The Maroon Out tradition, a bevy of coordinated maroon T-shirts sold at a discounted price to Aggies, is a part of the A&M football experience for many fans.

Inspired by the sea of red from the University of Nebraska the previous year, the then Class of 2000 junior president Kyle Valentine came up with the idea of covering Kyle Field in maroon when Nebraska came back to play the Aggies. Over 31,000 shirts were sold and Kyle Field welcomed Nebraska in 1998 with a large maroon blanket over the entire stadium. The Aggies went on to upset the then No. 2 ranked Cornhuskers 28-21, which further united the student body to continue this tradition.

“A game that was dubbed a ‘maroon-out’ for Texas A&M fans proved to be a lights out for Nebraska,” read the The Daily Nebraskan in response to the first Maroon Out game. “The fans dressed themselves in maroon T-shirts in an attempt to wash out the red and white that opponents have gotten used to. It worked.”

The Aggie football team went on to win the first five Maroon Out games, including four against teams ranked in the top 10 at the time.

Today, the distribution of the shirts has become more widespread to include even the Aggies outside of College Station.

“In these past 17 years, we have seen Aggies all over the world buying shirts, and Maroon Out becoming an important tradition to so many Aggie fans,” said Maroon Out head director Hannah Wimberly. “We have become a lot more organized with our sales procedures, and begun to reach a much larger portion of the Aggie family by providing innovative selling destinations.”

Maroon Out has even begun to spread to sports besides football. For the first time, there are two additional designated Maroon Out games on the roster this year, said Wimberly.

“Maroon Out serves to unite the 12th Man, and the 12th Man stands loud and proud at all Aggie sports—not just football,” Wimberly said. “So, this year, [the directors] asked, why shouldn’t Maroon Out do the same? From here, [the directors] were so excited to add two new sports to the Maroon Out roster.”

Wimberly said that in addition to the Maroon Out football game, the soccer game versus Ole Miss on Oct. 25 and the volleyball game versus Georgia on Nov. 8 are also designated Maroon Out games.

The increased intensity that Maroon Out games bring to Kyle Field, however, doesn’t necessarily translate to Aggie football victories. The Aggies are currently on a four game Maroon Out losing streak, their last win coming against Nebraska in 2010. With a loss in the final game against Texas in 2011 along with a couple of close losses against Auburn and LSU in the following years, Maroon Out simply hasn’t provided the wins.

Still, some students remain hopeful. Kinesiology senior Nels Scott said the losses give the the student section a greater sense of urgency, which could make the a victory against Alabama this year all the more sweeter.

“I think it increases the intensity of the game, that we want that win more now than ever,” Scott said. “Especially with this large freshman class, it seems like every year the classes that are coming in get bigger and bigger. With that, Maroon Out just continues to get bigger and bigger. We just want all of our sports teams to win and conquer our opponents.”