Confused Californian Asks: Why Is A&M Our Rival?

[Lam Dinh]

Hey Longhorn family,

UT alum here (Class of 2011), born and raised in California, and I’ve got an honest question:

Why is Texas A&M considered one of our main rivals?

I’m not trying to start a fight—genuinely asking. Because when I look at what usually fuels a real rivalry, it comes down to some combination of envy driven by:

1. Football success

2. Academic standing

3. Location appeal

A true rivalry needs some give-and-take—each school should be able to claim superiority in at least one area. When one school checks every box, it starts to feel less like a rivalry and more like a one-sided plea for attention.

Let’s look at a few examples:

• Michigan vs. Ohio State – OSU has had the edge in the last 20 years in football, but Michigan still has national titles, tradition, and academic clout. They each count national titles and are the flagship public universities for their respective states.

• USC vs. UCLA – USC dominates football, but UCLA wins on academics and location (Westwood vs. South Central). This causes Trojan fans to want to desperately win the crosstown rivalry each year because it still reminds them of the areas where they are still inferior.

• Army vs. Navy – Equal footing in tradition and national respect.

Now compare that to Texas vs. A&M… and I’m having a hard time seeing it.

1. Football success?

By any objective football metric, Texas is clearly superior.
I understand the OU rivalry—they’ve got 7 AP titles, more conference wins, and are a top-5 all-time program. But what does A&M have that elevates them above the Baylors and TCUs of the world?

Metric	Texas	Texas A&M
AP National Championships	3 (1963, 1969, 2005)	1 (1939 — yes, really)
Total Wins (All-Time)	968+	770+
All-Time Win %	~.705	~.602
Conference Titles	32	18

2. Academics?

Texas is a Public Ivy with top-ranked programs across the board. A&M has its strengths, but unless you're majoring in animal science or cadet marching, it’s not a comparison.

3. Location?

Come on. Austin vs. College Station?
One is a major cultural and tech hub. The other... has a Tractor Supply and a Whataburger.

As someone who didn’t grow up in Texas, I can tell you:
Nobody outside the state even knows what state A&M is in unless you spell out “Texas A&M.”
It’s not hate—it’s just obscurity.

So I ask sincerely:
What exactly does A&M bring to the rivalry equation besides proximity and resentment?
Is it because RC Slocum had a good decade in the '90s?
Because 8–4 is now a celebrated tradition?
Because someone has to be UT’s in-state foil?

I don’t see A&M as a true rival. I see them like Baylor, TCU, or SMU—regional programs with occasional flashes but no sustained national presence. Heck, at least those three other programs have at least made a CFP. A&M is still waiting on that despite a 10 year lead in the biggest conference in America.

I’m open to being educated here. So please, explain it to this naive California Longhorn.

Hook ’em 🤘

Edited Wednesday at 11:48 PM by Lam Dinh

[Joe Zura]

Because @Gerry Hamilton picked them to beat us last year 

[horns96]

No disrespect, but if you grew up in Texas you wouldn't ask this question.  They're like mosquitoes.  Pretty harmless, but so annoying and persistent that you grow to hate them. Plus they sometimes cause serious disease, like the time the Aggy governor filled the UT Board of Regents with a bunch of saboteurs.

[Bobby Burton]

Historically, A&M has always been a rival to Texas, or since I was born at least. Texas was always big brother and A&M typically had the Napoleon complex.

If you’re raised in Texas and of a certain age, your parents or grandparents, etc., would tell “Aggie jokes”. And the Aggies were always the butt of the jokes.

 

[Lam Dinh]

Yes, it seems like a lot of the hatred/rivalry is passed on through family over the generations, which I can appreciate. My hatred has always burned hotter for OU because they actually won Big 12 titles, competed in the CFP, and brought home Heismans.

However, since joining the SEC last year I have felt my hatred grow for A&M (and my OU hate subside slightly) because we now have to share the same room, even though A&M has still achieved nothing to actually earn my hate, since going 8-4 and not winning conference champions is something that many lesser programs accomplish regularly.

In a weird way, I feel almost sorry to OU that I have had to split my overall hate tank with A&M now, when OU has done so much more to deserve it, LOL.

Maybe as a thought experiment, Is there a more lopsided "rivalry" that Texas vs. A&M? I can't think of one.

Edited Thursday at 12:26 AM by Lam Dinh

[Burnt Orange Horn]

1 hour ago, Lam Dinh said:

Hey Longhorn family,

UT alum here (Class of 2011), born and raised in California, and I’ve got an honest question:

Why is Texas A&M considered one of our main rivals?

