With teams like Alabama visiting, the pressure is on the 12th Man

Twenty years ago our Fightin’ Texas Aggies were in the midst of a 34-1-1  conference run in games played inside our stadium. After a mid-decade slump, we  surged back to 18-0 in games played from 1997 through 1999. We were bad to the  bone again at home. Ours was as formidable a home-field advantage as any campus  in the country. It’s been a long time since, though, and our Aggies haven’t gone  undefeated in conference play at home since ‘99.

 Now with the perilous SEC road trips we face, we can’t afford to lose a home
game — though our Aggies have fortunately proven to be quite the Road Warriors.  How times have changed! The Supermen in black jerseys at Mississippi State; the  catch and swagger by Swope at Alabama; Manziel’s 181 yards rushing to fight off  a great rally at Louisiana Tech; the bomb from the one-yard line in Oxford; the  pick at the one by Everett in Tuscaloosa … we saw it all from our Ags on the  road last year!

 As every fan from LSU, Arkansas, Florida and Missouri who made the trip to
College Station last season will attest, we Aggies are the nicest hosts you’ll
find this side of the Sabine River. The parking lots on campus hold the most
polite crowd of registered gun-totin’ conservatives you’ll ever meet in enemy
territory. I mean, George Bush even chose the A&M campus for his very own
Presidential Library, for Reagan’s sake.

 Our football teams and our chosen generals have reflected this conservative
thought for at least the last 40 years, ever since the powers-that-be introduced great defense and the Wishbone offense to the Aggies faithful in the early ’70s.  That tank formation represented a real Army’s offense; it was a  gut-wrenching, smash-mouth, in-the-trenches-type warfare that had one wide  receiver to keep the enemy honest. Jab, jab and then flank ‘em with a left  hook.

Every coach since has sung the same refrain. The only thing to hang our hat
on in Aggieland has been defense; the “Mad Dogs” of the ’70s (named after
defensive coordinator Melvin “Mad Dog” Robertson) and years later, the Wrecking  Crew. Just like those famed defenses of Aggies lore, another must soon present  itself for this team to reach the heights it imagines, all nicknames aside.

 Over the years, our Aggies bypassed the Run-and-Shoot and Air Raid offensive  systems in favor of multiple formations, two backs and scores of ever-shifting  tight ends and jumbo sets. The offensive juggernaut never showed up, nor was it  ever even on the table. Coach Mike Sherman tried to move away from the status  quo for a single game, but then went back to what he knew best for the remainder  of his tenure. Franchione never came close to real freedom of expression. And  who can even count the number of offensive coordinators R.C. Slocum went  through?

 Conservatism here meant run the clock, play ball possession and defend.  Winning 7-0 and never throwing a pass was real football for decades for Aggie  patrons–the good folks who remained tucked away in our own little world while  our opponents’ footballs soared around us like jet aircrafts. While this  conservatism might be a good philosophy for high school teams with players  performing on both offense and defense, it’s not necessarily a prime-time  philosophy with real players. Apparently someone with football smarts and  sufficient influence finally began admiring these sleek, new offensive aircraft  and even coveted one for himself.

 12th Man Stadium, still referred to as Kyle Field among the locals, but not necessarily nationally, is a great place to play. “Welcome to  the Home of the 12th Man” is what all the signs say. No college  football fans enjoy their Saturdays more than we folks clad in Maroon and White  yelling our “Whoops” and “Gig ‘ems” at perfect strangers. I mean, who on Earth
could get offended by seeing someone shooting them a big “thumbs-up” with a  smile? The feeling in the air is always electric regardless of the opponent
scheduled, but as human nature would have it, the adrenaline pumps a little
quicker for some ‘incomings’ rather than others.

 And the SEC Stadium of Texas is getting bigger very soon … 25-percent bigger,  to be precise.

 [Related: Full design renderings and construction schedule for Kyle Field expansion]

 Game Day mornings begin with the normal tailgating so prevalent throughout  the SEC, and the swelling “spirit” these hours of reunion creates soon reaches  fever pitch. Once inside the gates there are the songs of the Big Band that get  our Aggie hearts pumping like no other sound on earth. The Fightin’ Texas Aggie  Band plays the tremendous traditional songs of Aggieland and also the great  instrumentals from U.S. Military history. You know what you’re getting each time you walk in and see that beautiful grass, a stadium full of fans and all those  glorious golden horns.

