Dank said:
Now that they're in the SEC the game is finally at 2:30, seems like it's been an 11am game the last 5 years or so. The early timeslot is another thing that takes away from it being considered a "major" game
Do what? Historically the early game (noon eastern) has been the national game and the 2:30 games were regional.
In terms of national importance and interest there's just no comparison with A&M. And I'm in no way discounting A&M as an important rival but as an analogy it's this:
Michigan/Ohio State - national.
Michigan/Michigan State -regional.
USC/Notre Dame - national
USC/UCLA -regional
Texas/OU -national
Texas/Texas A&M -regional
Texas/Arkansas - nobody gives a **** except Arkansas.
The top pairings are far bigger to the sport than the lower ones no matter how much Michigan State and UCLA and A&M don't accept that.
And I've been to tons of each. I sat in the A&M student section in 1989 with a good friend of mine when he was getting his engineering degree there, it was friendly and fun. I sat at DKR in 2004 on the edge of where the A&M players' parents were sitting and the couple right next to us were the parents of an Aggie DB who was starting. It was literally smiles and good natured humor throughout. "Aw, you got us there.." and such. We smiled and shook hands at the end and I complimented them on how well their son played.
I've been to 7 Texas/OU games and as often as not I didn't even get inside the stadium before I wanted to strangle multiple OU fans and I've never been in a physical fight in my life of any consequence. The teams could more often than not not even be inside the tunnel at the same time because they would physically fight. The stories of fights the night before between fans and the ridiculous build-up insults during the week between players, especially from the 70s to the 90s, is unlike any I've ever seen. Inside the Cotton Bowl you feel like everyone is levitating with the split crowd because on every single play there's roaring. The fans are at it as much as the players. That's why there are so many upsets and momentum swings in the series. With Texas/A&M the clearly better team almost always wins.
I mean, even people with no affiliation with either school at all talk about how crazy and intense it is. Greg McElroy, who QB'd at Alabama, on ESPN just said this morning he's been to 9 of them and it's his favorite game in the sport.