On the tail end of Friday, Nov. 28’s tryptophan-induced malaise, an all-too-familiar brontide will sweep across the Texas plains: the rhythmic thumping of cowboy boots as throngs of the 12th Man descend on Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for the 120th meeting between No. 3 Texas A&M football and No. 17 Texas in the Lone Star Showdown.
Since last season’s 17-7 Longhorn win in the programs’ first meeting in 13 years, the two teams have gone in opposite directions. One has blasted past expectations, coalescing around a Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback and inking its coach to a mega extension. The other has suffered under the weight of a preseason No. 1 ranking, unable to replace talent and dealing with swirling ru-
mors of its coach jumping ship to bring his cutting-edge playsheet to the NFL.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning, once thought to be a quarterbacking heir carved from myth, has had a rollercoaster first season as the Longhorns’ starter. Manning has shown flashes of his pedigree, with three-touchdown performances against then-No. 9 Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, but he threw interceptions in losses to thenNo. 3 Ohio State and then-No. 5 Georgia.
On the other sideline, redshirt sophomore QB Marcel Reed has emerged from his maroon chrysalis at the forefront of the Southeastern Conference landscape. Before A&M’s penultimate regular-season game against Samford in Week 13, the Nashville, Tennessee, native has accounted for 3,023 yards of total offense and 28 touchdowns.
Reed is coming off of arguably his best half as a collegiate athlete, for which he won AP Player of the Week for a second half that saw him go 16-for-20 for 289 yards and three scores to erase a 27-point deficit against South Carolina.
Tuition
Sophomore wide receiver Mario Craver and junior WR KC Concepcion have deservedly received flowers for their combined 1,568 yards and 12 touchdowns, but a new face has joined the party: redshirt freshman WR Ashton Bethel-Roman. The former Ridge Point Panther has racked up 295 yards receiving and three touchdowns in his last four games.
The Texas defense is anchored by sophomore edge rusher Colin Simmons, one of the most prolific pass rushers in the nation. Simmons has nine sacks on the year — including 7.5 in his last five games — and is tasked with slowing down an Aggie offense that has the 11th-most explosive pass plays, according to CFBStats.
Redshirt senior defensive end Cashius Howell is the only player in the conference with more sacks than Simmons at 11.5. A rabid wolverine off the edge, Howell will have the opportunity to pin his ears back against an offensive line that gives up more than two sacks a game.
Given coach Steve Sarkisian’s offense is
built around motion, screens and manipulation of the second level of the defense, A&M will have to be up for the challenge of tackling — something redshirt senior cornerback Tyreek Chappell was praised for when he won the Aggies’ internal defensive player of the week award against then-No. 22 Mizzou. Small in stature but titanic in performance, junior LB Taurean York’s performance in last season’s Lone Star Showdown belied his size with 10 tackles, a sack, 3.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in his best effort to save the game. This year, York and Co. should have less of a struggle with the Longhorns barely averaging over 124 yards per game on the ground.
As the final notes of “The Eyes of Texas” fade out across the Austin air, more than 100,000 fans will nestle into their seats to watch the 6:30 p.m. kickoff. Texas will look to be the first team to take down three top10 squads in a single season since 2019, and A&M aims to extend its annus mirabilis — and saw ‘em off in front of a sea of burnt orange.
Graphic by Zoe Rich
heads to Austin for Lone Star Showdown
History of Aggies, Longhorns’ rivalry is tale of Texas-sized legends, clashes
By Noah Ruiz Senior Sports Writer
With the crisp November breeze making its way through College Station, Aggieland nds more than just cool temperatures clinging to the air. This fall, the cautiously optimistic glow of national-championship hopes has the Texas A&M faithful in a frenzy.
From a miraculous upset win over then-No.8 Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, to the greatest comeback win in school history versus South Carolina, No. 3 Texas A&M football has forged new paths to win each and every week en route to their best start in over 30 years.
The bubbling anticipation of a nal regular season showdown with the No. 17 Texas Longhorns in Austin carries with it the same stakes as it did a year ago — a spot in the Southeastern Conference Championship for the Aggies, and they are hungry for revenge.
While the two rivals face each other with stakes the size of Texas, the Lone Star Showdown has long been the culmination of emotion, bragging rights and, most importantly, a place among college football royalty.
1894: Football comes to A&M
Nearly 20 years after its founding, A&M suited up its very rst football team in 1894. It was nearing the turn of the century and the all-boys military school was eager to get in on the sport that was sweeping the nation, but not without a rst round of growing pains.
The Aggies were ill-prepared to face the Longhorns in Austin, getting pummelled 38-0 in the inaugural matchup between the two programs. The Maroon and White played just two games that season, but they built the foundation of an annual contest that would last well over a century.
Originally, the Fightin’ Farmers consisted of 20 or so friends who were all recruited in part by freshman Milt Sims, a young man who was keen on bringing football to College Station after the school began funding athletics in 1892. But on the very rst play from scrimmage, A&M quarterback Bill Mossenburg fumbled the ball, which was returned for a touchdown.
As for the Longhorns, their throttling of the Aggies kicked o coach Reginald DeMerritt Wentworth’s lone season on a high note, as they coasted to a 6-1 record. The young men who played on that eld 131 years ago had no idea, but this showdown of their cross-state brethren would endure two World Wars and seven national championships before they paused their yearly clash.
Now as far as Sims, despite being a key piece in forming A&M’s football program, would not return to the team, or the school for that matter. His reasoning was quick and to the point: “Three hundred men and no women at all. It wasn’t much fun.”
1939: Victory over Texas makes A&M Sugar Bowl bound
Over 40 years after the rst team that Sims assembled, the Aggies established themselves as a contender on the national stage. Former coach Dana X. Bible brought a winning standard to College Station as A&M captured two claimed national titles during his tenure.
But with the beginning of coach Homer Norton’s time at the helm in 1934, that standard needed to persist if the Aggies were to continue vying for the national title race, and in 1939, they did just that.The top-ranked Maroon and White faced an underequipped burnt orange-clad foe in the Longhorns, whom they beat 20-0.
On the gridiron, it was running back John Kimbrough — the “Haskell Hurricane” — who led the Maroon and White into battle. A legend in A&M football lore, Kimbrough was a physical running back whose skills extended beyond the football eld. A successful actor and World War II veteran, Kimbrough was the feature back of Norton’s national championship squad with 10 total touchdowns.
