Will the highly-anticipated Texas Longhorns-Texas A&M Aggies football match up finally happen in 2015 after failing to come to fruition in 2014?
One ESPN expert believes so, as Mark Schlabach predicts in the admittedly too-early bowl projections that the Longhorns and Aggies will face off in the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl a year after the teams seemingly had a chance to play in the same venue before the SEC opted to match Arkansas with Texas instead.
It could be the only way that the two programs meet on the field in coming years, as the Longhorns have already scheduled many non-conference opponents moving forward and neither athletics director particularly wants to play the game, even though both head coaches are on record as supporting the resumption of the longtime rivalry.
So is 2015 the year when the Aggies put their claims of ruling the state on the line? Only if the SEC wants it to happen.
The other ESPN expert polled for the post is Brett McMurphy, who predicts a Russell Athletic Bowl face-off against the Florida State Seminoles in a game that could help Texas recruiting efforts in the Sunshine State. Such a match up would have major appeal for the bowl game because the two storied programs have never met.
The Texas Bowl receives the third choice of Big 12 programs after the Russell Athletic Bowl, so the bowl projections anticipate a solid season from the Longhorns. Since Texas faces such a difficult schedule that includes the season opener against Notre Dame and road games against Baylor, TCU, and West Virginia, becoming bowl eligible again is hardly guaranteed.