HOUSTON — Texas and Texas A&M will renew their football rivalry on a Saturday this fall, but both athletic directors this week expressed interest in playing the game on Black Friday in the future, instead of the traditional Thanksgiving night window it occupied when the teams last played in 2011.
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said he appreciates the Thanksgiving tradition but the NFL occupying that day makes Friday night more appealing. (The NFL held its first-ever game on Black Friday last November, with the Jets and Dolphins kicking off at 3 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video. The Raiders and Chiefs will play in the same window on Black Friday this fall.)
“There’s three NFL windows (on Thanksgiving),” Del Conte said Thursday. “For me, if it was up to my druthers, I’d like to play it on Friday night. It’d be great, unencumbered. The only game, the only show you think about from coast to coast. A Friday night game would be spectacular.”
The teams meet on Nov. 30 after a 13-year hiatus. The series, which dates back to 1894 and was played annually from 1915 to 2011, ended after Texas A&M joined the SEC. Texas joined the SEC on July 1.
“What I’m most in favor of is ‘What window do we own the best, particularly in prime time?’” Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts said. “I would not be surprised if, in the future, the game moves to Friday night.
“Obviously, we’ll work with our television partners. … the NFL has gotten more involved in different windows. We want this to be the premier prime time window.”
Texas leads the all-time series 76-37-5. The teams have met on Thanksgiving Day 70 times, with the longest such stretch occurring between 1939 and 1974. The teams played on Black Friday from 1997 to 2007 before returning to Thanksgiving for their last four meetings.
Both ADs said they hope the game is played annually. The teams are set to play in 2024 and ’25, but there’s still uncertainty regarding the future as the SEC works out its long-term conference scheduling plan. An eight-game league schedule with one permanent rival for each school and a nine-game schedule with three permanent rivals have been the most discussed options.
If each school had one permanent rival, Texas and Oklahoma would be paired up, meaning Texas-Texas A&M being played annually is not guaranteed, though Del Conte said Thursday that “there’s always room for debate” in the scheduling models.
“Not playing this game is not an option,” Del Conte said. “We’ve got to play this game.”
Alberts said he’s hopeful they can get there but he’s also cognizant of the various issues with scheduling, from the SEC determining its model to how it factors into the new College Football Playoff.
“I want it to (be) played every year,” Alberts said. “I think it’s important to Texas, I think it’s important to Texas high school football, all of it. It needs to be played every year.”
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(Photo: Brett Davis / USA Today)