The success was part of a 20-game winning streak that Norton engineered through three di erent seasons, and the win over Texas helped A&M secure a 10-0 nish in the regular season and earn a Sugar Bowl appearance. The Aggies went on to face No. 5 Tulane in New Orleans, pulling o a heroic, come-from-behind 14-13 victory. Kimbrough replicated his dominance over the Longhorns with a similar performance against the Green Wave, as Jarrin’ John rushed for 159 yards on 25 carries and scored two touchdowns to end an 11-0 season and claim the national championship.
1968-1974: Texas’s wishbone o ense terrorizes A&M
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State at stake: A&M, Texas’ 131-year history
The same period was a time of utter turmoil for the A&M program, which nished with just one winning season as its rivals were taking home SWC titles left and right. However, things were not all bleak. A 10-2 1975 season brought the Aggies out of the gutter and laid the blueprint for the glory days of A&M football.
1984-1994: Rise of Wrecking Crew, R.C. Slocum
A back-and-forth period followed Texas’ win streak, which stretched until coaches Jackie Sherrill and R.C. Slocum were hired to make the A&M program a perennial bowl contender. Coming over from Pittsburgh, Sherrill brought in R.C. Slocum to serve as his defensive coordinator, a decision that changed the Aggies forever.
Slocum, who as an assistant coach endured defeats at the hands of the wishbone o ense, had just the right moxie and understanding of the A&M program to become the school’s winningest coach.
As both defensive coordinator and head coach, Slocum developed a Heisman-hunting defensive unit that dispatched four winners of the coveted trophy in six years — not to mention beating the Longhorns nine times over the course of a decade. The famous Wrecking Crew defense corralled the Texas o ense in dominant fashion, allowing 20 points just twice in 10 meetings.
The Aggies went to six Cotton Bowls while laying a beating on their SWC rivals, with players like Dat Nguyen and Sam Adams leading the charge against the Longhorns, never once losing in College Station throughout their time with the program.
The Wrecking Crew defense led the SWC in four statistical categories from 1991 through 1993 and led the nation in total defense in 1991, with future three-time Super Bowl champion cornerback Kevin Smith holding opposing wide receivers in check around the clock.
This golden age of Aggie football was a developmental period that helped make Kyle Field into what it is today — a true 12th-Man advantage. During Slocum’s 14 years in Aggieland, his unit lost just 12 times, as beating the Longhorns was an almost-yearly occurrence for the better part of a decade. However, good things almost always come to an end, with Slocum’s resignation establishing the end of the Wrecking Crew era.
1999: Tragedy unites a divided state
With a state like Texas, football is the subject of talk all around the dinner table. It’s the glue that holds some households together, while some nd it a chance for a battle of pettiness and bragging rights.
Regardless of how football is interpreted, emotions ride high, especially with the Aggies and Longhorns. So when tragedy struck in the Lone Star State, there was not a dry eye in sight on Nov. 26, 1999.
In the early hours of Nov. 18, 1999, the A&M family lost 12 young lives in the collapse of Aggie Bon re during its construction. It was a moment where the world stood still in Aggieland, where students and onlookers alike were unsure of how to move forward with such heaviness in the air. It was then that the Maroon and White had an unlikely friend in their trying times: The Longhorns, their bitter rival.
This monumental victory was the rst of four New Year’s Day bowl games, where Norton cemented his legacy at A&M and a place in the College Football Hall of Fame.
In the decades following A&M’s dominance in the rst half of the 1900s,Texas spent the latter half putting together a lethal o ensive scheme that led it to two national championships — the wishbone o ense.
Masterminded by Longhorns’ o ensive coordinator and future Aggies head coach Emory Bellard, this Y formation became one of the most innovative styles of attack in the late 1960s to 1980s, where defenders found themselves lost in the options of where the ball could end up.
The execution is simple: The quarterback lines up directly under center, while a fullback awaits behind with two running backs anking either side. There was no telling who would have the ball in their hands when the dust settled and — unfortunately — it seemed the Aggies never got the memo from 1968 to 1974.
The Longhorns went undefeated against the Aggies in that stretch, winning by at least 20 points in each matchup. Coach Darrell K Royal commanded a well-oiled machine as he brought Texas three national titles in his time in Austin, thanks in part to his quarterback, James Street.
On Street’s sides, running backs Chris Gilbert and Steve Worster were the punishing duo that helped bring Texas its rst national titles as well as Southwest Conference fame. Worster, a Bridge City legend, traded a rural lifestyle for the bustling city of Austin, racking up 36 touchdowns in his career and serving as the inspiration for the wishbone o ense. Gilbert, on the other hand, was just as dominant. The Houston native became the rst player in NCAA history to rush for 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons, and was a erce competitor for the Longhorns as a captain of the 1968 SWC-winning team.
The Longhorns’ Texas Exes alumni association cancelled its annual “Hex Rally” in favor of a night of Remembrance and reverence for the fallen Aggies, extending an invitation to the A&M community to light candles and join in unity. The two schools met at Kyle Field just eight days removed from the disastrous event, where the Longhorns were heavy favorites. However, the Maroon and White had been through too much to be deterred. Aggie RB Ja’Mar Toombs had a career day against Texas, rushing for 126 yards on a jaw-dropping 37 carries. Among those running attempts, two found themselves in the Longhorns’ end zone while “Toooooombs” chants echoed around the then-record crowd of 86,126 fans.
To cement a Maroon and White victory, a late fumble recovery by linebacker Brian Gamble brought tear-jerking words of “Aggies got the ball! Aggies got to the ball!” as A&M secured an upset win against No. 7 Texas, which brought a mourning school solace amid unfathomable grief.
Far more than football was experienced that day, as tears rolled down the eyes of onlookers seeing their Aggies rally in the face of hardship. As for Slocum, he did what he did best at Kyle Field — win football games.
“I thought the team did a great job of working through a lot of adversity,” Slocum said. “They remained focused on the task at hand. This is a great win for our program.”
2010: Von Miller has the last word in Austin
As the Aggies prepared to return to DKR for the rst time in over a decade, the latest edition of the rivalry in Austin was back in 2010, when A&M had a future Hall of Fame linebacker charging his way up the NFL Draft boards.
Coming out of DeSoto High School, LB Von Miller was a versatile prospect who could play a variety of roles in coach Mike Sherman’s defense. In a storied collegiate career, his senior year was his best, winning the Butkus Award for being the nation’s top linebacker, as well as earning rst-team All-American honors.
