During Texas–Texas A&M impasse, the trash talking and meltdowns lived online 

If you log on to TexAgs.com, the popular Texas A&M fandom hub, and peruse the message boards, it won’t take long to find a mention of the Aggies’ most-hated rival: Texas.

On TexAgs’ premium board, where tens of thousands of paying subscribers congregate to discuss Aggies football, the longest message board thread with the most replies is entitled “Horn Meltdown Thread.” It’s 326 pages and as of Wednesday had more than 11,000 posts since the thread began in February. There’s been a Horn Meltdown Thread every year since 2014.

Type Orangebloods.com — a top destination for Longhorns fans since 2001 — into your web browser and mosey over to its subscription board. There’s a thread dedicated to discussing Texas A&M football news, where Longhorns rejoice whenever the Aggies stumble. The current one started in October 2022, is 871 pages and has more than 30,000 posts.

In the case of Texas and Texas A&M, their 13 years apart on the football field only fueled the hatred in their 118-year-old rivalry. Why? Because the rivalry lived online, through message boards and social media.

Now, with the Longhorns and Aggies set to meet Saturday night for the first time since 2011 — and with an SEC Championship Game berth at stake — the anticipation and intensity are at a fever pitch on Orangebloods, TexAgs and fans’ social media platforms of choice.

“The rivalry was just too big to go away,” said Robert Behrens, a Texas A&M graduate, managing editor of A&M fan website Good Bull Hunting and prolific poster of Aggies statistics. “People had to push their anger somewhere.”

Let’s start with one of the biggest reasons the rivalry simmered over the years in certain corners of the internet: proximity.

Texas and Texas A&M’s campuses are roughly 100 miles apart. They are the two largest universities in the state with the two biggest alumni bases. Their graduates share office space, fantasy football leagues and even dinner tables. The game might not have existed after Texas A&M left the Big 12 to join the SEC in 2012, but the trash talking never really stopped, online or off, in the decade-plus before Texas joined the Aggies in the SEC.

“You can’t expect there not to be Aggies and Longhorns in each other’s lives, every day, at Thanksgiving, in the families, in the workplace, friendships,” said Billy Liucci, the executive editor of TexAgs.com. “The game can go away, but there’s still Longhorns and Aggies who grew up liking each other or loving each other.”

But, Liucci said, “You’ve had two fan bases that, for 13 years, have been praying for the other one’s downfall.”

In 2019, Anwar Richardson, who covers Texas for Orangebloods, wrote a column advocating for the Aggies and Longhorns to resume their rivalry game. The reception from many of those who commented on the story was frosty.

“Like little kids, they picked up their ball and ran home. Screw them,” one poster said.

Said another: “No No No. Never Never Never. Drop it already, Texas should never play them again in any sport. They left, and talked s— on the way out.”

“There were 14 pages of commentary telling him, ‘You’re an idiot, stay in your lane, you don’t know what you’re talking about,’” said Geoff Ketchum, the publisher and owner of Orangebloods.

Recruiting has also kept things spicy between the Aggies and Longhorns. Although they haven’t competed on the field, the schools have gone head-to-head for dozens of recruits. The state of Texas is one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country, and Texas and Texas A&M usually pursue the state’s top prospects.

Message boards are prime real estate for rumors, especially in recruiting, where concrete information on the intentions of high school football stars can be elusive. Orangebloods and TexAgs are ground zero for keeping up with the comings and goings of Texas and Texas A&M recruiting, especially when the schools square off on the trail. And not just through message board rumors; both sites are fully staffed with reporters who cover the football teams and recruiting, dispersing real information to subscribers.

“That’s definitely kept the conversation going,” said Brandon Jones, president and CEO of TexAgs. “That’s where these small victories would take place: Who’s winning what recruits?”

The intensity of high-profile recruiting battles even once led to a public spat between Liucci and Ketchum. In January 2015, after longtime Texas A&M commit Kyler Murray visited Texas, the two got into a disagreement on what was then known as Twitter.

It started with Ketchum inviting Liucci onto his radio show (Liucci declined), then a debate on the chances that Murray would flip his commitment to Texas (he didn’t). Then it got personal, complete with name-calling, questions of professionalism and thinly veiled threats.

Liucci and Ketchum said they patched things up after that and get along fine. But it underscored how intense the rivalry could get online.

For those die-hards who aren’t paying a monthly fee to post or read content on Orangebloods ($9.99 a month) or TexAgs ($16.99), X has also been ripe for back-and-forth.

Kyle Umlang, a data analyst and podcast host, gained popularity in Texas social media circles for his #AggieFactThursday posts, which are random facts and statistics about Texas A&M’s futility or Texas’ superiority.

It’s been 30 years since Texas A&M had back-to-back 10-win seasons. #AggieFactThursday

— Kyle Umlang (@kyleumlang) November 21, 2024

10 Win Seasons | Since 2000

19 Oklahoma
11 Texas
1 Texas A&M#AggieFactThursday

— Kyle Umlang (@kyleumlang) October 10, 2024

Umlang authored multiple books in this vein. The first was titled “101 Aggie Facts: Things Every Longhorn Should Know.” Three volumes were published. In August, Umlang announced his latest book, “The 2024 Aggie Fact Almanac,” which boasts more than 400 of Umlang’s Aggies facts.

Behrens, who began writing for Good Bull Hunting in 2013, has also gotten into the social media statistical sword fight. On Jan. 1, nearly two months after Texas A&M fired Jimbo Fisher but minutes after Washington defeated Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals, Behrens posted a thinking emoji with a graphic comparing Fisher’s first three years at A&M to Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s first three years at Texas.

🤔 pic.twitter.com/NM1kCfgJR9

— Robert Behrens (@rcb05) January 2, 2024

“I’ll throw out a completely factual statement that obviously implies an opinion or where I’m trying to lead you, but if someone tries to call me on it, I can just say, ‘Well, what did I say that was wrong?’” Behrens said. “I’m not going to say that I’m always objective, because I have a rooting interest and a bias. But I try to do it from a place that everybody can appreciate.”

Posts from Aggies or Longhorns about the other, however genuine or disingenuous, usually stir up a reaction. Because — even when they haven’t played — the rivalry still matters to both sides.

“Each side will tell you, ‘Oh, we’re in their head rent-free,’” said Amanda Atwell, a 2016 Texas graduate and former sports anchor who often posts about the Longhorns on X. “And they’re both renting out spaces in each other’s heads. I think we can just admit that at this point.”

Liucci, Jones said, “likes to mix it up on social media with Texas fans.” Ketchum doesn’t shy away from it either.

“I jokingly call myself Texas A&M’s No. 1 historian,” Ketchum said. “I’ve seen it all. It’s a different perspective of their history, but for the last 30 years, I know all the names, I know all the coaches, I’ve seen where all the bodies are buried. So it makes this weekend a lot of fun because I’ve missed it.

“I’ve missed Aggies. I’ve missed the rivalry and just being in each other’s lives, literally every day. Life’s better when these two have something cooking against each other.”

Liucci had mixed feelings about the rivalry returning before Texas moved into the SEC, but once the Longhorns did, the return of the game couldn’t get here fast enough, he said. He will relish the chance to claim superiority if the Aggies win on Saturday, but he also knows what’s waiting for him on social media if they lose.

“You talk it, you better be able to back it up,” he said. “On Twitter, the receipts are there for everyone to have on both sides.

“Everybody just wants bragging rights.”

(Photo of Texas A&M’s Ben Malena in 2011: Darren Carroll / Getty Images)