Texas A&M AD Stands Firm On Lone Star Showdown

For back-to-back seasons now, the Texas A&M Aggies and Texas Longhorns have played on two different days of the week.

Reviewing the history of every season these two schools have met, it has always been on Thanksgiving night.

For the first time since the former members of the Big 12, the rivalry was renewed after both teams joined the SEC, and the programs met at Kyle Field. College Gameday made the trip to College Station, Texas, for the highly anticipated contest. Now, it is the City of Austin’s opportunity to welcome back the Maroon and White take on the Burnt Orange.

In the coming years, it appears that being scheduled on Turkey Day will not occur for hate week. So, when will one of the biggest rivalries in college football be matching up against each other?

Trev Alberts Remarks

Before the Aggies and Longhorns clash, there was an interesting press conference where AD Alberts made his way to the podium to make opening comments and take questions from reporters. When asked about the future of the two schools playing on Thanksgiving night, Black Friday, or Saturday, this was the latest report.

“You have a lot of different factors,” Alberts said in a press conference. “I do anticipate it will stay on Friday. Chris (Del Conte) and I talked about this a little bit — what you really want, from my perspective, you want this game to be in a window where you’re like, it. We believe that this game, and it already is, when two teams who invest so much in football and this game means a lot to them, this is a rivalry that has a chance. You want that to be in a prime time window when the entire focus of the country is on those two brands.

“So, we’re excited that it’s in prime time, we’re excited that it’s on Friday night. We think it’s a perfect time. I would anticipate, unless there’s something significantly that changes with our television partner or even number of conference games in the future, but for right now, I think it fits really nicely Friday night.”

Part of the reason that might factor into the decision could be the slate of NFL games now being played on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, which could take viewers away from both major college athletic brands.

Whether A&M and Texas continue to be in the primetime slot, typically on the ESPN/ABC network, remains unclear.

Both programs have their eyes on a bigger goal: securing a win. Punching a ticket into the college football playoffs is what the Longhorns hope to do if they can collect a colossal resume booster. As for the Aggies, they have eyes set on the prize: being one of the teams representing the conference at the SEC Championship Game and making a deep playoff run.

Live action between A&M and Texas begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, with the game streamed on ABC.