Series History Between Oklahoma State and Texas A&M

This season’s Texas Bowl features a former conference rivalry renewed in a bowl rematch from five years ago.

Oklahoma State will play Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27 in NRG Stadium in Houston. The Cowboys and Aggies shared the Big 12 from 1996 until A&M left for the SEC (sound familiar) in 2011. Here is a look at the history between the two programs.

Capsule

Overall record: Texas A&M leads 18-10
Neutral site meetings: Texas A&M leads 4-1
Meetings in Stillwater: Texas A&M leads 6-5
Meetings in College Station: Texas A&M leads 8-4
Past 10 meetings: Tied 5-5
First meeting (1913): Oklahoma State won 3-0
Most recent meeting (2019): Texas A&M won 24-14

The Early Days

These teams met seven times between 1913 and 1954, with Texas A&M winning five of those meetings.

OSU got on the board first, though, with a 3-0 win in Stillwater in 1913. A&M won the next five meetings by a combined score of 142-7. The Cowboys got back in the win column with a 14-6 win in 1954, the teams’ last meeting for nearly three decades.

The 1980s

Ah, the 80s — what a time to be alive (I wouldn’t know).

The Cowboys and Aggies met three times in the 1980s with OSU going 2-1 in the decade.

OSU had its biggest win of the series behind Barry Sanders in 1988, besting the Aggies 52-15. Sanders ran for 157 yards and two touchdowns against A&M on his way to hoisting the Heisman trophy.

The Big 12 Era

The Big 12 kicked off in 1996 with OSU joining from the Big Eight and A&M joining from the Southwest Conference. The two schools met on the gridiron every year between 1996 and 2011, where A&M held a 10-6 advantage over the Pokes as conference foes.

Most of that came in the beginning with A&M winning the first six Big 12 meetings against OSU. That included an overtime game in 1997 in College Station.

2002: OSU finally broke the streak in 2002 with a 28-23 win. It must’ve been a magical time in Stillwater as the Cowboys beat Nebraska on Lewis Field, had a bye week and then beat A&M on Lewis Field. OSU had a 28-7 lead against the Aggies at the half that year before holding on for the win.

Tatum Bell was the star of the show, running for 143 yards and three touchdowns. OSU other score was from Josh Fields to John Lewis, who finished with five catches for 86 yards.

Vernon Grant and Chay Nease each picked off A&M quarterback Dustin Long.

2003: The Cowboys then went to College Station and beat the Aggies 38-10 the next season. It was OSU’s first win in College Station since 1983.

Bell was, again, that guy. The DeSoto speedster ran for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Rashaun Woods caught four passes for 109 yards and a pair of scores.

2008: Mike Gundy got his first coaching win against the Aggies in 2008 after an 0-3 start. OSU won 56-28.

Zac Robinson completed 10 passes that day — five went to Dez Bryant. Bryant was unstoppable (the sentence could stop here) against A&M, going for 106 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Bryant also had a 78-yard punt return touchdown that day. Utter domination.

2010: Gundy parlayed his first win against the Aggies into a four-game winning streak in the series. This game was the third of those and ended 38-35 via a Dan Bailey walk-off.

Kendall Hunter ran for 101 yards and two scores, but this was where many were getting their first real look at Justin Blackmon. Blackmon had 10 catches for 127 yards and a score.

The OSU defense picked off A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson four times that day with Markelle Martin, Ugo Chinasa, Andrew McGee and Shaun Lewis all getting involved in the fun.

2011: One of the all-time great games in a season full of all-time great games, this Top 10 matchup ended with Blackmon running 39 yards backward for a safety to secure OSU’s 30-29 win and send the Aggies packing to the SEC.

Brandon Weeden completed a ridiculous 47 passes that day in College Station. Eleven of those went to Blackmon for 121 yards and a touchdown. Josh Cooper had another 11 for 123 yards. And Hubert Anyiam also got into double digits with 10 catches for 92 yards.

The OSU D picked off Ryan Tannehill three times via Justin Gilbert, Brodrick Brown and James Thomas.

A Texas Bowl Rematch

The last time these teams met was also in the Texas Bowl in Houston, a 24-21 Aggie win.

OSU raced to a 14-0 lead before A&M scored 24 unanswered. OSU scored again with about a minute to play but failed to recover the onside kick.

Full Series History