His 10.5 sacks were critical in the Aggies’ eight wins leading up to a showdown in Austin, where the Longhorns were competing for bowl eligibility. A&M held the lead over Texas throughout the game, as future NFL QB Ryan Tannehill was Miller’s complement on the o ensive side. Tannehill had plenty of help from the Maroon and White running game, where RB Cyrus Gray ran for a whopping 223 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns. Gray’s stellar outing against the Longhorns was an essential part of the fellow DeSoto star’s rst of two back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
However, this would not keep the Burnt Orange from mounting a comeback attempt. In less than four minutes, Texas QB Garrett Gilbert had his squad surging 68 yards down eld, threatening to tie up A&M in the waning moments of what would be the last Big 12 contest in Austin. Taking the snap from the Aggies’ 12-yard line, Gilbert made an attempt at heroism in the back of the end zone, though it was Miller who made a jumping interception and doomed the Longhorns to a losing season.
Miller rode this high all the way up to the second pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, where the Denver Broncos selected him to be the focal point of the No Fly Zone defense, where he continued to shine in the biggest moments in the big leagues, just as he had done in college.
Players to watch in Lone Star Showdown
These stars at night will be big and bright deep in the heart of Texas on Friday, Nov. 28
By Matthew Seaver Associate Sports Editor
It’s an understatement to say a lot will be on the line for both sides when No. 3 Texas A&M makes the journey from Bryan-College Station to Austin in order to take on No. 17 Texas on Friday, Nov. 28, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
At stake for the Aggies is their rst undefeated regular season since 1992, pending a buy game against Samford, a guaranteed spot in the Southeastern Conference Championship — A&M’s rst — and their rst victory in the Lone Star Showdown in 15 years.
Meanwhile, a win for Texas would completely derail A&M’s undefeated season and SEC Championship aspirations, while also potentially staking its claim for a deserved spot in this year’s College Football Playo . EJ Smith, graduate student running back, Texas A&M
shirt freshman WR Ashton Bethel-Roman has clearly developed chemistry with Reed as the season has progressed, with 295 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the last four games ahead of Samford.
If the Longhorns are preoccupied with containing Concepcion and Craver, it could give Bethel-Roman the opportunity to gash the Burnt Orange secondary for big plays down eld. After a handful of breakout games, including a freak 76-yard reception against South Carolina, where he admitted to running the wrong route, Bethel-Roman is an explosive play waiting to happen — even if it’s by accident.
The son of NFL Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith has carved himself a critical role in the Aggies’ back eld as the go-to short-yardage back, especially in the absence of A&M’s starting powerback, senior RB Le’Veon Moss. While coach Mike Elko has insisted Moss could return within the regular season, graduate student RB EJ Smith has proven his ability to convert on countless crucial downs
The preseason Heisman Trophy favorite according to BetMGM, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and heir to the Manning throne has certainly not lived up to the exuberant expectations placed upon him. However, redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning has still managed to put together quite the season, demonstrating his dual-threat ability, accounting for 19 passing touchdowns and six rushing scores as of Nov. 20. The Aggies surrendered 85 rushing yards and two touchdowns to Arkansas redshirt senior QB Taylen Green, so Texas coach Steve Sarkisian will likely try to replicate that kind of performance with Manning. The Longhorn QB is going to buy time escaping the pocket, keeping the play alive to give his receivers a chance to get open down eld. He’ll also receive a handful of designed runs in which Manning isn’t afraid of contact.
Colin Simmons, sophomore edge, Texas
His six years of experience has certainly assisted Smith in his nal season of college football as he’s racked up 164 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground as of Nov. 20. While redshirt sophomore RB Rueben Owens II has received a majority of the carries for A&M in Moss’ absence, expect the ball in Smith’s hands if the Aggies nd themselves inches away from moving the sticks or even getting into the end zone.
Will Lee III, senior cornerback, Texas A&M
The only Aggie to nd the end zone in last season’s Lone Star Showdown, thanks to a heroic pick six, senior cornerback Will Lee III has guarded opponents’ top receivers all season. The man known as “The Blanket” is not to be slept on, as he leads a Maroon and White secondary that has only allowed opponents to complete 57.4% of their passes, the third-lowest mark in the SEC.
While Lee hasn’t secured an interception this season, as of Nov. 20, he is tied with a team-best of six pass de ections, demonstrating his lockdown ability.
He’ll likely trail the Longhorns’ No. 1 receiver all night in Austin, so the Aggies’ success will depend heavily on how well Lee executes coverage.
While the wide receiver duo of junior KC Concepcion and sophomore Mario Craver have been redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed’s go-to targets this season, red-
Texas’ shining star on defense is sophomore edge Colin Simmons. After a breakout true freshman campaign, Simmons has avoided a sophomore slump, racking up nine sacks and 11 tackles for loss through Nov. 20.
The A&M o ensive line is going to have its hands full dealing with Simmons, who possesses game-wrecking ability o the edge. So, expect the future 2027 NFL Draft rst-rounder to have his name called a few times on Friday, as his high motor and athletic frame allow him to close distance in the blink of an eye.
Ryan Wingo, sophomore wide receiver, Texas
The leading receiver for the Longhorns this season has been sophomore WR Ryan Wingo, as he leads the Burnt Orange offense in every pass-catching statistic, with a team-best 40 catches for 655 yards and six touchdowns as of Nov. 20. However, the one stat that has loomed over Wingo’s sophomore campaign are drops, as he’s struggled with securing the ball.
Wingo su ered a thumb injury in the Longhorns’ game against then-No. 9 Vanderbilt, but he didn’t miss any snaps in the matchup versus then-No. 5 Georgia. So, look for Wingo to operate at full speed, regardless of his health or who’s lined up across the line of scrimmage. Sarkisian is going to utilize plenty of pre-snap motion in order to get Wingo the ball in open space, where he can do the most damage.
Here’s what to expect as Aggies face Jaspers, according to Mid-Major Madness writer, MAAC insider Sam Federman
By Ian Curtis Editor-in-Chief
Texas A&M men’s basketball is set to host Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe Manhattan at Reed Arena for the rst time on Friday, Nov. 21.
With Aggie fans needing a breakdown of exactly what to expect from the visitors, there was only one call to make: Mid-Major Madness’ Sam Federman, who’s built a cult following of basketball sickos by dedicating years to becoming the MAAC and Northeast mid-major basketball’s preeminent insider.
Currently ranked 286th in the nation by KenPom after being picked to nish fourth in the MAAC in the conference’s preseason poll, the Jaspers are coming o of the OUTRIGGER Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, which saw Manhattan fall to host Hawaii while pulling out close wins over Utah Tech and Mississippi Valley State.
