By
Randy RiggsAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFFThursday, September 28, 2006
COLLEGE STATION — Dennis Franchione's memories of his 3 1/2 football seasons at Texas A&M aren't all of the warm-and-fuzzy variety. But one that falls in that category occurred the last time Texas Tech visited Kyle Field. It wasn't simply because the Aggies pulled out a 32-25 overtime decision in 2004.
"I'll never forget the noise, the fans, the 12th Man, the crowd," A&M's coach said. "It was just unbelievable, maybe the best since I've been here. That one has stuck in my mind."
Well, after all, it was A&M vs. Tech — perhaps the best rivalry in college football that nobody's ever heard of outside the fans of those two schools.
You can have your Texas-OU or Ohio State-Michigan or Florida-Georgia. For pure entertainment value, none can match the thrills and chills provided by the Red Raiders and Aggies since the late 1980s.
The 65th renewal of the intrastate battle unfolds Saturday at Kyle Field with A&M holding a 34-29-1 edge. But Tech has won eight of the last 11 games in a series that is growing as rancorous as its outcomes are suspenseful.
"We both have some animosity towards each other," A&M defensive end Chris Harrington said. "It's a good, healthy rivalry."
Since the 1989 season, 11 of the 17 games have been decided by a touchdown or less. Seven of those 11 have been determined by four points or less. The last two games in College Station have gone to overtime, with each team winning once.
Some Aggies are loath to refer to Tech as a rival, preferring to save that special designation for those burnt-orange bullies in Austin — "I think they (the Red Raiders) look at us as maybe their rival, whereas we look at Texas as our rival," Harrington said.
Nevertheless, Harrington also noted that with the anticipation of Tech's visit, "Aggieland is crazy. It's getting back to where we need to get it. I haven't felt this much excitement since . . . well, I don't know if I ever felt it last season."
There's even been blood spilled — bad blood. After Tech's 12-0 victory in Lubbock in 2001, Raider fans tore down the goalposts and tried to carry one upright through the A&M section at Jones Stadium. A confrontation led to the bloodied face of Mike McKinney, the father of A&M player Seth McKinney and then the chief of staff for Gov. Rick Perry, a former Aggie yell leader.
Even after it was revealed McKinney was hit by an A&M student, Aggie fans raised such a ruckus about Tech inhospitality that Raiders coach Mike Leach finally fired back about the Aggies' "whining."
"It's interesting to me that all these Aggies . . . sit around with these halos over their head with some divine expertise on fanmanship," Leach said. "I just don't believe that's the case."
Leach also did little to endear himself to Aggiedom last year when the Raiders rolled up 627 yards of offense in a 56-17 victory, the most lopsided margin in the series. But what really gigged the Aggies was a Leach comment in a lengthy profile of him that ran later in The New York Times Magazine.
The story detailed Leach staring at the A&M Corps of Cadets in the stands before the game and asking, "How come they get to pretend they are soldiers? The thing is, they aren't really in the military."
A&M inadvertently added some spice to the rivalry in 2002 when its football media guide ran a blurb from "The 12th Man Magazine" that described some Tech students as "classless clowns" and referred to Lubbock as "the barren stretch of dirt some West Texans call a city."
An apology and a reprint of the media guide quickly followed.
Leading into Saturday's game, the rhetoric has been toned down, and both sides are making nice. But A&M tight end Martellus Bennett doesn't want things to be too nice for the Raiders on Saturday at Kyle Field, considering what he says the Aggies have to endure when they visit Jones Stadium.
"At Tech they throw batteries at you," Bennett said. "They treat other schools so bad when you go to their place. Imagine (a battery) coming down from the top of the stadium with gravity times velocity times speed. By the time it hits you, that hurts pretty bad."
Bennett isn't advocating similar treatment by Aggie fans, but he does wish they'd give the Raiders some verbal abuse.
"Sometimes I think our fans are too nice," he said. "I love our fans, but I want them to yell at the other team like what we hear when we go to other schools."
Kyle Field seems plenty loud to Tech senior nose tackle Chris Hudler, who described it as "a hostile environment."
"You have 80,000 fans screaming and booing at you," Hudler said. "I like playing in places like that because it gives me more incentive."
Both coaches are downplaying the vitriolic nature of the rivalry and saying the most important aspect of Saturday's game is it is the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Asked if he believes his Raiders look at the Aggies as a hated rival, Leach's politically correct reply was: "I don't really know. I always just hope we go out and play well. . . . I'd like to think we're excited to go out and play well this week."
More often than not, that's what both sides do when the Raiders and Aggies collide. And that's what has made for some thrilling finishes and, consequently, one of the nation's best rivalries in recent years.