 Then, real jets do a thunderous flyover, the National Anthem is played and  the Captains walk out to the middle of the field. Suddenly we’ve got us a  football game! It will decide not only who the better team is, but also the  better school, students, alumni, mascot, state, uniforms, and, at times, even
the better conference. Re-embrace OU, if you will. Big Who?

 Yet this atmosphere is just as exciting for the visiting players as it is for  the team standing along the Press Box side. It creates a deep-gut feeling of the Foxhole inside their camp; one of fighting for Country, Family and especially at  that moment, their Teammates. It’s fightin’ music for both sides unlike any  other in the country! It brings out the little boy in each of them and little boys dream of great battles an upset victories.

 No home crowd in college football has more to prove in 2013 than that of  Texas A&M’s. The famous 12th Man, for all its glory, has yet to  prove we can come anywhere close to a present-day Death Valley in Baton Rouge or  Bryant-Denny in Tuscaloosa, or that we can reignite the strangle-holds of the
‘70s and ‘90s.

 Great home crowds have watched teams march unfazed downfield and punch in the  winning score right in the teeth of our Aggie throngs, without as much as a  flinch. It’s all about intimidation, fire and brimstone and a deep-seated hatred  for the other team who is trying to beat ours. We’re not talking about whipping  up on the patsies here; we’re talking about the LSUs, Gators, Tide and even the  Longhorns, should they ever drop back in for a whuppin’. Texas Who?

 But if you’re going to assume ‘victory’ because this team is playing at home,  then you haven’t been paying attention. It’s puzzling for us who have been  watching the Aggies for 40 to 50 years. 2012 was going to change all this, but
there we were struggling on offense and flinching when disaster came calling.
In your face, Aggies!  SEC! Yes, we opened the door to LSU and Florida in 2012 in our first two  conference home games; two teams that easily could have been beaten — two teams  on which we had double-digit leads.

 Then, almost like it’s your first Algebra class where everything is so  confusing — the lights came on! Suddenly it didn’t matter where  the Aggies played. We played three straight SEC teams on the road and topped it  off with a huge win at none other than Alabama. We beat America’s Dynasty without an extra week of rest. I can’t express how difficult it is to play three  tough road games back-to-back-to-back, much less downright leaving your  opponents in the dust. What a tribute to this team and staff’s preparation and  enthusiasm which left no doubt throughout. Pulling out the white helmets  regularly for the first time since the ’70s was pretty special too. Ol’ Emory would be proud.

 [Related: Where will the new Kyle Field it among nation's biggest stadiums?]

 Then to come back home to Kyle and literally crush Missouri and finish the  season with the best second half of football this ol’ quarterback has ever seen
was truly special. We’ll never forget the Stoops boys throwing their hats and  visors and shaking their heads in a mix of disgust and utter amazement. Yes,
A&M had only won six of its last 25 season finales and had never won in  Jerry World, but this ain’t your father’s football program here anymore, boys
and girls.

 Only in 2011 have the Aggies ever had such high aspirations with the season
approaching. We had finished the previous season by winning our last six regular season games after a quarterback change and had a bunch of folks coming back. We  just didn’t finish the deal against LSU in the Cotton Bowl. We didn’t hullabaloo  the bug-a-boo, and the double-digit hangover stuck around for the entire 2011  season, much to the fans’ and coaches’ dismay. When were we ever gonna catch a  break? Continuous Status Quo equated to Insanity for this football team and its  12th Man, but a year after that a rather drastic departure from the norm occurred. Glory Hallelujah!


Everyone knows that one game stands out this coming season — Alabama on
September 14. Yes, the same defending national champion Alabama that is  currently favored by six points over our Ags. The Gall of it All! We’ll need all  of our Mojo and Hullabaloo in this one. We’ll need special Avatars at the  receiver positions to prevent a reoccurrence of last season’s early SEC upsets  on our football field. These young men are present on the squad; trust me. It’s  a matter of showing up and being sort of super-human at 2:30 pm local. With the  little-engine-that-could shredding the defenders with his lasers, it’s gonna be  one heck of a celebration — and our 12th Man must  become its former dominating force once more, year in and year out. Farmers FIGHT!

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