Thanksgiving day, 1987.
My sophomore year and first Aggie-t.u. game in person.(In that other city the year before.)
My room mate drew our tickets on the Wednesday before. GREAT SEATS! 50 yard line. 3rd Deck, top row. First two seats to the south of the 50 yard line. We set an attendance record for Kyle field at the time - 78,573. This was before the north end zone addition. Bleachers were set up in front of the scoreboard/megatron in the south end zone and a bunch of standing areas around the track.
We kicked off, they got the ball. As soon as the teams hit the field EVERYONE in the stadium started yelling (including the Old Ags). Stomping on the metal seats. The sound was deafening. You had to yell at the person standing next to you to for them to understand you. The t.u. center couldn't hear the QB for the snap count, much less the rest of the line or the receivers. The QB looked at the refs who called time out and had the PA announce the crowd had to be quieter! As soon as the teams lined up again, the noise level went even louder. The QB looked at the ref - the ref wouldn't call time out, so the QB did because NONE of his teammates could hear him. After the time out, we got just as loud again. The QB looked at the ref and the ref just motioned that he would just have to play. They snapped the ball with no gain on the play. Each down the teams came to the line, we got just as loud. The result was they had to punt the ball away on their first possession.
The same thing happened for t.u.'s second and third possession. By then, they had worked out hand signals to get the snap. Finally, the noise level went down some, but the whole game was crazy loud.
Towards the end of the fourth quarter, we knew we had it won. Cotton started flying, as this game decided who went to the Cotton Bowl. I still have pictures that show the cotton flying in the stadium. It looked like it was snowing on Kyle Field. Even the TV cameras were having trouble seeing through it.
We BTHO t.u. 20-13 (AGAIN(1983-89)).
Went to the Cotton Bowl and beat #12 Notre Dame.
I didn't have a voice for the next three days.
I think that was one of the best examples of the 12th man spirit I've seen at any game. The 12th man definitely made a difference in the outcome of this game. The LSU game from 2018 might be an even match though.
This is the story I tell non-ags to TRY to show them the SPIRIT of AGGIELAND.
