Texas governor says he wants Aggies and Longhorns to play football
Now that Texas and Texas A&M have unofficially met on the basketball court, Texas governor Greg Abbott wants to get the schools to play a football game against each other.
The two schools played each other in a charity basketball game for hurricane relief Wednesday night. The timing of the game was a bit awkward in the sports universe. The game, held in Houston, happened at the same time as Game 2 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Abbott was at the game wearing an Astros jersey. And when he chatted with reporters at the game, he made it clear that a football game is a priority.
“My next goal as governor is to reunite the Texas-Texas A&M football rivalry,” the governor, who is a Texas fan, said via the Houston Chronicle.
Much like Kansas and Missouri, who also played a charity game against each other Sunday and raised $1.8 million for hurricane charities, the Aggies and Longhorns haven’t played each other on the gridiron since A&M left for the SEC before the 2012 season. The exhibition basketball game was the teams’ first meeting since the Big 12/SEC split too.
Abbott’s goal of getting the rivals to meet has a supporter in Texas coach Tom Herman too. The first-year Texas coach has previously endorsed the idea of the two teams playing again. Perhaps the momentum from the charity basketball games can restart these two important regional rivalries. Soon.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
