games. Why would any school do that? It would make their schedule much more difficult. It would result in the Aggies and Longhorns playing every year, and then both teams scheduling cupcakes the rest of the way. That might get a lot more boring than people think. Fans might not like having to only play the same Power Five team in the non-conference every single year. (RELATED: The Final AP College Football Poll Of The Regular Season Is Here. Find Out Who Is Number One)
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Now, that’s not to say that I wouldn’t love to see Texas A&M and Texas play each other more often. Maybe, they could try to schedule each other once every four or five years. That seems much more reasonable and likely than playing every single year.
Football in Texas is like a religion and these two schools are by far the biggest and best.
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Let me be pretty clear here. This bill won’t and shouldn’t pass. Having said that, it’d still be cool to watch them play every once in awhile.