The CURRENT rivalry between UT (or "t.u." as we call it in Aggieland) and OU may be bigger than the current rivalry with A&M, but the HISTORIC rivalry is much greater. The prime example is Aggie War Hymn which was written by J.V. "Pinky" Wilson During World War I while standing guard on the Rhine river. We still sing the original words which are "officially" the second verse. The "first" verse was written several years later, but never caught on.
Here's the rarely sung first verse:
All hail to dear old Texas A&M,
Rally around Maroon and White,
Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies,
They are the boys who show the fight.
That good old Aggie spirit thrills us.
And makes us yell and yell and yell; --
So let's fight for dear old Texas A&M,
We're goin' to beat you all to --
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem!
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem!
Rough! Tough!
Real stuff! Texas A&M!
Here's the second verse, which is always sung:
Good-bye to Texas University.
So long to the Orange and White.
Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies,
They are the boys who show
the real old fight.
The eyes of Texas are upon you.
That is the song they sing so well, SOUNDS LIKE HELL!
So, good-bye to Texas University,
We're goin' to beat you all to --
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem!
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem!
Rough! Tough!
Real stuff! Texas A&M!
And here's the rest of the song:
Saw Varsity's Horns Off!
Saw Varsity's Horns Off!
Saw Varsity's Horns Off!
Short!
Varsity's Horns are Sawed Off!
Varsity's Horns are Sawed Off!
Varsity's Horns are Sawed Off!
Short!
Note that the song refers to the t.u. mascot as Varsity and not Bevo, it's current name. Every Aggie knows the story and can recite by heart how Bevo got it's name.
During the fall of 1916, t.u. outscored Texas A&M in the Thanksgiving football game 22-7 (Aggies never lose, they are either outscored or run out of time). This was a great victory for them since they had lost to A&M th previous year 13-0. In honor of this, the score 22-7 was to be branded on the Longhorn mascot. However, at 3:00 am on Saturday morning, February 12, 1917, four Aggies broke into the South Austin stockyard, where the longhorn was being kept, and branded the previous year's score, 13-0, on the side of the steer. In order to fix this, the Longhorns decided to close the gaps between the "1" and the "3" to make it a "B", change the "-" to an "E", and squeeze a "V" between the newly created "E" and the 0, thus renaming the mascot Bevo.
The Rivalry really begins with the founding of the two Universities.
Texas A&M University was founded in 1876 under its original name, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and is the first four-year state school of higher learning in Texas. It is governed by a board of regents consisting of nine people, was established under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of July 2, 1862, which provided for the donation of public lands in a quantity equal to 30,000 acres for each senator and representative in Congress to a state for the establishment of at least one college "where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The A&M College of Texas was to originally be a branch college of the, not yet established, University of Texas which was to be built in Austin.
However, due to several disagreements when the University of Texas was founded in 1883, an entirely new board of regents was formed for the new school, and both schools became completely independent from each other.
Because of this, Aggies believe that A&M is the true University of Texas and refer to UT as ,"Texas University"," t.u.", or "that little school in Austin".
Also, before the University of Texas adopted the longhorn as their mascot, The A&M yearbook was known as "The Longhorn" and there were several other longhorn references around campus that Aggies could now no longer use.