Dana Holgorsen on Texas, Texas A&M being in the SEC: Screw them

Dana Holgorsen is getting ready to lead Houston into the program’s first season in the Big 12. For nearly 30 years, the Cougars have not been a part of major college football. They now transition into a new-look Big 12 under commissioner Brett Yormark, hoping to establish themselves early on.

Come the 2024 season, there will be two teams from the Lone Star State who are not members of the Big 12 — Texas and Texas A&M. The Aggies left for the SEC following the 2011 season, and UT is going through one final dance in the conference.

You could say Holgorsen is not too big of a fan of either Texas or Texas A&M.

“When asked by a guest at his radio show about Texas and Texas A&M – and how those departures made the Big 12 less desirable – Houston coach Dana Holgorsen says those two schools are reason why Cougars were left out of Big 12 for nearly three decades,” Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle said via Twitter.

Holgorsen added — “Screw them. They can go wherever they want. They don’t want us and we don’t want them.”

From 1976 to 1995, Houston, Texas, and Texas A&M all shared a conference. The Southwest Conference was one of the fiercest in the country, mainly comprising of schools from Texas. Arkansas was the lone outsider before the Razorbacks started the trend of leaving in favor of the SEC.

The Big 12 was then formed in 1996, with Texas and Texas A&M taking Baylor and Texas Tech along with them. Left behind were Houston, Rice, SMU, and TCU. Big 8 schools filled out the rest of the newly formed conference and the rest were summoned to what became known as the Group of Five (until TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012).

Everyone involved with the Houston program back then likely had similar thoughts to the ones Holgorsen expressed. Folks in Texas can hold some grudges when it comes to football.

Those grudges can turn into potentially having bragging rights for a long, long time. Houston will get one shot at Texas as a Big 12 opponent when the Longhorns visit TDECU Stadium on Oct. 21. There has not been a meeting between the two in-state foes in the city of Houston since the 2001 season.

Unfortunately, Holgorsen will not get his shot at Texas A&M anytime soon. One chance at beating Texas will have to do, with the Houston head coach circling the calendar with a nice, red Sharpie.

His unfiltered thoughts on the matchup were made pretty clear on Tuesday.