Across the whole century-plus-long span since Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin’s first gridiron get-together, the football rivalry has produced too many memorable moments to count. Most of these have, of course, taken place on the field—extraordinary plays, nail-biting victories and losses on both sides, and even a few instances of tomfoolery here and there. Who could forget 1965’s “Texas Special,” the flawlessly executed trick play pulled off by the Aggies that involved an intentionally bounced pass that appeared to be incomplete but was really just a lateral that resulted in a 91-yard touchdown?
The Texas A&M alumni association has produced a thorough, and thoroughly entertaining, chronology of the entire rivalry. But here, we’re keeping the focus off the field, where the schools’ mostly good-natured enmity has produced a slew of shenanigans that are equally memorable. Let’s take a look back.
1876
Texas A&M University, the state’s first public institution of higher education, opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.
1883
The University of Texas at Austin opens.
1893
UT fields its first football team. The school has yet to adopt the Longhorns as its nickname, and the team is known as the Texas Varsity.
1894
Texas A&M fields its first football team, and on October 20 of this year, the team plays UT for the first time. The game, which UT hosts and wins 38–0, is also the first intercollegiate football game in state history.
1915
Texas A&M hosts the rivalry game for the first time in College Station, with the Aggies prevailing 13–0.
1917
Aggies kidnap UT’s Longhorn mascot, Bevo, and brand him with “13–0,” a reference to A&M’s winning score from the 1915 game. (The name Bevo did not result from this event, as legend holds. In fact, the steer was named in 1916, before the 1917 kidnapping prank.)
1918
J. V. “Pinky” Wilson writes the lyrics to the “Aggie War Hymn” while serving in World War I. The tune, which will become A&M’s de facto fight song, makes a derogatory reference to UT with its famous line “Good-bye to texas university.”
1923
UT introduces “Texas Fight,” a song composed by law school alumnus Walter “Hunni” Hunnicutt that returns the favor with its lyric “And it’s goodbye to A&M.”
1938
Longhorns fans mark “BEAT A-M” on the grass of UT’s Memorial Stadium, and Texas beats the Aggies 7–6.
1948
A UT student attempts to prematurely ignite the Aggie bonfire by flying over the site in a “borrowed” plane and dropping homemade bombs consisting of gasoline and railroad flares.
1950
A&M students sneak into Memorial Stadium and plant oats on the field, which by game time visibly spell “A&M.”
1951
UT students sneak onto Kyle Field and sow seeds that sprout into a visible spelling of “TU.”
1963
A&M students kidnap Bevo and take him to College Station. UT students, in an act of retaliation, chemically burn the turf at Kyle Field with the name Bevo.
1972
After a group of students from Rice University fails to do so the month prior, a group of Aggies succeeds in kidnapping Bevo IX.
1990
Before the rivalry game in Austin, UT limits the number of caretakers who will be allowed on the field with A&M’s mascot collie, Reveille. “Two years ago, they came over here with 22 people, and we let them in,” UT events manager Al Lundstedt tells the Associated Press. “If we can handle a 1,500-pound steer with five people, I would think they could handle Reveille.”
UT’s events staff also bars the Aggies from bringing their cannon into Memorial Stadium, so A&M cannot fire the howitzer after scoring in the game. Aggie Don Johnson tells the AP: “They say [their cannon] doesn’t make as much noise as ours. Of course, ours has been firing more lately than theirs.”
1993
UT students kidnap a four-month-old Reveille VI the day after Christmas, ahead of A&M’s New Year’s Day matchup with Notre Dame at the Cotton Bowl. The beloved collie is returned unharmed on New Year’s Eve.
1999
At halftime of the game following the tragic bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured 27 more, the Longhorn band, performing on Kyle Field, carries A&M flags and plays solemn renditions of “Amazing Grace” and “Taps.”
2011
Before Texas A&M leaves the Big 12 Conference to join the SEC, the Aggies and Longhorns play one more rivalry game, in which UT wins 27–25, thanks to a last-second field goal from Justin Tucker, the ball sailing through the uprights as time on the game clock expires.
2024
Texas and Oklahoma join the Southeastern Conference. On November 30, the Longhorns and Aggies meet on the football field for the first time in thirteen years, and the rivalry resumes!