Meanwhile, the Aggies return to Reed
Texas A&M enters revived SEC Tournament, making its return after two decades, riding 10-match winning streak
By Diego Saenz Senior Sports Writer
After a 20-year hiatus, the Allstate Southeastern Conference Volleyball Tournament is back, and No. 6 Texas A&M volleyball will be looking to make history.
A&M football coach Mike Elko’s squad is not the only program experiencing a historic run this fall. Coach Jamie Morrison and Co. are in the middle of their best campaign since 1984, nishing the regular season with a 22-3 overall record and a 14-1 mark in SEC play.
That resume earned A&M the 2-seed in the tournament, sitting only behind Kentucky — the lone team to hand A&M a conference loss.
After that slip-up, the Maroon and White responded with authority by winning its next 10 games. The 10-match winning streak also featured marquee wins over then-No. 16 Tennessee and, most memorably, a 3-2 victory over then-No. 2 Texas at Reed Arena to claim victory in the Lone Star Showdown.
Fittingly, the matches that tested Morrison’s squad the most came against Kentucky and Texas, who happen to be the two biggest obstacles standing between A&M and an SEC Tournament Championship.
1-seed Kentucky Wildcats — 22-2 overall, 15-0 SEC
Kentucky enters the tournament as the clear favorite, as coach Craig Skinner has built a powerhouse that has owned the conference for the past decade, with nine regular-season titles in the last 10 years.
This season has been no di erent.
Skinner’s side has not tasted defeat in over two months, building a 15-0 SEC record along the way. Eight of those fteen wins were sweeps. Kentucky’s 3-1 victory over A&M was far closer than the scoreboard suggested. The Aggies started the match on re, taking the rst set 25-21 and handing the Wildcats their rst dropped set in four matches. Set 2 was a heavyweight battle that Kentucky narrowly stole, 25-22, to even the match. The Wildcats then exed their champi-
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A&M hoops to host MAAC foe Manhattan
Arena after back-to-back losses to Big 12 schools Oklahoma State and UCF and fending o an upset bid from Montana 8681 on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The Jaspers are on a get-right trend under coach John Gallagher, the former coach at Hartford before that program made the controversial decision to drop down to Division III.
After a somewhat-heated decision to give Gallagher the job and not promote full-season interim coach RaShawn Stores in 2023, Gallagher has taken Manhattan from a lackluster seven wins in his rst year to 17 wins last season.
“He kind of built back that good will with the fanbase because he’s an energetic guy, really positive guy,” Federman said. “[He] immediately had the team playing hard, even though they were really bad in his rst year.”
Federman said the rst thing A&M fans need to know about Manhattan is that it’s actually in the Bronx, not Manhattan — just a quick New York City subway ride away.
The second thing Federman wanted to get across is how much of a role continuity plays in the identity of this Manhattan team.
The Jaspers are led by a dynamic duo of redshirt junior and junior guards Devin Dinkins and Jaden Winston, who are in their second and third years with Manhat-
tan. Dinkins was named to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team after averaging 13.6 points for the Jaspers last season.
“They brought back as much as anybody in the conference,” Federman said. “But we kind of learned that part of the reason they were able to bring back as much as anyone in the conference is because [sophomore forward] Will Sydnor … he was going to be ineligible for the beginning of the season. They may or may not have known this.”
Sydnor — who Manhattan announced was dealing with an NCAA eligibility issue “unrelated to any malfeasance on his part” on Oct. 31 — was named to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team along with Dinkins. His loss has deeply a ected Manhattan so far this season.
“There was a lot of buzz going into the season because it was going to be [Sydnor],” Federman said. “He was back, [sophomore forward] Fraser [Roxburgh] was gonna have a big year. Devin Dinkins was really good. He was rst team all-conference in the preseason, Winston, Year 3 starter. That’s a big deal in this conference, don’t get a ton of those guys.”
The Jaspers have guards who can be a threat from beyond the arc, something A&M has occasionally been susceptible to — having given up 20-plus-point games to shooters from Northwestern State and
UCF already this year.
“Devin Dinkins, man, he can hit from anywhere,” Federman said. “He’s arguably the best shooter in the conference. And it doesn’t look like classic elite-shooter form, but it works for him, and he’s really good at that. He gets to the lane, he scores. He’s probably one of the best microwave scorers in the conference.”
While the season is still young, it’s been a tale of two sides for the Jaspers. According to KenPom, Manhattan ranks 167th in the country in adjusted o ensive e ciency and 355th in adjusted defensive e ciency.
Federman predicts that the Jaspers aren’t going to be easily rattled by the Aggies’ signature Bucky Ball full-court press.
Rather, the simple athleticism di erence between a MAAC roster and a Southeastern Conference roster — even one pulled together at the last minute like A&M’s — could be too much to overcome, as evidenced by Manhattan’s 114-83 loss to USC earlier this season.
“I don’t think Manhattan was built to beat high-major teams,” Federman said. “I think they were built to outscore MAAC teams.”
The 12th Man will nd out when the Aggies welcome the Jaspers to Reed Arena on Friday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m.
Aggies set sights on SEC volleyball crown
onship pedigree in the third set after they grabbed the lead.
With their backs against the wall, Morrison’s squad refused to quit. A&M pushed Kentucky to the brink in extra points, but the Wildcats escaped with a 27-25 nish to secure the match and take sole ownership of rst place in the conference.
3-seed Texas Longhorns — 21-2 overall, 13-2 SEC
Another national powerhouse, 3-seed Texas, enters the SEC Tournament built to challenge both A&M and Kentucky.
The Longhorns opened the season looking like the best team in the country, ripping o 18 straight wins. During that run, Texas took down eight ranked opponents and collected ve wins over top-10 teams.
Then, the Aggies came along and snapped their archrivals’ streak on Halloween. The Horns struggled to regroup after the heartbreak loss and were narrowly swept by the Wildcats in their very next match.
Texas has bounced back, closing the regular season with three straight wins while preparing to rediscover its early-season form for the conference tournament.
A&M’s championship path
As a top-4 seed, the Aggies earned a bye through the rst two rounds and will wait until the third round to face their rst opponent on Sunday, Nov. 23.
The three possible matchups for A&M include 15-seed Vanderbilt, 10-seed Mississippi State and 7-seed No. 7 Georgia, which will play the winner of the match between the Commodores and Bulldogs in the opening round. A&M swept all three during the regular season. With 3-seed Texas on the same side of the bracket as A&M, a Lone Star Showdown rematch — with a trip to the title match on the line — becomes a realistic scenario.
