COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Over more than a century, the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry has had more than its share of great teams, great players and great games, close calls and blowouts.
With the grudge much rejoined after a 12-year breakup, and both teams now in the Southeastern Conference, Longhorns and Aggies fans will expect many more to come.
And Saturday night's reunion brings with it yet another chance for an instant classic: Either the No. 3 Longhorns (10-1, 7-1) or No. 20 Aggies (8-3, 6-2) will earn their first berth in the SEC title game.
Texas is also trying to hold on to its position as one of the top seeds in the College Football Playoff.
Some of the big games and moments in the rivalry's storied history.
The game launched the rivalry into what it would become as two powerhouse teams collided in front of an estimated crowd of 20,000, at that point the largest to watch a game in state history. Texas set up the winning touchdown with a reverse pass from Bill Berry to Tom Dennis, the only time the Longhorns used that play all season. On the next play, Texas' Francis Dominguez ran in for the TD, the first points the Aggies had surrendered in two years.
Texas had one of its worst teams in school history and the Aggies had one of their greatest players. Texas A&M's first win in Texas' Memorial Stadium came as John David Crow, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1957, scored a touchdown that helped finish off the Longhorns and coach Ed Price, who had already announced he would resign. Darrell Royal took over Texas the next year and the Longhorns won 17 of the next 18 meetings.
Undefeated Texas won its first national championship that season but struggled at muddy Kyle Field six days after President Kennedy was assassinated. Texas trailed at halftime in the slop when UT Regent Frank Erwin put out a statement: “The condition of the playing field is a disgrace and a reflection on A&M. No university with a pretense at having a major athletic program would permit any condition to exist.” Texas A&M President Earl Rudder apologized but noted someone, surely a Longhorns fan, had burned the word “Bevo," the name of the Longhorns mascot, into what grass was there, further damaging the field. Texas drove 80 yards for Duke Carlisle’s winning touchdown in the final two minutes and got some help when an apparent A&M interception was ruled out of bounds.
The Longhorns’ Ricky Williams wrapped up the Heisman Trophy and the NCAA career rushing record with his 60-yard touchdown run in the first quarter on his way to 259 yards on the day. The Aggies, who had already clinched the Big 12 South championship, roared back from a 23-7 deficit to take the lead before Texas won it on Kris Stockton's field goal.
Eight days after the collapse of Texas A&M’s traditional pregame bonfire that killed 12 people and injured dozens more, the teams finally took the field. Aggies players wore commemorative bonfire patches on their helmets. Texas led 16-6 before A&M rallied and won on Randy McCown's touchdown pass to Matt Bumgardner with 5 minutes left. “We had the thought and memory of those 12 in our hearts and minds every single play,” Aggie offensive lineman Chris Valletta said after the game.
Texas A&M had already announced it was leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC. The programs blamed each other for the pending breakup that would tear apart a century of tradition. Texas A&M took a 25-24 lead in the final two minutes. Texas quarterback Case McCoy, who was benched earlier in the season, scrambled 25 yards to set up Justin Tucker's winning field goal as time expired in front of a stunned Aggies home crowd.
“I had to run. It parted like the Red Sea,” McCoy said. “Thankfully it all worked out. I really don’t know what life would be like had it not.”
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
FILE - Texas running back Ricky Williams breaks the all-time NCAA college rushing record as he runs past the Texas A&M bench for a 60-yard touchdown during the first quarter in Austin, Texas, Nov. 27, 1998. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — After weeks of pushing early deals, retailers in the United States and some other countries tried to seduce customers with promises of bigger discounts on Black Friday, the sales event that still reigns as the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season even if it's lost some luster.
Department stores, shopping malls and merchants — big and small — see the day after Thanksgiving as a way to energize shoppers and to get them into physical stores at a time when many do the bulk of their browsing and buying online.
Enough consumers enjoy holiday shopping in person that Black Friday remains the biggest day of the year for retail foot traffic in the U.S., according to retail technology company Sensormatic Solutions.
“Black Friday is still an incredibly important day for retailers,” Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic, said. “It’s important for them to be able to get shoppers into their store to show them that experience of what it’s like to browse and touch and feel items.”
At Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan, a steady stream of shoppers early Friday found some shoes and handbags priced half-off, special occasion dresses marked down by 30%, and 60% off the store's luxury bedding brand.
Keressa Clark, 50, and her daughter Morghan, 27, who were visiting New York from Wilmington, North Carolina, arrived at 6:15 a.m. at the store that served as the setting for the 1947 Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street.”
“We don’t have a Macy’s where we are from. I am actually shocked to see so many Black Friday deals because so many things are online,” Morghan Clark said.
Clark, who works as a nurse practitioner, said she was feeling better about the economy because of President-elect Donald Trump’s pending return to the White House and plans to spend $2,000 this holiday season, about $500 more than a year ago.
She said she would not mind if prices are higher next year as a result of the tariffs on foreign-made goods Trump has pledged to implement. “Anything that can encourage production in the U.S. I am all for it, “ Clark said.
