FORT WORTH, Texas — The game that Texas A&M never wanted to play again is currently on a track to become the most expensive ticket in the history of college football.
On Saturday, Nov. 30, the Aggies will host Texas at Kyle Field. According to Stubhub, the cheapest ticket for that game currently is $695. Buy now, even if that seat is approximately three-feet south of the moon.
If A&M could reset the face value of the ticket prices for its game against Texas, the Aggies might have enough to pay off maybe half of former coach Jimbo Fisher’s contract.
That return of Texas v. Texas A&M is on course to be the most significant game these two will have played maybe ever. On behalf of all sports journalists who whined endlessly about the hiatus of this series, Aggies ‘n’ ‘Horns, please don’t blow this.
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While all of America is focused on Texas and its uncontroversial QB situation that is not a controversy, as well as the collapse of Alabama, the Aggies are slowly moving up while no one notices.
“Really big week. My older son starts his World Series. My younger son is playing for the conference title in a battle of unbeatens back in Apex, North Carolina,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko told the media gathered on Monday in College Station. “My daughter and wife are going to see Taylor Swift in New Orleans. So yeah, that’s probably all we’ve got going on this week.”
Swift in New Orleans is bigger than LSU at A&M.
If the Aggies can clear the Tiger-sized hurdle this week in College Station, “anything is possible.” There is no reason why A&M can’t make the College Football Invitational, brought to you by TheBigSECTen. If A&M defeats No. 8 LSU on Saturday night, it should also be the end of Jimbo’s aspirations to return to major college football as a head coach.
(FWIW: The Aggies are 2.5-point favorites against LSU).
As the weather cools into the frigid 80s, and Jimbo throws another $8 million on the fire to keep the castle warm, it is zero secret the ex-Aggies head coach would like to return to the sidelines. It seldom matters how much money coaches of his earning power have in the bank, they can’t quit the game until the game tells them with a two-by-four to the ego that they’re done.
How A&M has performed this season under Elko is the worst development for Jimbo’s LinkedIn profile.
Since losing at home to Notre Dame in the season opener on Aug. 31, the Aggies have not lost. The schedule isn’t exactly stuffed with the Kansas City Chiefs-like opponents, but the Aggies are 6-1 and 4-0 in the SEC. They have a shot at their first 10-win season since 2012.
You can almost hear the Aggie faithful trying their best not to raise their hopes. They have believed too many times before only to have their prayers answered not by a higher power but rather some sort of Satanic figure.
The last time A&M has played this well was during the 2020 season, during COVID. That was the year when all accomplishments in sports were wiped down with an asterisk disinfectant.
That was also the year the Texas A&M board of regents approved Jimbo’s contract extension, a mistake that changed the athletic department. It was also a necessary change.
Jimbo is the example of what can happen to the highly paid coach who has so much money it adversely affects the drive that made him worth it in the first place. Jimbo didn’t want to lose, but there came a point when he thought it wasn’t going to happen for him in College Station.
He already had his great run. He already won his national title. All of it just happened at Florida State.
As evidenced by how the team is playing this season, Jimbo had talent to coach. He did have some unfortunate breaks with the health of quarterback Conner Weigman, but there were real players on the field.
One of the bigger knocks on Jimbo was the inability to keep a locker room together after the fractures started to show. There were issues over who was getting what. All big-time college programs are dealing with the jealousy component that comes with players being paid, and a few early losses can be a jack hammer to “team unity.”
Elko could have easily lost this team after that ugly defeat to Notre Dame. The win at Florida, two weeks later, carried more weight than the standard defeat of another disappointing Gators team. Hammering No. 9 Missouri by 31 points in College Station wasn’t the one this program needed, but it was hard not to be impressed.
The one they needed was on Saturday, in Starkville, Miss., against a bad Bulldogs team. That is the type of game that A&M routinely lost under Jimbo. Few programs have perfected the craft of losing the game they had no business losing like Texas A&M.
The Aggies have five games remaining, more than enough time to blow this and let down their fans who are doing everything in their power not to fall in love again. A win over No. 8 LSU on Saturday, and even the most jaded Aggie will have a hard time not caring.
If the Aggies win that game, anything is possible, and it will only add to the cost of what will be the most expensive ticket in the history of college football.