On the opposite side, 1-seed Kentucky and 4-seed Tennessee are expected to meet in the semi nals, barring any upsets from teams in the rst two rounds. The Wildcats defeated the Volunteers 3-1 in the regular season and enter the tournament as a heavy favorite to reach the championship.
If that bracket holds, it would set the stage perfectly for Morrison’s squad to make a revenge run against Kentucky on the biggest stage of the season.
A&M will open play on Sunday, Nov. 23, with the quarter nals onward being televised on the SEC Network.
Left to right: Texas A&M junior guard Josh Holloway (1) passes the ball during Texas A&M men’s basketball’s game against UCF at
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A&M hosts Senior
Aggies hope to kennel 1-10 Bulldogs on Saturday, Nov. 22, before they move on to rivalry weekend against Longhorns
By Braxton Dore’ Sports Editor
No. 3 Texas A&M football shocked the Southeastern Conference and the 12th Man on Nov. 15 when it overcame a 27-point de cit to complete the largest comeback in school history against South Carolina.
Sitting atop the AP Top 25 at third in the country for ve consecutive weeks and ranking the same in the College Football Playo committee’s watchful eye, the Aggies are riding high on their undefeated record toward the end of their schedule and into a possible spot in the SEC Championship Game and the playo s. But what follows that Hallmark-movie ending against the Gamecocks is a date with the 1-10 Samford Bulldogs out of the FCS’ Southern Conference this Saturday,
Nov. 22.
“We talk a lot about playing to our standard regardless of opponent,” coach Mike Elko said in Monday’s press conference. “It’s not something we’ve been good enough at. So this is an opportunity for us to take a maturity step and go out there and play the game at the level that we’re capable of playing it, regardless of who we’re playing.”
A lot of analysis can be done over the late-game scares A&M has in icted on the Aggie faithful this season — namely against Notre Dame, Arkansas and South Carolina — but none of those can drown the lofty expectations of success that fans have for the Maroon and White against the Bulldogs.
Nearly all projections point toward a lopsided score in the Aggies’ favor. But the game holds more importance than just moving onto an 11-0 record and a rivalry weekend against No. 17 Texas; it represents possibly the last time the seniors on the roster will compete at Kyle Field — if A&M doesn’t host a rst-round playo game.
“There’s going to be a lot of kids walking across that eld for the last time, and that’s a memory that they’ll take with them forever,” Elko said. “ … It’s an opportunity for them to end their senior season undefeated
at home, and that hasn’t happened around here in a long time.”
One of the many players departing Aggieland after this season, multi-talented graduate student o ensive lineman Trey Zuhn III has left an astounding impact on the program during his tenure donning maroon and white.
“He’s what you want an Aggie to be,” Elko said. “For him to come back again, be a captain again, for him to be as consistent as he is, as tough as he is. He plays through pain, he plays through injury. He’ll play through anything. This place means an awful lot to him.”
No matter the opponent, Elko has preached making plays in critical moments throughout the season.
“The thing that makes seasons successful is your ability to make those plays in those moments to win football games,” Elko said.
“And I think that’s what this team is doing.”
The SEC leader in sacks — who ranks second in the country at 11.5 — redshirt senior defensive end Cashius Howell showed o his ability to be that playmaker during A&M’s second-half comeback against South Carolina. On the Gamecocks’ last third-down ef-
fort, he sacked redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers and then secured the tackle on the next play, forcing a turnover on downs.
“That play he made at the end of the game to win that football game,” Elko said. “That is an elite-level play. … That’s just unbelievable awareness, unbelievable feel to close space and close the gap on the quarterback before he could get going and then an unbelievable feel to not yank the horse collar as he was kind of getting his hand around it.”
Facing one of the most dominant defenses in the country, which ranks No. 1 in third-down conversion percentage and total sacks, the Bulldogs have their bowls full this weekend under the high-pressure atmosphere in the con nes of an SEC stadium. But defense isn’t the only thing to strike fear into the Dogs’ hearts, as the Aggies’ offense ranks sixth in passing yards per completion with 14.93 and is tied for 14th in points per game
ENTERTAINMENT
Protecting Queen Rev
LIFE & ARTS
Strutting streetwear across Aggieland
Student-run magazine brings fashion,
self-expression
to Thrifted-Threads runway
By Kaitlyn Cates Life & Arts Writer
Next to gas pumps turned store decor and under the icker of streetlights down Texas Avenue, Thrifted Threads became a runway as its gas station-themed parking lot turned into a catwalk. A live DJ spun beats that pulsed through the crowd as models struck poses beside a vintage red Mercedes, bringing their fashion to life.
In partnership with local vintage store Thrifted Threads, A-Line Magazine hosted its fashion show on Nov. 13, showcasing upcycled looks styled and modeled by Texas A&M students. In addition to the outdoor fashion show, the event also featured several other local vendors, including Jesus Follower Co., Dunn-it! Mercari and Thrashmeddle y2k & vintage.
A-Line Magazine is a student-run, online fashion and lifestyle publication at A&M, which serves as a creative platform for self-expression Producing weekly website content and a semesterly print issue, A-Line’s core mission is to “enkindle the human spirit through self-expression and embolden all to excel beyond social norms.”
The idea for the fashion show has been circulating for a long time, according to A-Line Event Chief and hospitality, hotel management and tourism sophomore Breanna Barnett.
She said the concept of hosting a live event that matches the magazine’s creative spirit frequently surfaced during sta discussions. That vision came to life through A-Line’s collaboration with Thrifted Threads, blending student creativity and sustainable, upcycled fashion, Barnett said.
“When we do interviews for positions, we always ask what new ideas people want to add, and a fashion show always comes up in people’s thoughts,” Barnett said. “Ever since I got my position, my goal was to make one happen.”
For Barnett, the partnership between A-Line and Thrifted Threads feels especially meaningful. In addition to serving as A-Line’s event chief, she works at the store and has seen rsthand how it fosters creativity and community, helping coordinate monthly vendor markets that invite students and locals to connect.
“I think that sense of community and positivity we have in the store is exactly what we want to bring to the fashion show,” Barnett said.
The fashion show’s theme was centered around streetwear, and Barnett said each stylist was given creative freedom to design their look to interpret what streetwear means to them. Stylists were able to go into the store and pull pieces from Thrifted Threads, including vintage items, to include in or inspire their looks.
“A lot of people have brought their culture into their looks and just streetwear,” Barnett said. “ … It’s exciting to see how everyone has made the theme their own.”
