Texas A&M will make its 11th consecutive bowl game appearance on Dec. 27, facing No. 25 Oklahoma State in the Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl.
The 11-year streak is the ninth-longest in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and the upcoming game marks A&M’s 41st bowl game in program history.
At least 40 members of A&M’s roster hail from the greater Houston area, making this game special for them, A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said.
“We appreciate the opportunity to play in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston,” Fisher said in a statement. “A lot of our players are from the Houston area and will have the chance to play in front of a lot of family and friends. We will face a tough, top-25 opponent in Oklahoma State, and our team looks forward to playing in front of a lot of Aggies in a great city and a tremendous NFL stadium.”
A&M Director of Athletics Ross Bjork said the 100-mile trek from Aggieland to Houston makes this feel like a home game.
“The Academy Sports & Outdoors Texas Bowl provides us the opportunity to play at our ‘home away from home’ in the city of Houston,” Bjork said in a statement. “With over 100,000 former students in the region and NRG Stadium being just 100 miles away from Kyle Field, this is like another home game for us, a great platform to showcase Aggie Football, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band and a great Aggie game day experience.”
The last time the Aggies and Cowboys matched up was during A&M’s final year in the Big 12. The two teams have a lengthy history, as they played each other annually from 1996 to 2011, and A&M holds a 17-10 advantage over the Cowboys as opponents in the Southwest and Big 12 Conferences, though Oklahoma State has won the last four.
Despite the long relationship between the programs, this month’s bowl game will mark only the second time the teams have met in the postseason. In 1981, A&M topped the Cowboys 33-16 in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Fisher led the Aggies to a 7-5 finish in his second season at the helm of the program, as they closed out the season with a 50-7 loss to LSU on Nov. 30.
Bjork said the Aggies’ tough schedule with games against three separate AP No. 1 teams has prepared them for a bowl game against a ranked opponent.
“We’re coming off a regular season that featured five teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 10, including three No. 1 opponents, a schedule that prepares us for any bowl opponent,” Bjork said. “We look forward to playing one of our old Big 12 opponents in Oklahoma State and are expecting the 12th Man to fill the stadium at ‘Kyle Field South.’”
The Mike Gundy-led Cowboys are coming off a 34-16 loss to Oklahoma, which gave them an 8-4 season record and tied them with Texas for third in the Big 12.
The Cowboys’ offense, which averages 33.3 points per game, is led by running back Chuba Hubbard. The redshirt sophomore leads the nation with 1,936 rushing yards.
Meanwhile, the Aggies’ rushing defense is ranked 29th in the nation, allowing opponents less than 150 rushing yards.
This will be A&M’s third appearance in the Texas Bowl, with the first coming in the Aggies’ final year in the Big 12, when they topped Northwestern 33-22.
A&M last played in the Texas Bowl in 2016, when the Aggies fell to Kansas State 33-28.
The Aggies and Cowboys will meet once again in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston on Dec. 27, with kickoff slated for 5:45 p.m.