Steve Sarkisian: Texas-Texas A&M rivalry deserves to stand alone in spotlight

Steve Sarkisian is eager for Texas–Texas A&M to have a national spotlight on Friday as the two teams renew their rivalry in Week 13. Kickoff in Austin is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Texas leads the all-time series 77-37-5 and won 17-7 in College Station last year. The 2024 edition was the first time the two teams played since 2011, also a Texas win.

Sarkisian and others are glad this rivalry is back. And with the Aggies ranking out No. 3 in the third CFP rankings (TBD on the fourth) and at 11-0, it’s a chance for the Longhorns to earn, perhaps, a season-altering win.

“I like that (for) this game that we get an opportunity to stand alone,” Sarkisian said. “Okay, so whether it’s Thanksgiving or Friday after Thanksgiving, I just think this game deserves the spotlight to stand alone, and the fact that we’re playing on Friday night with all the eyes of college football on it, really the football world on this game. I think this game deserves that. So whatever that looks like. Again, I’m not the decision maker on that. But I do think this is a great opportunity for us.

“You know, last year we were a Saturday night game, and we were up against some other games. So this year, being Friday night, I think it is good for the game.”

Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts echoed the comments made by Sarkisian. He predicted the game itself could stay on Black Friday, giving it the national spotlight.

“You have a lot of different factors,” Alberts said. “I do anticipate it will stay on Friday. Chris (Del Conte) and I talked about this a little bit — what you really want, from my perspective, you want this game to be in a window where you’re like, it. We believe that this game, and it already is — when two teams who invest so much in football and this game means a lot to them — this is a rivalry that has a chance. You want that to be in a prime time window when the entire focus on the country is on those two brands.

“So, we’re excited that it’s in prime time, we’re excited that it’s on Friday night. We think it’s a perfect time. I would anticipate, unless there’s something significantly that changes with our television partner or even numbers of conference games in the future, but for right now, I think it fits really nicely Friday night.”