Styling Chief and architecture sophomore Avery Elkins oversees A-Line’s team of stylists, from hair and makeup to models and clothing. Eight models, selected through A-Line’s modeling call, were paired with members of the styling team. The stylists worked for over a month to bring the looks to life for show day. Avery said the group’s dynamic makes the creative process even stronger.
“This team of stylists is probably the one I’ve bonded with the most,” Avery said. “We’re all really good friends, but we also understand that at the end of the day, this is still a professional org. It’s a really fun and professional environment.”
A-Line carries a sentimental meaning for Avery, whose older sister, management senior Parker Elkins, serves as A-Line’s editor and introduced Avery to the organization years ago.
“I learned about A-Line through her,” Avery said. “I even got to help her on a fashion shoot when I was in high school. I got to make this cool necklace out of safety pins. It was a whole moment, and ever since then, I was like, ‘I’m joining this org. This is happening.’”
Also leading the styling process for the show was Assistant to Styling Chief and human resource development sophomore Deb Zhang. She was tasked with juggling two major projects at once as she conducted styling shoots for the magazine, along with coordinating styling for the fashion show.
“It’s been a lot having both responsibilities going on at the same time, but the fashion show is a very good way of putting A-Line out there,” Zhang said. “It’s a very big event for us.”
Zhang and Avery worked together to design the look for the show’s closing model. The nal look of the evening featured a model walking out in a plain white tee and white jeans, then being spraypainted with gra ti art in a live demonstration for attendees to see before she walked the runway.
“This theme branches o in a di erent genre of fashion,” Zhang said. “It’s also like an opportunity where we get to showcase students’ work, and what A-Line represents, which is creative liberty and creative freedom to express yourself.”
Photos by Steve Carrasco IV — THE BATTALION
How one student balances everything in life from records to rodeo to classroom work
By Julia Helsel Life & Arts Writer
On a typical Monday afternoon, Texas A&M students can be found nishing classes, preparing dinner or squeezing in some precious study time.
But not Garrett Talamantes, an agribusiness sophomore and member of the Aggie Rodeo team and Aggieland Mariachi. He’s making an hour-long drive to Huntsville to rope calves while planning out the release of his next song.
Known for his country, rock and Spanish musical in uences, Talamantes has released an extended play and three original singles on Spotify and YouTube, a feat he hopes will lead to wider stardom.
He has a published feature on A&M’s website, over 3,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and over 4,000 followers on Instagram.
And despite his initial resistance to joining TikTok, his videos have amassed a following of approximately 12,500 followers.
“People have been trying to tell me, like, ‘Hey, TikTok is where it’s at,’” Talamantes said. “If you want to grow your following on social media, you gotta start posting.
Student, cowboy, rising country star
And for the longest time, I fought that, and I fought it and I fought it. And nally … I gave in.”
Talamantes hopes to make music his career, but in the meantime, he’s balancing his interests while maintaining his social media presence.
Even his Instagram account wasn’t initially created for his music; it started as a way to promote youth rodeo during his junior high and high school years — hence his account name, “G1rodeoshow.” Over time, this personal account shifted to music.
“When I was in high school, I was doing all this di erent stu from football and track to rodeo, and then trying to juggle music on top of all that,” Talamantes said. “College isn’t much di erent, but I do feel like I have a lot more freedom to make more promotional stu and put more songs out there.”
In addition to promoting his shows, Talamantes has started posting videos he calls “Garden Sessions,” where he covers other artists or plays his own songs on acoustic guitar at The Gardens on A&M’s campus.
Lately, however, Talamantes has been promoting his new single, “Northgate Girls,” a country-rock song about College Station’s infamous entertainment district.
“I started writing it my rst semester, and when I had nished the song, it was originally something that I would play to my roommates,” Talamantes said. “But then
I really started to think about it, and I was like, ‘Well, this song could potentially be a support of Northgate.’”
A lot of time and thought went into the song’s musical choices as Talamantes and his producer tried to nd the ideal sound for a country-rock single that could be played during game day weekends.
“I wanted to, of course, appeal to the College Station crowd, but I also wanted it to be something that Aggies could put on the radio and just reminisce about good times at Northgate,” Talamantes said. “I try to give it that upbeat feel. It has a very rock feel to it, too. I had toyed around with the ri that you hear at the beginning for quite a while, and I started building a chord progression to it.”
Talamantes prefers to craft his music rst and his song lyrics second, but that doesn’t mean they are an afterthought. “Northgate Girls” comes from his personal experiences and observations while wandering Northgate with friends.
“Something that would stand out would be the girls wearing the sparkly dresses and all that fancy stu ,” Talamantes said.
Now that the single is out, Talamantes is faced with the daunting question of what comes next. His busy schedule makes writing music a challenge, with months between his releases.
“It can get pretty tough sometimes,” Talamantes said. “I just got through the rst round of exams, and I was trying to nd
time to study and do homework. But then to also have a social media presence and put songs out there, and write songs, too. That’s something that I’ve been struggling with quite a bit lately is nding time to write songs, and of course, rodeo on top of that. It keeps me busy, but it also helps me to stay on top of everything.”
An unexpected hurdle that Talamantes and other aspiring musicians in BryanCollege Station face is having limited opportunities to perform live.
“I would really love to play more live music around College Station,” Talamantes said. “That’s one of the things that I was hoping for coming into A&M. But who knows, maybe in the next few years, there’ll be something that opens up.”
As time drew near for his latest rodeo event, Talamantes reminisced about one of his most important performances to date — a bene t concert at Freiheit Country Store in New Braunfels after the tragic Uvalde school shooting. There, he met older Aggies who were impressed by his talent and hard work.
“We just became best friends, and they are always looking to help us out,” Talamantes said. “I think that was one of my rst experiences with Aggies, just to have that kind of friendship and a family-type feel for somebody that they didn’t even know, but they just welcomed in with open arms.That really meant a lot, and spoke magnitudes of the Aggie Spirit and the Aggie family.”
New dance hall comes to Aggieland
Local business owner set to bring new dance hall to BryanCollege Station nightlife scene
By Emily Anderson News Writer
A new dance hall, Concrete Rodeo, is set to open on Friday, Dec. 5, in Bryan.
The dance hall will be on West 26th Street, where the 3rd Floor Cantina currently resides.
The owners, Dustin and Madyson Batson, plan to remove the stage on the third oor of the building and transform the space into a 2,540-square-foot dance oor.
The rst oor will have an outdoor patio bar with a large projector screen and outdoor seating, and the second oor will be a sports bar.
The dance hall is also set to feature a mechanical bull and pool tables.
