On August 19, 1894, Texas and Texas A&M met on a football field for the first time. Both schools had just started their programs and since they were only 100 miles apart, why not play a game? There was no way to know that over the next 100-plus years this would grow into one of the fiercest, most celebrated, and wildest matchups in America. From 1915 until 2011, the Longhorns and Aggies battled in the Lone Star Showdown every season. Both schools enjoyed dominance and weathered dry spells—but regardless of how well each team was doing, this was the game that had to be won. When the Aggies moved to the Southwestern Conference as part of realignment in 2011, leaving the Longhorns in the Big 12, a host of traditions appeared to lose their meaning without that game on the schedule. But when Texas announced that it, too, would be joining the SEC starting in 2024, it meant just one thing for the proudest state in the union: Let the anticipation—and trash talk—begin again.