In the U.S., analysts envision a solid holiday shopping season, though perhaps not as robust as last year’s, with many shoppers cautious with their discretionary spending despite the easing of inflation.
At many stores, the frenzied crowds of Black Fridays past never returned after the coronavirus pandemic. Early Friday morning, a Walmart in Germantown, Maryland, had only half of the parking spots filled. Some shoppers were returning items or doing their routine grocery shopping.
Bharatharaj Moruejsan, a 35-year-old software engineer, said he typically doesn't shop on Black Friday but decided to check out the deals at Walmart because he was jet-lagged after returning from a month-long family vacation to India. He scored an iPad for his 1-year-old daughter for $250 compared to the original $370 price tag.
“That’s a good deal,” Moruejsan said.
Retailers are even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
Target had an exclusive book devoted to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and a bonus edition of her “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” album that it said would only be available in stores on Black Friday. Customers can buy them online starting Saturday.
Best Buy has introduced an extended-release version of the doorbuster, the limited-time daily discounts that for years were the rage and sometimes sparked brawls. The nation’s largest consumer electronics chain has released doorbuster deals every Friday since Nov. 8 and planned to continue the weekly promotion through Dec. 20.
Impulse purchases and self-gifting were potential areas for big sales growth, said Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana. Shoppers are three times more likely to buy on impulse at a physical store than online, according to Circana research.
Tara Rutherford, 53, headed straight to Macy's Herald Square to shop for herself after finishing her overnight nursing shift at a Manhattan hospital. A newlywed, Rutherford said she rarely shops on Black Friday because of her work schedule but was “feeling festive.”
“This is all about me," she said, eyeing boots that carried a 40% discount.
Black Friday no longer is an American-only holiday event. Retailers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. also appealed to holiday shoppers looking to save money.
In India, about 200 Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers, rallied Friday in New Delhi, some wearing masks of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, to demand better wages and working conditions. Similar protests were planned in other countries.
Camilla Bjorkqvist, 48, and her friend Tessa Goosens, 48, were visiting New York from the Netherlands to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with friends and to shop at Macy’s. Even though Black Friday has become a commercial event in The Netherlands, the women said it's not the same.
“Macy’s is special. It’s iconic,“ said Goosens, who bought a Samsonite suitcase and a suit for work on sale.
The National Retail Federation predicted that shoppers would increase their spending in November and December by between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same period a year ago.
Vivek Pandya, the lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said more shopper interest in bargain-hunting this year would drive what sells and when.
For example, Thanksgiving Day is the best time to shop online to get the deepest discount on sporting goods, toys, furniture and appliances, according to Adobe's analysis. But Black Friday is the best time to buy TVs online. People shopping for televisions earlier in the season found discounts that averaged 10.8%, while waiting until this Friday is expected to yield 24% discounts, Adobe Digital Insights said.
Cyber Monday, however, is expected to be the best time to buy clothing and gadgets like phones and computers online.
Across the board, Black Friday weekend discounts should peak at 30% on Cyber Monday and then go down to around 15%, according to Adobe’s research.
Hadero reported from Germantown, Maryland.
Shoppers walk along Fifth Avenue, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
Shoppers walk along Fifth Avenue, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
People carry shopping bags as they walk along Fifth Avenue, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
A participant wears a paper mask in the likeness of Amazon's Jeff Bezos as warehouse workers and delivery drivers stage a protest against the Seattle-based company demanding higher wages and better working conditions, in New Delhi, India, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Early Black Friday shoppers line up outside stores at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
To mark the Black Friday discount day, around 400 to 500 Amazon employees from Germany joined colleagues from the USA, Sweden, the UK and Italy at the international protest center in Bad Hersfeld,Germany, and took part in the central strike meeting in the Schilde Hall, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (Christian Lademann/dpa via AP)
An early Black Friday shopper uses a smartphone flashlight to locate a store at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Early Black Friday shoppers are silhouetted as they wait in line to enter a store at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Early Black Friday shoppers line up outside stores at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
An aerial view shows a packed parking lot at Citadel Outlets in Commerce, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, as early Black Friday shoppers arrive at the mall. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A woman walks a dog in a street of Mayfair at sunrise, in London, Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
People walk by sale signs on the shopping street in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A shopper passes a store advertising a Black Friday Sale on Regent Street in London, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
People window shop in Bryant Park's Winter Village, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
A shopper looks at handbags at Macy's department store on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Anne D'Innocenzio)
FILE - Shoppers and others walk down a crowded sidewalk on Black Friday in the Soho neighborhood of New York, Nov. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)
Items on sale for $5 are displayed at a Five Below store on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Anne D'Innocenzio)
Items on sale for Black Friday are displayed at Macy's department store on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Anne D'Innocenzio)
Shoppers pass a Christmas tree at the Bergdorf Goodman store on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Anne D'Innocenzio)
A sign promoting Black Friday deals sits on table with a display of mirrorless cameras in a Best Buy store Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in south Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