Dustin has a long career in the bar industry, rst starting as a bartender after he got out of the Marine Corps in 2011, which began his passion for the business. He now owns multiple bars in the Bryan-College Station area, with Concrete Rodeo set to be his newest addition.
“[Bartending] just became, like, an obsession, and I’ve just been in the bar business ever since,” Dustin said. “I sold everything I owned and opened the West End Elixir Company on Northgate, and then had that location there until about 2018.”
Dustin then moved the business to Downtown Bryan as Downtown Elixir and Spirits, running the business until it was bought out. He then reopened West End Elixir Company in a new location and
opened Word of Mouth, a speakeasy, on Main Street. Dustin’s most recent business endeavor was buying back the 3rd Floor Cantina, which he had to sell after it opened in 2020, amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
The Batsons said they are trying to make Concrete Rodeo its own unique business and not another Hurricane Harry’s, a historic College Station dance hall that was demolished in December of 2024 and has since been rumored to be reopening.
“Everyone keeps comparing us to Harry’s, and we’re not,” Dustin said. “ … I’m just trying to emphasize that we’re not trying to be Harry’s. We’re just trying to be a dance hall, and a bar and a good environment — a good time. So we’re trying to do our own thing.”
Multidisciplinary engineering technology senior Carson Bethell said he found his love for western dancing after moving to College Station to attend Texas A&M.
“We went for the rst time to Harry’s, me and a couple of my buddies, and … after that we were like ‘We gotta keep going,’” Bethell said.
Bethell said he has hope for the revival of the western dance culture in the Bryan-College Station area, despite the recent closing of dance halls like Hurricane Harry’s and Stampede.
“I de nitely have hope, especially with everything coming back,” Bethell said.“And then de nitely with the student involvement, like I know there’s a country western student organization now that there really wasn’t before, other than the [Aggie] Wranglers.”
Dustin encourages people to come out and support Concrete Rodeo once it opens.
“Just support it,” Dustin said. “Just come out and dance, and, you know, drink.”
Photo courtesy of Garrett Talamantes
Agribusiness sophomore and member of the Aggie Rodeo team and Aggieland Mariachi Garrett Talamantes plays his guitar at the Gruene Grove on Saturday, July 19, 2025.
Towing causes frustration in community, students unaware of rights, illegal practices
By Cayenne Foster News Writer
On March 25, a Texas A&M student parked her car in the visitor parking lot at Northpoint Crossing after obtaining a parking pass. The next morning, she returned to the lot only to nd that her vehicle was no longer there. Four hours and over $300 later, biomedical sciences sophomore Nandini Petluri nally got her car back.
Petluri’s experience has quickly become a common and expensive scenario for many students living in Bryan-College Station.
Predatory or wrongful towing occurs when towing companies exploit vulnerable drivers by charging excessive fees or towing for illegal reasons. Some Aggies are unaware of what constitutes an illegal tow and the e orts they can take to prevent this from happening.
Brazos County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, Judge Rick Hill oversees towing hearings and outlined two characteristics of predatory towing.
“Either you were illegally towed or you
Predatory towing practices raise concerns
were charged the incorrect amount,” Hill said. “Was there probable cause for the tow? And was the proper amount charged? In other words, did [the tow company] charge [the student] too much?”
According to Hill, most of the cases he jurisdicts are concerned with the legality of the tow. In the case of an illegal tow, students can le a complaint or request a hearing at any Justice of the Peace Court in Brazos County within 14 days of the incident.
“You have the right under Texas law to go before a hearing o cer, and that’s what I act as when they le the tow hearing in my court, and I hear the case,” Hill said. “And the party that les for the hearing, they’re the ones that have to prove up to evidence that it was an illegal tow.You’ve got to have a legal reason why that tow company did not have probable cause to tow your vehicle, and if you can prove to me that they did not have probable cause to tow your vehicle, then you win.”
Evidence that can prove the company did not have probable cause could be a copy of a visitor parking pass receipt or pictures of signs that do not adhere to legal regulations, as speci ed in Subchapter G. Signs Prohibiting Unauthorized Vehicles And Designating Restricted Areas; if provided, this could render the tow illegal.
“The law says the sign has to be ‘conspicuous,’” Hill said. “Once in a while,
[students] will win on the technicality of the signs. The signs have regulations.”
However, Hill said digital parking passes have created a new layer of complexity. Even if a student does everything right to obtain a parking pass, they can still get towed if they have entered incorrect information. Hill emphasized the importance of doublechecking all vehicle information, especially license plate number, when parking your vehicle.
“If somebody can prove to me that they paid and they do have the proper receipt, with the proper license plate number, then they’ll win,” Hill said.“Tow companies don’t have to be predatory, but business owners are tired of students just lling up their lots and not really being customers, trying to skate by and get that closer parking spot to their class. So as long as students are going to park where they’re not supposed to park, then they’re going to get towed.”
While there are cases in which students have parked illegally in business parking lots, many have been wrongfully towed at apartment complexes, like Petluri. Housing complexes such as 2818, Campus Village, Northpoint Crossing, The Halston, The Woodlands and Park West are in contract with Rapid Recovery & Towing, which utilizes digital parking passes in some locations. Petluri was towed twice by Rapid Recovery & Towing even though she
secured a digital parking pass.
“[Rapid Recovery & Towing] said I wasn’t in their system,” Petluri said. “But I had the screenshot to show that I was in their system. I told them, ‘Whether I’m in your system or not, I have the screenshot to show you that I nished the form.’ I even made sure it had the time stamp at the top and everything.”
Petluri had been towed a few months previously by Rapid Recovery & Towing at Northpoint Crossing in December 2024, despite having obtained a parking pass. So when she parked there again in March, she made sure to screenshot the pass in case it happened again, but it appeared to make no di erence.
“I was really stressed because I literally didn’t know what to do,” Petluri said. “I could not believe this happened to me again. It also made me lose a lot of respect for my apartment complex as well, because they made no e ort to help when I asked for clari cation.”
After the second tow, Petluri spent around $700 in towing fees and $100 in transportation costs to retrieve her car. She had evidence of a wrongful tow, but she said she was afraid to take legal action.
“It just seemed like I would lose more money than I could get back, and it would obviously cause a lot more emotional and nancial stress,” Petluri said.
CARES lab develops cyber defense system
Texas A&M research team concludes RADIANT project with innovative breakthrough
By Taryn Stilson News Reporter
Under the leadership of Lab Director Irfan Khan, Ph.D., Clean and Resilient Energy Systems, or CARES, lab has pioneered a cyber defense system that detects and mitigates the e ects of cyber stealth attacks.
