An undefeated record that gifted them pole position for the SEC Championship Game and their first College Football Playoff appearance, in addition to a No. 3 national ranking. Exciting wins, from a last-second victory against Notre Dame to a dramatic second-half comeback against South Carolina. But there’s one missing piece that matters more than any other element of a truly perfect season in College Station: beating Texas.
The rivalry between the Lone Star State’s two biggest college football brands runs as deep as any other in the sport. He played for 97 consecutive years from 1915 to 2011, during which many memorable moments occurred. Then, when the Aggies moved to the SEC in 2012 and the two programs was not After playing for 13 years, the feud may deepen further.
Between 13 years without a game and a pair of wins for the Longhorns on either side of that break, it’s been a decade and a half since Texas A&M won the Lone Star Showdown. With a berth in the SEC Championship Game and an undefeated regular season at stake, it would be even more enjoyable for Aggies fans to beat Texas especially this year.
This is what the world looked like in 2010, the last time Texas State was in Maroon at the end of rivalry weekend.
Future professionals make their mark for A&M
It is no surprise that Texas A&M’s nine-win 2010 campaign was one of its best seasons in years, as a pair of future NFL veterans formed the offensive and defensive cornerstone of the team.
The headliner was senior defensive lineman Von Miller, who filled the stat sheet with a total of seven tackles against the Longhorns, including three for loss and two sacks with an interception. Miller was selected by the Denver Broncos with the No. 2 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and has earned eight Pro Bowl appearances and a pair of Super Bowl rings in his professional career.
Texas A&M’s signal-caller was first-year starter Ryan Tannehill, who became a first-round pick in his own right in 2012 and threw for nearly 35,000 career yards in 11 NFL seasons.
Newton takes over college football
The 2010 college football season belonged to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
Newton only started for one season in college, but that was all he needed to make his mark on the game. Auburn entered the season ranked 22nd in the preseason polls, but it did not take long for the Tigers to rise up the rankings. Newton accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) and 357 yards of offense (186 through the air, 171 on the ground) as Auburn crushed Western Kentucky in Week 1. This proved to be a sign of great things to come.
It was the first of 14 consecutive wins for the Tigers that season, ultimately defeating Oregon in the national championship game. Newton set an SEC record with 4,327 total yards of offense and was awarded the Heisman Trophy.
Elsewhere in the sports world…
Sports fans in 2010 weren’t spoiled by the dramatic ending and meaningful story.
It began in February, when Canada topped the Winter Olympics gold medal count in front of a home crowd and Tracy Porter’s late game-clinching pick-six sealed the New Orleans Saints’ first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.
In June, an NBA Finals matchup between two of the league’s most prestigious franchises – the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics – produced a seven-game series. A month later, Andrés Iniesta’s last-match heroics in extra time won Spain the World Cup – the first to be hosted by an African nation.
Rihanna dominates the charts
Rihanna had a stellar run on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2010; The superstar singer topped the charts at several points throughout the calendar.
First, it was “Rude Boy”, which spent five weeks at number 1 from late March to April. Rihanna was also featured on Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie”, which topped the Hot 100 from late July to early September. He also had a one-week stint at No. 1 at the end of the year with “What’s My Name” and “Only Girl (In the World)” featuring Drake.
On the Monday following rivalry week of the 2010 college football season, however, a different song and artist enjoyed a brief run at the top of the US Hot 100: “Like a G6” by Far East Movement featuring The Cataracs and Dev returned to No. 1 for one week after a two-week stint in the autumn.
Harry Potter continues to shine on the big screen
Six days before the Aggies and Longhorns meet on the gridiron, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” was released in theaters across the United States. The seventh film in the Harry Potter franchise was a massive hit and grossed $280,230,127 domestically. The score was so good that it became the seventh best domestic grossing film of 2010, behind films like “Avatar” (released in late 2009) and “Iron Man 2”.
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