Where Will the First Game of Reignited 'Lone Star Showdown' Be Played?
With the Texas Longhorns' move to the Southeastern Conference in 2024, at some point we will get the highly anticipated return of the "Lone Star Showdown."
The SEC voted June 1 to initially have an eight-game conference schedule in 2024 and two annual rivals with intentions to move to a nine-game conference slate later on down the road, according to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, that could potentially allow for annual meetings between the Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies.
Where would the first game in the rivalry's return be played, though? Texas A&M athletics director Ross Bjork has made it clear that he wants the first game played in College Station.
"He's drawn his line in the sand that the first game is going to be played right here across the street at Kyle Field," TexAgs' Billy Liucci said on "The Paul Finebaum Show" Tuesday. "[Texas athletics director] Chris Del Conte acts like he's not aware of that at all. That's going to be fascinating where that first game will be played."
When Texas A&M left the Big 12 in 2012, it was unclear whether the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry that played annually from 1915 to 2011 would ever return. Now, it will and Bjork wants the revival "as soon as we can," wanting to play Texas every year.
Liucci said the Lone Star Showdown's first game needs to be played at Kyle Field after Bjork's declaration that it will be or else "there's going to be a lot of upset fans." Liucci said the importance of the first game's location being in College Station is potentially due to the thought that the rivalry was never going to return.
"It's almost like, 'Hey, you owe us one after all that,'" Liucci said. "I don't think the SEC would think of it that way. They certainly wouldn't say, 'Hey, we owe you one. We're going to do this,' but it sure seems to me like the A&M athletic director has been led to believe, or even told, that that first game's going to be there."
You can follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419
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