Texas A&M forced to scrap iconic pre-game tradition ahead of game against bitter rivals

Ahead of 1 of the astir highly anticipated assemblage shot matchups of the year, the Texas A&M Aggies person been forced to wantonness 1 of their astir agelong lasting traditions owed to a ban.

Texas A&M is acceptable to revive its dormant rivalry with Texas - 1 of the astir bitter rivalries successful each of assemblage shot - aft the Longhorns moved to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) this season.

With that move, Texas and Texas A&M are acceptable to play each different for the archetypal clip successful 13 years erstwhile UT travels to College Station. But 1 of the Aggies' oldest, astir storied traditions volition not beryllium present. 

For implicit 90 years, the Aggies person built a monolithic bonfire and lit it successful solemnisation of the last crippled of the season. Traditionally, this has been the Texas crippled - with the bonfire symbolizing the students, 'burning tendency to bushed the hellhole outta t.u.' (t.u. is simply a derogatory nickname for Texas created by Aggie students).

But this year, determination volition not beryllium a bonfire. According to Texas A&M pupil paper 'The Battalion', a pain prohibition successful Robertson County that has been successful spot since September 10 owed to drought-like conditions forced the bonfire to beryllium pushed disconnected to a aboriginal date.

A connection from the Student Bonfire organizing committee said that the burning of the bonfire volition beryllium rescheduled for the outpouring semester.

Texas A&M's archetypal Aggie bonfire was successful November of 1907. Almost each twelvemonth since past - with immoderate exceptions owed to bans by the schoolhouse - monolithic structures person been built to acceptable ablaze connected the Texas plains.

It reaches dozens of feet precocious - and the cutting, stacking, and lighting of the occurrence itself is simply a months agelong project.

Throughout the years, aggregate plots to thwart the bonfire by Texas fans, students, and alumni person been attempted. These see trying to airy the occurrence aboriginal and aggregate attempts of trying to stroke it up via explosives. Aircraft person besides been utilized successful trying to ruin the bonfire - whether that's by aerial dropping bombs onto the bonfire stack oregon 1 planned effort of flying a exemplary airplane equipped with a weaponry into the structure.

The bonfire was a tract of calamity successful 1999 erstwhile the stack - astir 59 feet (17.98m) precocious and consisting of astir 5,000 logs - collapsed during operation earlier it could beryllium lit. 

At the time, 58 students were moving connected the stack - with 27 injured and 12 losing their lives. In 2003, a memorial was built connected the tract of the accident.

Since then, the bonfire has been an unofficial lawsuit that isn't sanctioned by the university. Instead, it's been enactment connected by a committee of students and is branded arsenic the Student Bonfire. It inactive attracts tens of thousands of people.

The crippled itself is acceptable to beryllium 1 of the astir consequential matchups for this year's College Football Playoff arsenic the No. 3 Longhorns play the No. 20 Aggies. Texas stands atop the SEC standings astatine 6-1 portion Texas A&M is close down them astatine 5-2.

That means, acknowledgment to tiebreakers, the victor of this crippled volition beforehand to the SEC Championship crippled successful Atlanta to play Georgia. If Texas A&M wins the Texas crippled and the SEC rubric game, they volition beforehand to the playoff contempt owning 3 losses connected the play to Notre Dame, South Carolina, and conscionable past week to struggling Auburn.