I’m not trying to start a fight—genuinely asking. Because when I look at what usually fuels a real rivalry, it comes down to some combination of envy driven by:

1. Football success

2. Academic standing

3. Location appeal

A true rivalry needs some give-and-take—each school should be able to claim superiority in at least one area. When one school checks every box, it starts to feel less like a rivalry and more like a one-sided plea for attention.

Let’s look at a few examples:

• Michigan vs. Ohio State – OSU has had the edge in the last 20 years in football, but Michigan still has national titles, tradition, and academic clout. They each count national titles and are the flagship public universities for their respective states.

• USC vs. UCLA – USC dominates football, but UCLA wins on academics and location (Westwood vs. South Central). This causes Trojan fans to want to desperately win the crosstown rivalry each year because it still reminds them of the areas where they are still inferior.

• Army vs. Navy – Equal footing in tradition and national respect.

Now compare that to Texas vs. A&M… and I’m having a hard time seeing it.

1. Football success?

By any objective football metric, Texas is clearly superior.
I understand the OU rivalry—they’ve got 7 AP titles, more conference wins, and are a top-5 all-time program. But what does A&M have that elevates them above the Baylors and TCUs of the world?

Metric	Texas	Texas A&M
AP National Championships	3 (1963, 1969, 2005)	1 (1939 — yes, really)
Total Wins (All-Time)	968+	770+
All-Time Win %	~.705	~.602
Conference Titles	32	18

2. Academics?

Texas is a Public Ivy with top-ranked programs across the board. A&M has its strengths, but unless you're majoring in animal science or cadet marching, it’s not a comparison.

3. Location?

Come on. Austin vs. College Station?
One is a major cultural and tech hub. The other... has a Tractor Supply and a Whataburger.

As someone who didn’t grow up in Texas, I can tell you:
Nobody outside the state even knows what state A&M is in unless you spell out “Texas A&M.”
It’s not hate—it’s just obscurity.

So I ask sincerely:
What exactly does A&M bring to the rivalry equation besides proximity and resentment?
Is it because RC Slocum had a good decade in the '90s?
Because 8–4 is now a celebrated tradition?
Because someone has to be UT’s in-state foil?

I don’t see A&M as a true rival. I see them like Baylor, TCU, or SMU—regional programs with occasional flashes but no sustained national presence. Heck, at least those three other programs have at least made a CFP. A&M is still waiting on that despite a 10 year lead in the biggest conference in America.

I’m open to being educated here. So please, explain it to this naive California Longhorn.

Hook ’em 🤘

Just look at their football history.  Also Texas receives 2/3 of the interest off the Permanent Fund while aTm receives 1/3.  Very simple.

🤘🏻🤘🏼🤘🤘🏽🤘🏾🤘🏿

Edited Thursday at 12:53 AM by Burnt Orange Horn

[hookemrj13]

VERY good assessment though!!

[Migas & Fajitas]

2 hours ago, Lam Dinh said:

Hey Longhorn family,

UT alum here (Class of 2011), born and raised in California, and I’ve got an honest question:

Why is Texas A&M considered one of our main rivals?

I’m not trying to start a fight—genuinely asking. Because when I look at what usually fuels a real rivalry, it comes down to some combination of envy driven by:

1. Football success

2. Academic standing

3. Location appeal

A true rivalry needs some give-and-take—each school should be able to claim superiority in at least one area. When one school checks every box, it starts to feel less like a rivalry and more like a one-sided plea for attention.

Let’s look at a few examples:

• Michigan vs. Ohio State – OSU has had the edge in the last 20 years in football, but Michigan still has national titles, tradition, and academic clout. They each count national titles and are the flagship public universities for their respective states.

• USC vs. UCLA – USC dominates football, but UCLA wins on academics and location (Westwood vs. South Central). This causes Trojan fans to want to desperately win the crosstown rivalry each year because it still reminds them of the areas where they are still inferior.

• Army vs. Navy – Equal footing in tradition and national respect.

Now compare that to Texas vs. A&M… and I’m having a hard time seeing it.

1. Football success?

By any objective football metric, Texas is clearly superior.
I understand the OU rivalry—they’ve got 7 AP titles, more conference wins, and are a top-5 all-time program. But what does A&M have that elevates them above the Baylors and TCUs of the world?

Metric	Texas	Texas A&M
AP National Championships	3 (1963, 1969, 2005)	1 (1939 — yes, really)
Total Wins (All-Time)	968+	770+
All-Time Win %	~.705	~.602
Conference Titles	32	18

2. Academics?

Texas is a Public Ivy with top-ranked programs across the board. A&M has its strengths, but unless you're majoring in animal science or cadet marching, it’s not a comparison.

