Saturday, November 30, 2024

Football 2024: Fourteenth Week (Texas U)

The regular season comes to an end tonight, and there are several rivalry games being played in various college football stadiums this weekend. One of them will see a bitter rivalry that lasted over a hundred years resumed at Kyle Field when Texas U (10-1) visits Texas A&M (8-3). The game will be televised on ABC at 6:30 PM Central.

About this so-called rivalry: Texas U has the upper hand with a 76-37-5 record. The most recent game was played at Kyle Field on 11/24/2011, Mike Sherman was coaching the Aggies, who lost the game 27-25. The most recent A&M win was the previous year (2010) in Austin, final score 24-17. Assuming the Aggie seniors are all about 21 years old, they would have been about eight years old when the most recent A&M vs Texas U game was played. Assuming the freshmen are all about 18 years old, they would have been five years old then. The point is, how relevant is this historic rivalry game to players who were children the last time it was played?

The Texas U longhorns are 5 1/2 point favorites, and A&M has been stomped at South Carolina (4-3) and lost in OT at Auburn (4-6). Texas U has lost only once, to powerhouse Georgia. Although the longhorns have a more impressive season record, College Football News has predicted the Aggies will somehow win tonight in a 24-23 squeaker. We'll see about that.

Update 10:58 PM Saturday: Texas A&M couldn't get much accomplished on offense or defense in the first half, which ended with Texas U ahead 17-0. We left the game and watched episodes of Cheers-Season One on DVD instead, which was much more entertaining. The final score was 17-7.

Update added Sunday morning: The only score in the second half of last night's game came with about six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Aggie DB Will Lee III (a junior transfer from Kansas State) intercepted a longhorn pass and returned it 93 yards for an Aggie touchdown. I saw it on a highlight video after the game, but it was too little, too late. That's becoming typical as the 2024 season crawls to another disappointing finish.

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