Game time, date announced for Lone Star Showdown between Texas A&M, Texas

The 2025 Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown between bitter rivals Texas and Texas A&M will kick off at 6:30 pm CT on Friday, Nov. 28, in Austin, the Longhorns announced Thursday. This is just the second game in the renewed football rivalry since Texas joined the SEC ahead of the 2024 season.

While the Aggies-Longhorns rivalry game has been a Thanksgiving weekend tradition, this year’s edition will mark the first time it will be played on Black Friday since 2007. Prior to last season’s renewal, which was played on a Saturday, the last four Lone Star Showdown games were all held on Thanksgiving Day from 2008-11. Before, though, the game was played on the Friday after Thanksgiving from 1996-2007.

The visiting Longhorns won last year’s meeting 17-7 inside Texas A&M’s Kyle Field in College Station, which was the first since 2011, the year before the Aggies joined the SEC. It gave Texas a two-game win streak in the Lone Star State rivalry that dates back to 1894.

The 2025 edition of the rivalry series will be the 120th all-time meeting, with the Longhorns holding a 77-37-5 all-time advantage, and is the first meeting in Austin since 2010, with the last two games held in College Station. Texas has won four of the last five games in the series, with the last loss coming in the 2010 game in Austin.

Report: ESPN willing to pay ‘range’ of $50-80 million more for 9th SEC game

ESPN is willing to pay a range of $50-80 million more to the SEC for a ninth conference game, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand and Seth Emerson reported. The league is expected to renew discussions about expanding the league slate from eight games to nine.

The network has not made a formal offer, according to The Athletic, and the exact amount of additional money ESPN is willing to pay is also not clear. A nine-game SEC schedule was discussed last year, but tabled as the College Football Playoff got ready to expand to 12 teams.

Commissioner Greg Sankey cited the need to see how the committee weighs strength of schedule in the decision to hold off on a decision. Additionally, Oklahoma and Texas joined the league, and those additions played a role in avoiding a final move.

The 2024 season marked the SEC’s first under its exclusive media rights deal with ESPN and ABC. It turned into an impressive debut for the Disney networks as eight of the 10 most-watched teams in college football came from the SEC. Sankey also said Disney would have a seat at the table for discussions about an expanded schedule.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.