Let the games begin
- August 30, 2012
- Sports
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“If you woke up the morning and felt differently,” tweeted ESPN, “that’s because college football is back.”
That’s right kids. The long drought is finally over. Basketball season? Ancient history. The Olympics? A distant memory. Baseball? A mere distraction. This, ladies and gentlemen, is all that matters every Saturday from now through January 7th. May the odds be ever in your favor.
So where do we stand on opening day of the 2012 college football season? Well, for one, the BCS is officially on deathwatch, with its demise expected in 2014. And then there’s the whole Penn State thing (whose punishment wasn’t nearly severe enough, in my opinion). And Ohio State is also banned from a bowl game this year. And finally there’ve been a few conference changes. (Yes, of course I’m talking about the University of North Texas joining Conference USA.)
Next week will be the 118th time the University of Texas will play Texas A&M in football. And it looks like it’ll also be the last, at least for the foreseeable future. As of July 1, 2012, A&M will be part of the SEC, and the historic intrastate rivalry between the Longhorns and Aggies will officially come to an end. Of course, it’s not the first rivalry to be torn asunder by the seismic shifts of conference realignment over the past couple of years, but it’s arguably one of the best and certainly one of the most personal for anyone who grew up in the state of Texas. Whether you went to Texas or A&M or not, whether you even knew anyone who went to Texas or A&M, you were a fan of one or the other. Even if you bled Red Raider red, you came down on one side of the fence or the other. There was no escaping it.
How many teams does the Big 12 Conference have to lose before it stops being the Big “12″? And when exactly is it no longer considered “Big”? We may find out pretty soon now that Texas A&M has officially declared they’re 













