COLLEGE STATION — There’s a buzz at Texas A&M.
And it isn’t just about the football team qualifying for the College Football Playoff berth in school history.
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Volleyball also punched its initial Final Four ticket in electrifying fashion.
There are not many college campuses playing for football and volleyball national championships today. A&M’s 27-4 volleyball team, fresh off an incredible road upset of No. 1 overall seed Nebraska, meets Pittsburgh in a national semifinal Thursday while A&M’s 11-1 football team makes its CFP debut at home Saturday against Miami.
Texas A&M players and fans celebrate winning the NCAA Division I volleyball playoff game against TCU, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in College Station, Texas.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
It’s the biggest sports weekend in Texas A&M history, no question.
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Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko of the watches players warm up before the game against the Samford Bulldogs at Kyle Field on Nov. 22, 2025 in College Station.
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Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko walks the field ahead of the Lone Star Showdown against Texas at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
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Texas A&M players celebrate winning the NCAA Division I volleyball playoff game against TCU, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in College Station, Texas.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
MORE CEDDY:Should Texas football worry about Sarkisian leaving for Michigan?
“There’s a Venn diagram going around,” volleyball coach Jamie Morrison said during Monday’s media availability. “It’s been shrinking and shrinking of teams that are still eligible (for national championships in volleyball and football) and we’re down to one and I think that’s a cool thing.”
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In the 44 years since the NCAA took over the national volleyball tournament, only two schools have won volleyball and football championships in the same season: Nebraska in 1995 and USC in 2003.
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The Aggies qualifying two teams make its three straight years that a school has pulled off this unique football/volleyball double. Texas pulled it off in 2023 with volleyball defending its 2022 national title while football lost to Washington in the CFP semifinals. Last season, Penn State volleyball won the NCAA title while football fell to Notre Dame in the semifinals.
Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko watches the NCAA Division I volleyball playoff game against TCU at Reed Arena on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in College Station, Texas.
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Aggie volleyball shocked the nation but not themselves
It’s been almost three weeks since A&M football concluded the regular season with a loss at Texas. College football followers correctly assumed the Aggies had qualified for the 12-team playoff with its historic 11-0 start despite missing out on a chance to play in the SEC championship game.
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MORE AGGIES: How the Nebraska upset can spur Aggie volleyball in Final Four
While the campus was abuzz with the opportunity to capture the first national championship in the modern era — the Aggies won it all in 1939 — volleyball made national headlines by taking down a titan in the sport Sunday night.
Anyone who witnessed undefeated Nebraska force a deciding fifth set with a marathon 37-35 fourth set win over the Aggies before a packed house in Lincoln must have thought A&M had blown a golden opportunity to unseat the 33-0 top seed.
TCU middle blocker Alexis Roberson (1) and outside hitter Becca Kelley (11) miss a block during the NCAA Division I volleyball playoff game against Texas A&M at Reed Arena on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in College Station, Texas.
Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman
“It felt like we had just emptied the tank,” senior outside hitter Logan Lednicky said.
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That was, until the Aggies found it from somewhere and powered through for the biggest win in program history. Morrison said pressure cookers like that fifth set are where his team thrives.
“It’s our superpower,” Morris said. “If you look across the net and someone else looks worried and anxious and you’re sitting there having fun, it makes them more worried and anxious. But I really do think we enjoyed every single minute of that, and I hope we continue to do it in the Final Four.”
MORE CEDDY: Where Texas volleyball star Cari Spears got her competitive spirt
A&M’s five-set 25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 35-37-15-13 win set to set up Thursday’s national semifinal was the latest triumph in a successful calendar year on campus. The men’s track team captured its fifth national outdoors team title in program history this summer while the women finished third.
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Texas Longhorns defensive tackle Travis Shaw (44) reacts to a false start against Texas A&M Aggies during the first half of an NCAA college football game in the Lone Star Showdown in Austin, Texas, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman
Texas A&M has a chance to make history
While Morrison’s players are just two wins away to make history, their burlier campus brethren have taken inspiration from volleyball’s amazing week in Lincoln into the biggest football game in school history.
“It’s the same mindset we try to have as a football program,” Aggies football coach Mike Elko said Monday. “We’re not trying to be defined by any outside opinions of who we are or what we’re capable of for the good or the bad. We’re not trying to be defined by outside measures of success and failure for a season. We believe in our culture. We believe in who we are. We believe in the program that we built and we’re looking forward for the opportunity to go out and compete for three-and-a-half hours on Saturday.”
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This time last year, the 12th Man was still smarting from baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle leaving a national runner-up team for the school’s most hated rival while football fell flat in the first game against the Horns in more than a decade.
One year later, Aggie Nation has a chance to accomplish something rarely done, not even in Austin.
Both coaches pointed to the support from the administration as tantamount to what we’re witnessing.
“I think all of that is culminating in the fact that the whole athletic department is trending in the right direction of being the most dominant sporting brand in the country, and I think that culminates in a lot of things,” Morrison said. “It culminates in wins, it culminates in recognition for the university. And I think that’s happening as well right now.”
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It’s one of the biggest weekends in A&M sports history.
Many eyes are on College Station, including a few in the 512.