Texas Football: Tom Herman wants to play Texas A&M

The Lone Star Showdown reactivation conversation is starting to get brought up with the Texas football program if any changes are made for 2020.

With the status of the 2020 college football season still largely up in the air for a number of Power Five teams around the country, the Texas football program is no exception. But as it stands now, the Big 12 and Texas still plan on playing a full 2020 regular season schedule. But all that is still subject to change in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

All college football conferences in each division were subject to major alterations to their planned 2020 season schedules. A good portion of the subdivision conferences, and lower divisions, at least moved their season out to the spring semester, if the logistics all work out in that regard.

But all of the Power Five conferences at this time at least are trying to salvage some version of a college football season in the fall. It looks as if the Big Ten and PAC-12 are officially decided on trying to do nothing more than a conference-only schedule during the regular season.

Meanwhile, the Big 12, ACC, and SEC are all trying to make something of a non-conference schedule to whatever degree that is able to work out.

There is one narrative that will be spun, depending on the alterations made to the 2020 season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that will develop a lot of intrigue around the Longhorns and an in-state rival of theirs. If Texas has to adjust the schedule for this fall, then the questions are going to come about whether they are able to make something happen with the Texas A&M Aggies to reignite the Lone Star Showdown.

And this is something that head coach Tom Herman appears to be in favor of. In a recent teleconference earlier this week, Herman stated that he “would love” to play the Aggies. But it also sounds like that discussion didn’t go so well before between Texas and Texas A&M to try and reactivate the currently dormant rivalry.

Since both the Longhorns and Aggies have their non-conference schedules still in tact as it stands now, any discussion to get the Lone Star Showdown going again is a moot point. But further changes to the 2020 season could bring that discussion about in a valid sense.

Texas is set to open up the 2020 season against the South Florida Bulls on Sep. 5 at home. Meanwhile, Texas A&M is opening up their season also on Sep. 5 against the FCS Abilene Christian Wildcats at home. These two rivals haven’t met on the gridiron since 2011.