Texas A&M athletic director sounds scared to schedule Texas

The Texas A&M Aggies and the Texas Longhorns used to play yearly. Now they don’t. While they could put something together, Texas A&M seems scared to do it.

The Texas A&M Aggies and the Texas Longhorns should meet on the gridiron every fall.

With conference realignment, this former football rivalry has gone to the wayside with Texas A&M leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, along with the Missouri Tigers in 2012. These two public universities in Texas despise each other and had a great football rivalry dating back to their days in the old Southwest Conference. But for now, we have no idea when they’ll ever play again.

Mark Passwaters, who covers Texas A&M for Rivals, tweeted out the following on Tuesday afternoon about what Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork thinks about putting Texas on future schedules: “Our position remains the same that we’re focused on other things right now and if that happens, let’s make it happen in the playoff.”

This sounds a lot like the Aggies have no interest in messing with Texas for the foreseeable future. Bjork may only be in his second year at Texas A&M University after spending the better part of the 2010s at SEC West rival Ole Miss. However, you just can’t pretend to duck your Power 5 in-state rival in non-conference play and think that’s going to be okay.

Though there could be challenges for Texas getting Texas A&M on its schedule because the Big 12 plays nine conference games annually, Bjork needs to find a way to bring this traditional rivalry back at least somewhat regularly. Could he echo the sentiment of a handful of SEC East teams who play an in-state ACC rival annually?

Teams like the Florida Gators, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Kentucky Wildcats and the South Carolina Gamecocks have annual rivalry games around Thanksgiving vs. the Florida State Seminoles, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Louisville Cardinals and the Clemson Tigers, respectively. With the ACC and the SEC playing only eight conference games, that makes scheduling significantly easier.

Then again, those four SEC East schools face a great deal of pressure to play their in-state rivals annually, so they really only have three games to work with on their schedule. Texas A&M has four at its disposal, while cross-divisional rival South Carolina only has three to work with. Bjork and the Aggies athletic department need to step up to the plate and take charge in the SEC West.

The other former Big 12 school Missouri had the stones to put the Kansas Jayhawks back on the schedule after the Border War died in 2011. Mizzou and KU need to play annually, as do the Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers. And those four rivals aren’t even in the same state! This isn’t that hard, but Texas A&M needs to gather up some confidence here fast.

Because they have more available games annually than Texas, Texas A&M needs to extend an olive branch and get this beloved rivalry back on the schedule. The Aggies can’t play the whole “oh, Texas is too good” card any longer. Texas isn’t back and won’t be back until the Longhorns win the Big 12 and reach the College Football Playoff. Texas A&M plays a tougher schedule anyway now.

If Texas A&M wants to be taken serious as an emerging football power under Bjork’s leadership and with Jimbo Fisher as a head coach, they need to get over their little brother complex, put the inherent pettiness aside and put the hated Longhorns on the schedule. Playing the tough card only works when people don’t think you’re afraid of your big brother. Step up to the plate. Get it done.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.