'We'll be ready': Steve Sarkisian says his players will understand gravity of playing Texas A&M

November 24, 2011. Texas is playing Texas A&M at Kyle Field in College Station for the last scheduled time ahead of the departure of the Aggies for the Southeastern Conference. In a back-and-forth affair between teams coached by Mack Brown and Mike Sherman, Case McCoy‘s run and Justin Tucker‘s kick punctuate Texas’ farewell to A&M.

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Current Longhorns like Trey Owens, Ty’Anthony Smith, Colin Simmons, and Jordan Washington were in kindergarten the last time the Aggies and Longhorns met on the field. Even a sixth-year senior like David Gbenda was in fifth grade when Tucker’s kick sailed through the uprights. Players on the Texas roster older than Owens and company but younger than Gbenda were in elementary school when the 118th meeting between longtime rivals took place.

Those players know Texas A&M is a rival. They know the line “and it’s goodbye to A&M” from Texas Fight. But none of these players have lived out the rivalry on the field. The only person currently involved with UT football who knows what it’s like being on the burnt orange side of that rivalry is safeties coach Blake Gideon, who was a senior on that 2011 squad.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about this dynamic during his trip to the Houston Touchdown Club last week. Would players who were just learning how to add and subtract the last time UT and A&M played football be able to get up physically, mentally, and emotionally for a rivalry fans on both sides have waited over a decade to see?

“The question is about with all of the changes happening in college football like NIL, transfer portal, conference realignment, you name it — we’ve got a lot going on right now,” Sarkisian said. “But with that change what’s coming is renewing the rivalry with A&M and how to get our players that we recruit back into the vigor of that rivalry that I think y’all have enjoyed for decades and decades.

“It’s not hard at all. We’ll be ready.”

Sarkisian is no stranger to heated in-state rivalries. As a player at BYU, Sarkisian was 1-1 in the Holy War between the Cougars and the Utah Utes. In his first head coaching gig at Washington, Sarkisian was 4-1 against Washington State in the Apple Cup. He only took part in one Crosstown Cup against UCLA while at USC, losing in 2014.

At Texas, Sarkisian is yet to play against the Longhorns’ primary in-state rival. The last time he was calling the shots against a sworn enemy from inside the state lines, he was standing in for Nick Saban at Alabama during the 2020 Iron Bowl. The Tide rolled 42-13.

For Sark, the return of the Lone Star Showdown is a reason to be excited about college football in spite of all the seemingly constant upheaval.

“People are excited about some of the conference realignment that’s happening,” Sarkisian said. “People are excited about the expanded College Football Playoff. People are excited about rivalries getting renewed. Everyone’s worried about conference realignment that we’re losing rivalries? Well, there are some good ones getting renewed, too.”

Texas is leaving behind some longtime battles as it departs the Big 12. There are no scheduled meetings between Texas and in-state schools Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, and Houston, programs that shared a conference with UT in both the Southwest Conference and the Big 12. Though there’s history between the Longhorns and those schools, none rise to the level of “primary in-state rival” from the burnt orange perspective.

New ones are either returning or getting a new spin. Texas does see an old SWC foe in Arkansas this year. Of course, Oklahoma is making the SEC move along with the Longhorns. The Red River Shootout isn’t going anywhere, but it will remain a conference matchup — something the rivalry was not for much of its history.

All that comes with Texas’ move to the SEC.

“I think we have a very talented football team that has a really challenging schedule coming up,” Sarkisian said. “It’s finally here. We finally get to go to the SEC. This has been ongoing now for three years, this talk of going to the SEC. Now, it’s a reality.”

Sarkisian should understand what it’s like to play Texas A&M. The same season he topped Utah in the Holy War in 1996, Sarkisian led the Cougars past No. 13 Texas A&M in the season opener thanks to a furious fourth-quarter comeback. Sark finished 33-for-44 for 536 yards and six touchdowns to one interception in a 41-37 win over the Aggies.

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When it comes time for toe to meet leather on November 30, 2024 in College Station, over 4700 days since Texas left Kyle Field with a win in the most recent iteration of the rivalry, Sarkisian is fully confident his team will be prepared to take part in a rivalry dormant since the players were in grade school.