chron.com
COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M has an answer to some speculation from outsiders that the Aggies are perhaps “ducking†an opportunity to play one-time rival Texas in the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl: No, they’re not.
Allow A&M athletic director Eric Hyman, whom I visited with at the A&M women’s basketball game on Wednesday night, to explain.
“Quite frankly, that’s a decision made by the conference,†said Hyman, who was taking in No. 5 A&M’s 76-55 whipping of Rice in Reed Arena. “The configuration is so different than it’s been in the past. They ask us to rank the bowls, and they ask the bowls to rank us. The (SEC) then ranks all the different teams from that, and that’s how the selection will be made.
“It doesn’t matter if I speculate about playing this team or that team in a bowl. It’s out of our control. … Wherever they tee us up, we’ll play.â€
Hyman, who owns a reputation as a straight shooter, said the notion the Aggies are trying to get out of playing the Longhorns, for whatever reason or reasons, is absolutely unfounded.
“It goes back to what the league does, and how the bowl selection has changed dramatically from the past,†Hyman said. “You don’t really have a lot of say, the conference office picks who they want. And they try to match them up.â€