At its highest reaches, Kyle Field rises 182 feet, or nearly 17 stories, from the center of the Texas A&M campus in College Station, towering over almost everything else in sight.
It is a massive, mammoth construct; so mesmerizing that about a dozen years ago a group of undergrads began dreaming of climbing to the top of it and filming themselves attempting to throw a basketball all the way down into a hoop. It was then that “Dude Perfect” was born.
JerryWorld in Arlington may be the Taj Mahal to the religion of football in Texas. The oversized high school coliseums, from $60 million spots in the wealthy Dallas suburbs to blue-collar Ratliff Stadium out in Odessa, where an oil derrick once pumped in the parking lot, probably best serve as monuments to the game in the state.
Kyle Field fits in well though. It fits in perfectly. Strikingly large (110,000 capacity) considering its distance from major cities, exquisitely designed and impossible to ignore, the message is clear:
Football matters here. Football may matter more here than nearly anywhere.
And yet …
The Aggies haven’t claimed a national title since 1939 or even a conference one since 1998. Since Bear Bryant left in 1957, there have been just seven finishes in the AP top 10 and just three in the top five.
A&M, despite all the support, all the resources, all the talent surrounding it, has just never been a true national contender. Somehow, no coach has been able to make this work to the potential that every Aggie, and nearly every visitor, can see clearly as they walk past or into or to the top of Kyle Field.
Jimbo Fisher knows a top-three recruiting class gives Texas A&M a shot at national titles in the future. “Being up there means you are relevant, you have a chance.”
Jimbo Fisher was one of those people, which is one of the reasons why before the 2018…
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