For Thanksgiving break, I went to Texas to visit my family and attend the Texas A&M vs. LSU game. My father’s side of the family consists of many former students of Texas A&M. Every time we visit Texas, we always visit significant historical markers, like the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, one of my sister’s favorites. 

College Station, Texas, is like another home of mine. This trip my Uncle William, a former student of Texas A&M, came along on our trip with his wife and three daughters. Ever since the five of us could speak we have sung the Texas Aggie fight song and knew that we would later be students at the college.

During this trip, I got to experience an Aggie tradition that is held before every home football game, the Midnight Yell Practice. During this, the Aggie yell leaders, those who conduct the traditional yells by the Texas Aggies, stand before the student section at midnight and practice the traditional yells and hand signals. 

The day of the game, my father and uncle took my cousins, sister and me to the campus so we could visit the quad, a place where all campuses have a square in the center of the dorms and their old dorms. It felt exciting to see where my father had fun and studied hard to get to where he is today.

Outside of the stadium, tents covered the campus for Aggie Tailgating, where everyone hooks up their TVs to watch other football games and cook up a lot of food. We hung out in my aunt’s old college friends tent until it was nearing the time that we head to our seats. Before we did that, we got to hang out with the Corps Cadets, members who play an instrument in the marching band and follow their march into the stadium. 

I was so excited to witness the intense game between LSU and Texas A&M. LSU was now the new rival ever since A&M moved conferences and stopped playing against Texas University. As we took our seats, the yell leaders started motivating the crowd with traditional yells, one being the “Farmers Fight.” Students and fans roll their arms and yell farmers fight three times and end with a “woo” pointing their class signal, which is different for each grade.

Everyone in the crowd matched with the maroon and white colors. To see the number of students that filled the student section was incredible. Almost half of the stadium is reserved with seats for the students of Texas A&M.

The start of the game was off to a great start, the Aggies up by 17 and the Tigers at seven in the second quarter. Every Thanksgiving LSU plays A&M at College Station. We hoped that the Aggies would take a win, since the past two years we had lost. This years team was much better and after a winning game against Kentucky, we were ready to take another win for the books.

As the game progressed everyone was standing and yelling at the field. It was back-and-forth with who was in the lead and then it happened. With one second left on the clock, we scored and tied with LSU, going into our first overtime of the game.

As the timer set for the overtime LSU was in the lead when A&M scored another point, which brought us to another tie and another overtime. Again, it was back-and-forth with the scores. As the scored got higher, overtime kept being added.

We were finally in our seventh overtime, everyone sweaty and exhausted. Everyone in the crowd just wanted someone to win at this point, no matter which team. Aggies fans took their seats and were ready to accept another loss against the Tigers.

However, at the last moment, A&M scored two more points and won us the highest scoring game in college football history. 74-72.

Everyone in my family was screaming as fans in the lower level sections rushed onto the field and began to join arms and “saw off” LSU, another Aggie tradition. Everyone in the stadium locks arms and sways back and forth while singing the Aggie fight song. It was an experience of a lifetime. There were tears and laughs all around as we sang our Aggie Fight Song for the final game of the season.

I cannot wait to attend Texas A&M for my college years, the unity between former students, current students and the families is just a wonderful thing to experience and to be a part of. I may not always remember to football game itself but I will definitely remember the feeling I shared with everyone in the stadium that night.