Kevin Sumlin and Co. turning stigma into legacy for Fightin' Texas Aggies

The Texas A&M Aggies’ season is now underway offensively, literally, and  the starting defense is expected to rejoin the squad at 2:30 Central this  Saturday. It comes at an opportune time since the Aggies have a real game on tap. The Crimson Tide of Alabama, the Number 1 team in the land, struts into the  Brazos Valley for the first time since the final regular season game in  1988.

 The ’88 game was one of those beautiful, clear winter nights that define  college football. It was nationally televised and Coach Jackie Sherrill’s white  Twelfth Man towels were swirling throughout the Maroon-packed stadium. The game had been postponed from earlier in the year because of the threat of, you  guessed it, a hurricane. It would be the only game the Aggies would lose on  their home turf in ‘88, yet the defeat had no effect on the rankings or bowl  selections. A&M had been deemed ineligible for both prior to the start of the season.

Alabama, ranked 20th on this night, won easily, 30-10, in a game that would  be the Crimson Tide alum’s final game as head football coach for the Texas  Aggies. Even though Sherrill left A&M under something of a dark cloud, he  was propelled into icon status among most Aggies following his three consecutive  Southwest Conference championships prior to the ‘88 season. To this day, he  still enjoys this lofty position in the minds of most Aggies, particularly after  his creation of the Twelfth Man Football Team, its book publishing and  subsequently a Foundation for university fund raising.

 Alabama and Texas A&M have played previously on the date of September 14  — in the season opener in 1985 in Birmingham. Alabama was ranked No. 20 coming  into this game and beat Sherrill’s eventual Cotton Bowl champions, 23-10. The  Aggies went on to a 10-2 season and a final national ranking of No. 6. It stood  as the highest season-ending A.P. ranking for an A&M football team since  1956, and wasn’t topped until the 2012 team completed its season at No. 5  following the Cotton Bowl.

 Modern day college football began in 1972 when true freshmen were first  allowed to play on varsity football teams after a 25-year prohibition. Since  then the Aggies haven’t played many Top 10 opponents this early in the season,  and the Crimson Tide looms as the next one in line.

 During the mid to late 70’s the Aggies were 3-0 in these matchups, beating  No. 7 LSU in ’74 at Tiger Stadium; No. 7 Texas Tech in Lubbock in ’77; and No. 6  Penn State in Happy Valley in 1979. Since the 70’s, however, the Aggies haven’t  had much success in these situations. In fact, A&M has lost its last five  running. The last victory over a Top 10 team within the first three games of a  season occurred in 1989 when they beat No. 7 LSU in the season opener in College  Station.

 Now Alabama is a conference game and the landscape at A&M, including its brand new, revamped golf course, has undergone a tremendous makeover. This A&M football team continues to demolish previous stigmas that have dogged  the program — and has done so at a pace that corresponds with the seamless  demolition of one of history’s all-time favorite basketball gyms, G. Rollie  White.

 With these tremendous accomplishments, which are being pushed along by some  of the greatest examples of momentum ever seen at the university, come even  greater expectations. Aggies need only look back two years to what was a summer  of tremendous anticipation. Mike Sherman and Ryan Tannehill were expected to  have the season to end all seasons in 2011, but after falling to No. 7 Oklahoma  State at home in the third game in dramatic fold-up fashion, these hopes and  dreams were dashed.

In fact, since 1972 no eligible Aggie football team has ever been crowned  outright champion without first winning every conference game at home. It’s one  and done in the history of A&M. While winning every conference game at home didn’t necessarily assure an outright title to each team who did so, the loss of  just one game, historically, has assured there would be no challenge to  mount.

 The only times in the past forty years that Texas A&M won every  conference game at home and did not win an outright conference title were in  1974 and 1975. Ah yes, I remember them well.

The other A&M team that missed out on a conference championship after  sweeping its home schedule was the 1997 team, but they played in a different  format. That team captured its South Division Championship, but then lost the  Big 12 Championship game to Nebraska, so perhaps it deserves an asterisk.

  All the other Aggie teams through the years who went undefeated at home did  win their championships, including Sherrill’s ’85, ’86 and ’87 teams. These  talented squads were later joined by RC Slocum’s four championship teams from  ’91, ’92, ’93 and ’98, respectively. All seven were undefeated and untied at  home in conference play.

 1998 is the last season a Texas A&M football team has swept its home  conference schedule, but, as I mentioned, this team coached by Kevin Sumlin and  quarterbacked by Johnny Manziel is destroying all stigmas. You need to look no  further than last season’s big wins at No. 1 Alabama in the team’s third  consecutive SEC road game and a season-ending victory in the Cotton Bowl over  very-hard-to-beat Oklahoma. Each were rare occurrences in Aggieland.

 Now the big game is  suddenly becoming a reality for the fans while Johnny Football sees it in  his mind as the  next game on the schedule. What he means by this is regardless of who the  opponent is, the execution of the offense will always win out.

 Words won’t describe what a win in this game will mean to Aggies and this  university — perhaps for years to come. Once again A&M faces the Number 1  team in the country, but this time it’s not in Tuscaloosa.This time there are no  surprises and no “shocking the world.”This is just straight-up, best team wins  football, SEC style.

 History has not been kind, but history has never seen this style of offense, this kind of quarterbacking choreography, or this cool of a customer at head  coach. History is about to get turned on its ear, and will most assuredly be  smiling broadly as it happens.

 It’s the biggest game in the land, and the average ticket price of $750 bears  this out. Meanwhile, the wise guys have placed a 7-point underdog tag on the  Aggies. It will be the third time A&M has lined up in its own stadium as an  SEC underdog. They dropped the previous two to Florida and LSU in very close,  exciting games after holding double-digit leads in each. Aggies lament the fact  that had they been victorious in either, they could have eventually gone all the  way.

 Stigmas upon stigmas seem to pop up everywhere, but these are valiant times in Aggieland. The populace appears reinvigorated from just watching some  football again…Aggie football as they now know it. There have been few  disappointments and a whole lot of upside. Worry and anxiety have transformed  into excitement and enthusiasm. Anticipation is back at the level where it was  last season following the Cotton Bowl victory over OU. A&M is united again  as one — and the giant killers still roam its halls.

A&M sits in fourth place on the wagering boards in Vegas at 12 to 1 odds  to win the BCS Championship, just as Johnny did last season to win the Heisman.  Every Aggie knows that 12 is a pretty cool number. Alabama is No. 1 on the list,  Ohio State is second and Oregon is No. 3. If you truly believe the Aggies will  repeat their performance from last November in Bear’s country, then you better  take advantage of these odds while they’re still available. By the end of the  regular season last year, you had to lay 5 to win one on Manziel, which isn’t  nearly as much fun.

 The stigmas, once powerful and omnipotent, are systematically becoming  exposed as imposters and brushed aside in Aggieland. Stigmas are turning into  legacies as surely as that ugly duckling finally became a swan. We’ve got one  more left to handle, and this one lies in the hands of our young, talented  receiving corps. They’re about to meet up with some real athletes and their  ability to create separation will determine the outcome.

 Before heading to the campus to welcome the team home after the ‘Bama game  last season, I wrote: “Somewhere the Bear is smiling, marking September 14 on  his calendar, taking one more drag on his smoke, and one last shot of  whiskey.”

 Well, it’s almost here. Gig ‘em, and let’s Beat the Hell out of ‘Bama!

---