Texas Football: Tom Herman wants to schedule Texas A&M again

A matchup set during the regular season between the hated in-state rivals Texas football and Texas A&M doesn’t look to happen anytime soon.

There is a lot of discussion going around lately pertaining to the potential rejuvenation of the currently dormant Lone Star Showdown rivalry game between the Texas football program and Texas A&M Aggies. Texas athletic director Chris del Conte talked on the matter with Horns247 earlier this week, and now the football program’s head coach is speaking out on it.

The Texas Longhorns football program and Texas A&M have not met in a meaningful game on the gridiron since the 2011 season. Texas A&M would bolt from the Big 12 to join the SEC West the following season. And once the Johnny Manziel-era began in College Station, most of the Aggies fan base would not look back for a while.

For the significant future, the Longhorns and Aggies have their non-conference regular season schedules filled out. At least for the next five years, the Longhorns and Aggies would either have to meet in a general bowl game or the College Football Playoff to be able to face each other on the gridiron once again.

In a radio show with 1010 XL/92.5 FM (out of Jacksonville, FL) this week, Texas head coach Tom Herman talked about his thoughts on potentially reactivating the now dormant Lone Star Showdown. Here’s what he had to say on the matter (monologue thanks to Horns247).

"“I hope so. Again, I’ve been on the record numerous times (about the game),” Herman said. “We don’t play a traditional rival at home ever. We used to with Texas A&M but we play Oklahoma in Dallas every year. I know this, Georgia and Georgia Tech find a way to play every year; South Carolina and Clemson find a way to play every year; Florida-Florida State; Iowa-Iowa State, I mean the list goes on and on and on.“Rather than getting on a plane to Columbus, Ohio, let’s get on a bus and go an hour to an hour and a half East and play our rivals every year. I think it would be fantastic for the state and fantastic for the players. We play 10 Power Five schools and nine of those are in the league. If you want another Power Five school to be on the docket, I think (Texas A&M) would be great.”"

There are times when Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher expressed his wanting to get the Lone Star Showdown back up and running in football too. But nothing tangible looks to be in the works anytime soon. It doesn’t matter if Herman and Fisher both want to face each other again if the athletic directors and boosters don’t want to take the risk.

In the all-time series in the Lone Star Showdown between Texas and Texas A&M, the Longhorns own the edge with a record of 76-37-4). The last meeting between these two in-state rivals resulted in a close 27-25 win for Texas on the road in College Station, at the end of the 2011 regular season.

Both the Longhorns and Aggies finished up their 2019 campaigns with bowl wins over other Power Five opponents, and with eight wins a piece. There’s not a clear argument for which is the more successful program since splitting apart, at least by any significant margin. That conversation does change, though, if you look back to when they were Big 12 foes.