The Texas A&M Football team has been in the news recently but not because of something they did. Rather, heads began to turn toward the Aggies when Texas and Oklahoma announced that they held an interest in joining the SEC.
The Aggies made a well-documented departure of the Big 12, where Texas and Oklahoma currently reside, back in 2021. This brought them to the SEC, where they joined a better overall conference.
Many fans suspected that they had left as a result of how the Texas Longhorns carried themselves in the conference, earning preferential treatment from the Big 12 as arguably the biggest brand around. Some believe that the last straw for the Aggies was the inception of Longhorn Network, though that is likely not the truth.
At the end of the day, the Texas A&M Football team saw a huge upgrade, joining a much better conference. This also saw them become the only program in the state of Texas in their conference.
The Texas A&M Football program wants to remain the only program in the state of Texas in the SEC
If Texas were to join the SEC, it would complicate the Aggies’ current plan. Texas A&M wants to be the only program in the state of Texas in the conference, which was made obvious by TAMU AD Ross Bjork. Here’s what Bjork said.
"“We want to be the only SEC program in the state of Texas. There’s a reason why Texas A&M left the Big 12 — to be stand-alone, to have our own identity and that’s our feeling.”"
This, among other things, created a stir that brought certain fans to believe that there was a chance of the Aggies leaving the SEC and returning to the Big 12. Fortunately, any rumors surrounding this were only that — rumors.
This was confirmed by Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle on Twitter.
Told zero chance Texas A&M considers exiting SEC over Texas and Oklahoma entrance: https://t.co/AaTgSnJRro
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) July 24, 2021
Texas A&M’s board of regents does still plan to meet on Monday to discuss SEC-related issues, but right now, this doesn’t seem like a situation capable of pushing the Aggies out of the Southeastern Conference, where they’ve already found a ton of success.
At this point, we can only wait and watch this situation unfold. At the end of the day, there’s no reason to suspect that the Aggies will switch up conferences, so it’s best to look at this through an optimistic lens.
Texas joining the SEC will be great for college football, reigniting one of the toughest rivalries in the sport.