3. Location?

Come on. Austin vs. College Station?
One is a major cultural and tech hub. The other... has a Tractor Supply and a Whataburger.

As someone who didn’t grow up in Texas, I can tell you:
Nobody outside the state even knows what state A&M is in unless you spell out “Texas A&M.”
It’s not hate—it’s just obscurity.

So I ask sincerely:
What exactly does A&M bring to the rivalry equation besides proximity and resentment?
Is it because RC Slocum had a good decade in the '90s?
Because 8–4 is now a celebrated tradition?
Because someone has to be UT’s in-state foil?

I don’t see A&M as a true rival. I see them like Baylor, TCU, or SMU—regional programs with occasional flashes but no sustained national presence. Heck, at least those three other programs have at least made a CFP. A&M is still waiting on that despite a 10 year lead in the biggest conference in America.

I’m open to being educated here. So please, explain it to this naive California Longhorn.

Hook ’em 🤘

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Admit it: you used ChatGPT to generate this post 😏

[Bunk Moreland]

But seriously, growing up a Texas fan in the 90s, I developed an absolute hatred for A&M, even more than OU. The (w)rectum crew was actually really good and they felt much more dangerous to UT than did OU. Plus, having so much family that were ags was completely insufferable. It changed in 2000 with OU’s prolonged success and A&M fading back to its traditional irrelevance, but I never stopped despising them.

[Lam Dinh]

I appreciate the history of the two schools and it makes sense that A&M was more a threat in the 90s. My point is just that if we are truly one of the blue bloods of college football, we can’t let a program whose biggest accomplishment came prior to World War 2 to still suck this much oxygen out of the room when discussing Texas football. We should be talking way more about Georgia and Alabama, then care about what goes on in college station. 

[.45s]

2 hours ago, Bobby Burton said:

Historically, A&M has always been a rival to Texas, or since I was born at least. Texas was always big brother and A&M typically had the Napoleon complex.

If you’re raised in Texas and of a certain age, your parents or grandparents, etc., would tell “Aggie jokes”. And the Aggies were always the butt of the jokes.

 

The thing about Aggie jokes is that they are not really jokes.  They are all true.

[Waxahorn]

It started with the Texas Constitution and grew from there.

[Pwood]

There is mutual respect with OU - they are competitive even when they are not at their best. And, it’s the best game day atmosphere ever. 

Until we renewed the game I was able to pretty much ignore A&M fans; this year I was reminded how absolutely annoying they can be. I about the lack of equal footing - the financial, academic & record puts us a step above them, making them resent us that much more, as we look down on them. 

[Texas84]

I'm a UT grad and always considered OU our rival and aggy an annoyance. Like Tech or TCU.

[Sundancekid]

Being in a different conference for many years has numbed the antipathy Texas and Texas A&M have always had for each other. Texas and A&M have always been hated rivals due to proximity, history and Longhorn superiority at all things outside of agriculture… 

[Atticus]

Michigan / Michigan State

Oklahoma / Oklahoma State

Alabama / Auburn

USC / UCLA to an extent

It’s a state thing, but the blue blood (except Bama here) in the duo has a different team they consider their biggest rival.

Edited Thursday at 01:44 PM by Atticus

[CHorn427]

There was a period in the 80s and early 90s where the Aggies dominated us (with healthy help from extracurricular recruiting activity from what I’ve understood).

I think that period has made it more of a rivalry and given the Aggies at least something they can hang their hat on. Without that period, it is even more one sided than the overall record indicates.

 A common line from the Aggies is “Since 1979, the series is 17-17” or something like that. 

[VaHorn]

I think the question should be why has OU always been our main rival and not A&M. It certainly not proximity and definitely not academic rivalry.  It is because OU has always been a strong football program and the games usually have national significance. Even though Arkansas never surpassed OU as a rivalry during the SWC days it was certainly viewed as a bigger rivalry than A&M for the same reason. A&M has always been the biggest in-state rival. And there never has been any question about who A&M views as their biggest rival.

[jonbailey]

Imagine you are the first born son of your state and at age 7 mom and dad have another son. You did your best to be a good kid but the baby is the apple of your parent’s eye. Your younger brother gets the best room in the house while you are stuck in a tiny room with no AC / heat. At Christmas baby brother get twice as many gifts and all your other relative states know about him but your folks hardly talk about you. 

When you grow up baby brother is supper successful with a great job in an exciting new field while you stay in the same town and farm. As you watch your brother ascend to new levels of success you grow bitter and develop an inferiority complex. You bitterly complain to your buddies how you were first and all the success your brother has should have been yours. As the resentment grows you consume yourself with trying to prove that you are better than your younger brother, it’s all you think about. 

