As the rivalry returns to Austin, Texas has won many important games over the Aggies on the 40 Acres

For the first time since 2010, the Texas A&M Aggies are traveling to Austin to battle the Longhorns. Texas is looking to defeat A&M in Austin for the first time since 2008 considering the Aggies won the 2010 contest 24-17.

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“This should be a great ballgame,’ Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “When you think about it, this is the 120th meeting between Texas and Texas A&M in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown. It’s awesome. It was great to play them last year in renewing the rivalry and going to Kyle Field. Now to have A&M back here in DKR for the first time since 2010, 15 years ago was the last time they were here, I think is great for the rivalry. I know our fans our excited about it, I’m sure their fans are excited about it, but I know our players are too.”

A win for Texas on Friday would not only give the Longhorns their first win over a top-five Aggies team since 1957, it would provide Sarkisian’s program another strong bullet point on what it hopes would be a College Football Playoff-worthy resume.

It would be a massive win not only for the 2025 Longhorns, but for the Texas Longhorns program. There have been a few of those in Austin over the Aggies over the years…

1894 – Texas 38, Texas A&M 0

The first of many. The Austin Daily Statesman said “the ‘Varsity discounted the Agricultural and Mechanical College Boys in strength, size, and ability” in a contest played in Hyde Park. The article below describes what appears to be an entirely different game.

The game wouldn’t be played again until 1898, and it wouldn’t become a regular yearly matchup until 1915 when Texas played in College Station for the first time. The 1894 edition was the first of 77 wins for Texas over the Aggies and the beginning of one of college football’s best rivalries.

1940 – Texas 7, Texas A&M 0

Entering the 1940 season, the Aggies were on the hunt for a second straight national championship. A&M proceeded to run through the Southwest Conference, allowing 21 total points in five league contests. A&M was ranked in the top five throughout the 1940 campaign and would have enjoyed a reasonable claim for a title if it had defeated the Longhorns.

Well, Texas had different plans. The Longhorns snapped A&M’s 19-game win streak and prevented the Aggies from claiming an outright SWC crown. The loss may not have knocked A&M off the championship perch as Minnesota defeated Wisconsin and maintained its hold on the No. 1 ranking into the final AP poll for the Golden Gophers’ fourth title in seven seasons. But it was notable nonetheless. The win for the Horns also started an 11-year stretch where the worst result for Texas was a 14-14 tie in 1948.

1974 – Texas 32, Texas A&M 3

The AP Poll was first released in 1936, ranking 20 teams. There was a brief spell from 1961 to 1967 where only ten teams were given a ranking in the weekly poll, but it returned to 20 in 1968 before its eventual expansion to 25 in 1989.

Before the 1974 game, there had never been a Lone Star Showdown where both the Longhorns and the Aggies were ranked. One team would enter with a number by its name but never both.

That changed on November 29, 1974. Texas was ranked No. 17 while the Aggies were No. 8. In games like that, special players can create special moments. That’s exactly what a freshman named Earl Campbell did on that day.

Campbell logged 28 carries for 127 yards in the first of his two wins over the Aggies. He was aided by two Marty Akins rushing touchdowns and a score from Raymond Clayborn. A&M produced a paltry 152 yards in 64 plays in a frigid game that had a 20 degree wind chill and 20-30 mph winds. The Aggies would get a semblance of revenge in 1975 with a 20-10 win over the Longhorns to not only keep UT from winning the SWC outright but to also earn a share of the title themselves.

Campbell would get the last laugh on A&M in 1977 when he rushed for 222 yards and three touchdowns in his Heisman season.

1990 – Texas 28, Texas A&M 27

The late 1980s and early 1990s weren’t kind to Texas in the rivalry. A&M won every edition of the showdown from 1984 to 1989 and only two of those games were within one possession.

But nothing would stand in the way of the Longhorns’ ‘Shock the Nation’ tour. Texas recovered from a September loss to Colorado with an eight-game win streak to climb to No. 5 in the AP poll ahead of the battle with the Aggies. That No. 5 ranking was Texas’ loftiest since the 1984 season.

Texas took a 28-21 lead with 8:30 remaining, but Bucky Richardson and the Aggies responded with a touchdown to make it 28-27. Rather than kick the PAT, R.C. Slocum went for two. Mark Berry prevented A&M’s Darren Lewis from reaching the end zone, and Texas held on to win and take home the outright SWC title.

1998 – Texas 26, Texas A&M 24

Arguably the most important game in the history of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the details known far and wide about this game focus on Ricky Williams. Needing a handful of yards to break Tony Dorsett‘s all-time rushing record, Williams etched his name in college football history and recorded his Heisman moment with a 60-yard first quarter run to put Texas up 10-0.

Williams’ accomplishment is what sticks out about this contest, as do his 259 rushing yards. However, Williams fumbled three times and Texas surrendered possession on two of them. Texas A&M even took a late 24-23 lead with 2:30 left in the game.

The Aggies had already locked up the Big 12 South. Williams had locked up the record. Bragging rights remained at stake, and Major Applewhite made sure that Texas claimed them in Mack Brown‘s first season in Austin.

Applewhite led an 11-play, 70-yard drive where he was 7-for-8 for 55 yards and added an eight-yard rush of his own. He put Texas on the Aggies’ seven-yard-line and set up Kris Stockton for his game-winning field goal. Williams had his Heisman moment, Brown had his first signature home win, and Texas was never the same.

Got other memories of the Longhorns defeating the Aggies in Austin?