SEC accidentally trolls Texas with wrong fight song as Steve Sarkisian hits the stage

There are certain things you just don't do in the state of Texas. Put beans in your chili, for starters. But even more importantly: Never, ever get caught confusing UT with Texas A&M.

You'd think that the folks at the SEC would know that better than anyone. After all, they're the conference that brought these two long-time rivals back under the same roof after a far-too-lengthy interregnum, and they're certainly no strangers to navigating bitter rivalry.

And yet, somehow, someone at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta still managed to introduce Texas coach Steve Sarkisian's appearance at SEC Media Days with ... the Aggie War Hymn. Yes, seriously.

First of all, props to Sarkisian for just playing through here. You know that as soon as the music picked up, his heart sank, but there was nothing he could do beyond get to the podium as fast as he could and start talking. That's the quickened stride of a fan who's accustomed to being jeered by 100,000+ people.

But seriously: How on Earth do you allow this to happen? Of all the "you had one job" moments in human history, this might be the most "you had one job" moment of all. It's inexcusable enough to get the fight song wrong at one of your conference's most important events of the year; it's quite another to conflate two of the sport's biggest rivals for each other. As you might imagine, Longhorns fans were not thrilled.

Texas fans were irate at being confused for A&M

For the uninitiated, the War Hymn has been the unofficial fight song of A&M for over 100 years now, since J.V. "Pinky" Wilson wrote the lyrics while holed up in a trench in France during World War I. He eventually brought it back home after the war ended in 1919, put it to music, and once the Yell Leaders got wind of it, the rest was history. It's the embodiment of everything A&M ... and, therefore, the antithesis of all things Texas.

Texas and A&M have hated each other for more than a century, ever since (to hear an Aggie tell it) the Horns used political connections to weasel their way into more funding when the school was founded in the late 1800s. This is more than just a football rivalry; this is class warfare, something primal. Conflating the two is just about the most egregious sin you can commit, and Texas fans were not in a forgiving mood.

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When do Texas, Texas A&M play in 2025?

Thankfully for us all, after more than a decade in the wilderness, the Lone Star Showdown made its triumphant return last season. And these two rivals will meet on the gridiron again this fall, when Texas A&M travels to Austin to face the Longhorns on Nov. 28. With Arch Manning leading Texas to a lofty preseason ranking and A&M in Year 2 under Mike Elko, College Football Playoff positioning and a spot in the SEC title game could be on the line.