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I have to give credit for our friends over at Good Bull Hunting for jumping when the possibility presented itself - there might be some real grit to all of this. Obviously the COVID-19 situation has forced difficult decisions for athletic directors across the board, but the Pac-12 recently has taken it a step farther by suggesting their schools play conference opponents all season.
The Pac-12 has discussed an 11-game football schedule, all played against conference opponents. Among the league's non-conference games: Arizona at Texas Tech, Colorado at Texas A&M, TCU at Cal, Oregon St at Ok St plus Bama-USC at AT&T Stadium.https://t.co/VhxvpwzU49
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) May 12, 2020
While there’s been some humorous discussion that the fallout from this would have Alabama and TCU facing off there’s a much sweeter connection waiting to be made. If the Pac-12 goes ahead with a total conference schedule in 2020 it would pull the non-conference games between Texas Tech/Arizona and Texas A&M/Colorado. What’s even more interesting? They’re both scheduled on the same day (September 19).
Ever since the Aggies left the Big 12 to pursue greener pastures in the SEC, we (and I mean as a nation) have had to endure non-stop, gruelingly incessant chatter from both Texas and Texas A&M fans about renewing their rivalry. And while I’m sure our friends at Good Bull Hunting mean it when they say “Aggies are very happy with life in the SEC,” I know they want a taste of that deep seeded multi-decade hate that just feels oh so good during football season - and they’ll get that with the Red Raiders.
A number of Texas A&M fans who try to lord over Texas Tech as some kind of wanna-be rival, but did you know that the Red Raiders and Aggies share a more competitive history than Aggies and Longhorns? It’s absolutely true. Since 1945 Texas Tech and Texas A&M have gone 32-32 and since 1990 it’s been 11-11. In the same time the Aggies’ luck against the Longhorns has been... well, just take a look for yourself.
Now one issue is that both the Arizona and Colorado games were supposed to be home games for Tech and A&M - nobody wants to suddenly concede a home game for your rival. This might be a perfect time to cash in on a neutral site match at either AT&T Stadium or NRG in Houston (since AT&T has a Cowboys’ game the following day). Regardless of the venue it’s still going to take some convincing on both sides, but with the nature of necessity this might become the perfect storm. Who knows, maybe it’s a good time to reignite an old rivalry and, if things go well, start a new Big 12/SEC bridge to savor for years to come.