Your brother comes to town and asks if you want to play a game. Now, you may not have the nice house or the pretty wife but by god you are going to beat your brother at something if it’s the last thing you do. Your brother is annoyed that you are trying so hard, this was supposed to be fun, but if it’s a game you want then it’s a game you’re gonna get. Younger brother wins most of the time but the times you win you feel justified in all your bitterness and the cycle continues. That’s the A&M & Texas rivalry.

It’s a thing because we share a state and the existence of the University of Texas is viewed as an affront to the cult like Aggies. If the Ags cared at the same level as Texas it would be no different than playing Tech, Baylor or SMU. Tex vs OU is equal hate / respect. Tex vs A&M is one side hating and the other side disrespecting.

[Lam Dinh]

1 hour ago, jonbailey said:

Imagine you are the first born son of your state and at age 7 mom and dad have another son. You did your best to be a good kid but the baby is the apple of your parent’s eye. Your younger brother gets the best room in the house while you are stuck in a tiny room with no AC / heat. At Christmas baby brother get twice as many gifts and all your other relative states know about him but your folks hardly talk about you. 

When you grow up baby brother is supper successful with a great job in an exciting new field while you stay in the same town and farm. As you watch your brother ascend to new levels of success you grow bitter and develop an inferiority complex. You bitterly complain to your buddies how you were first and all the success your brother has should have been yours. As the resentment grows you consume yourself with trying to prove that you are better than your younger brother, it’s all you think about. 

Your brother comes to town and asks if you want to play a game. Now, you may not have the nice house or the pretty wife but by god you are going to beat your brother at something if it’s the last thing you do. Your brother is annoyed that you are trying so hard, this was supposed to be fun, but if it’s a game you want then it’s a game you’re gonna get. Younger brother wins most of the time but the times you win you feel justified in all your bitterness and the cycle continues. That’s the A&M & Texas rivalry.

It’s a thing because we share a state and the existence of the University of Texas is viewed as an affront to the cult like Aggies. If the Ags cared at the same level as Texas it would be no different than playing Tech, Baylor or SMU. Tex vs OU is equal hate / respect. Tex vs A&M is one side hating and the other side disrespecting.

I love the imagery of this response, haha. It’s true when one side of the “rivalry” cares so much more than the other, it feels almost like having an unwanted stalker. 

I hope we develop a new rivalry with Georgia or Alabama over the next decade because we are constantly competing for national championships, not for who gets more top in state recruits.

[jonbailey]

10 minutes ago, Lam Dinh said:

I love the imagery of this response, haha. It’s true when one side of the “rivalry” cares so much more than the other, it feels almost like having an unwanted stalker. 

I hope we develop a new rivalry with Georgia or Alabama over the next decade because we are constantly competing for national championships, not for who gets more top in state recruits.

Im here for it. Let OU have a lost decade of irrelevance and start another rivalry with an SEC blueblood. Aggies will stay the same regardless. 

[Oskies1279]

19 hours ago, Bunk Moreland said:

Admit it: you used ChatGPT to generate this post 😏

That may be, but I'd like to think that's his UT education kicking in 😂🤘🏼

Edited Thursday at 09:29 PM by Oskies1279

[Lam Dinh]

1 hour ago, Oskies1279 said:

That may be, but I'd like to think that's his UT education kicking in 😂🤘🏼

It doesn’t take artificial intelligence to come to the conclusion that A&M is not a real rival in anyone’s head other than theirs, haha. 

[caliHORNia]

23 hours ago, Lam Dinh said:

Yes, it seems like a lot of the hatred/rivalry is passed on through family over the generations, which I can appreciate. My hatred has always burned hotter for OU because they actually won Big 12 titles, competed in the CFP, and brought home Heismans.

However, since joining the SEC last year I have felt my hatred grow for A&M (and my OU hate subside slightly) because we now have to share the same room, even though A&M has still achieved nothing to actually earn my hate, since going 8-4 and not winning conference champions is something that many lesser programs accomplish regularly.

In a weird way, I feel almost sorry to OU that I have had to split my overall hate tank with A&M now, when OU has done so much more to deserve it, LOL.

Maybe as a thought experiment, Is there a more lopsided "rivalry" that Texas vs. A&M? I can't think of one.

Do you have kids?  Graduating 2011 odds are 50/50.  If you have multiple kids you know you don't split your love when the 2nd one comes, you find more love.

So it is with Rival Hate.  Once you accept them as your Rival, your hate will double like a gift from god.