CARES lab is a research lab at Texas A&M’s Galveston campus that welcomes undergraduate and graduate students to participate in hands-on research opportunities. Its main focus is developing smart and resilient solutions for problems occuring in the elds of cybersecurity, energy systems and medicine, according to CARES lab’s mission statement.
The lab made a revolutionary breakthrough during a recent project with the development of Reactive Autoencoder Defense for Industrial Adversarial Network Threats, or RADIANT — a unique cyber defense system that detects and protects critical infrastructure from stealth attacks.
A stealth attack is a type of adversarial cyberattack that remains undetected for an extended period of time; intruders are able to in ltrate a system, then attempt to steal or corrupt information or possibly disrupt operational systems.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reported that these attacks are a major issue facing the cyber world. The attacks pose a threat to national security and are di cult to defend against, as advanced persistent threat actors exploit infrastructural vulnerabilities during a stealth attack.
RADIANT presents a unique solution to these advanced persistent threats through preemptive action instead of defensive mitigation, according to Khan.
“RADIANT is inserted ahead of a baseline classi er; it reconstructs each input and derives complementary reconstructionerror features,” Khan said.
Khan explained that RADIANT then
performs credibility checks to raise alerts on suspicious activity, which prompts the system to perform deeper packet-level information inspections, aiming to identify and neutralize threats.
“We built an evaluation pipeline grounded in realistic industrial control system data and state-of-the-art adversarial methods, including decision-based, querye cient attacks,” Khan said.
He explained that this evaluation ensured the RADIANT system was tested under conditions that mimicked real threats.
Khan said that the method tested RADIANT’s ability to analyze information packets and prevent malicious code from being executed, thwarting stealth attacks before they can occur.
Bush School of Government & Public Service faculty lead for the cyber policy concentration and professor of the practice Gary D. Brown, Ph.D., said this di erentiates RADIANT from already established systems of cyber defense.
RADIANT is known as a defend forward system of cyber defense. According to the U.S. Cyber Command, defend forward systems use proactive strategies to counter and disrupt malicious activity before it can impact cyber systems.
“The most e ective approach we have found so far is what we call defense and depth, or layered defense,” Brown said. “That means you have multiple ways to try and keep people out of the system and try to mitigate the e ects of an attack.”
RADIANT sports a reactive front and requires no adversarial training to combat attacks, according to Khan. “Most defenses harden models via adversarial retraining, which is computationally intensive and can fail on new types of attacks,” Khan said.
RADIANT’s reactivity allows it to yield strong gains under adversarial attacks and t established industrial work ows without requiring a model replacement, according to CARES lab research.
Current systems of cyber defense aren’t as resilient as RADIANT, Brown said. He describes the method of these systems as ‘‘building the castle wall higher or digging the moat deeper,” which are rudimentary preventative measures taken to keep adversaries from in ltrating cyber systems.
“But we found that [the current system] never works because there is always a way in,” Brown said. The development of the RADIANT defense system did not come without challenges. Khan explained that meeting integration constraints compatible with industrial
environments and maintaining low, falsepositive alerts were among the challenges the team encountered.
“We addressed these by tuning the inference path for speed, calibrating
Irfan Khan, Ph.D., and graduate student Syed Wali poses for a photo at the Army Cyber Institute
Agreement Technical Exchange meeting at Northeastern University.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all world
By Gabriela Gomez Opinion Writer
Let’s test your knowledge!
A 55-year-old woman has been fatigued for the last few days. Suddenly, she feels lightheaded and short of breath.
Her chest feels unbearably tight, like a hand is squeezing it — attempting to crush her frail, old heart.
Her thoughts race as she wonders what could be wrong.
As she continues her rapid breathing, she is hit with a sudden, overpowering wave of nausea, which turns into vomiting.
Do you think this is: A) an acute panic attack, B) a myocardial infarction or C) an asthma attack?
If you guessed myocardial infarction — otherwise known as a heart attack — you would be correct. If you guessed the other two, don’t hold it against yourself, even professional clinicians fail to properly diagnose myocardial infarctions in women.
One of the main reasons for these delayed — and often missed — diagnoses is that women often present atypical symptoms. However, women presenting atypical symptoms isn’t something that is limited to heart attacks. Instead, such presentations are seen across various medical conditions. But what makes symptoms atypical?
Well, the foundation of research in medical science is based on male cells and male subjects. For this reason, the typical results collected from this male subgroup are then deemed the norm.
This consequently leads to an unbalanced research approach that fails to take females into account. Instead of having a study designed for women from the get-go, results based on male-centered research are often applied to women after the fact.
This has produced a well-known gap in research which has only just begun to be addressed, most notably in 1993 when the National Institute of Health, or NIH, nally mandated that clinical trials should include both men and women. But, this mini progress is simply not enough.
Before any clinical trials can take place, the drugs are tested and developed using cells — think small dots on petri dishes. Historically, the cells used had either been male or unspeci ed.
After the drugs prove successful, they are tested on animal models. Similarly, the bulk of animal models used have been male.
One of the founding reasons why the test cells and subjects were male was the belief that the hormone cycle displayed in females would skew test results. It wasn’t until 2014
Photos by Ashely Bautista — THE BATTALION
Opinion: Medical research for us all
that a study proved otherwise.
This biased thought process has led to a misrepresentation of over half the population, as well as negative results. As new data is provided through more recent studies, these horri c ndings are coming to light.
For instance, women are frequently prescribed excessively high drug dosages.
Why?
When doctors prescribe these medications, they do not take into account the biological di erences between males and females. For example, females can metabolize some drugs at a slower rate than their male counterparts, resulting in the medication lingering in the blood and tissues for longer.
This overmedicated state leads to adverse e ects that can range from headaches to seizures, depending on the drug prescribed.
Additionally, this gap in knowledge can lead to missed or delayed diagnoses of conditions that commonly a ect everyone, as well as conditions that primarily a ect women. This failure of science leads to a poor quality of life for many individuals.
Ideally, this glaringly obvious problem would be easily solved by conducting more studies using female cells and test subjects. But it isn’t as straightforward as that.
In order to conduct research, research institutes need to secure funding. But our current political climate is making that extremely di cult.
The United States government has historically been a signi cant contributor to scienti c research and development, spending nearly $940 billion on research and development in 2023 alone.
With President Donald Trump determined to make cuts to the federal budget, there is less money available for research. Additionally, many research grants that have already been awarded have been canceled prematurely.
But there is some hope for the future of research as the NIH has opened back up and started funding research grants once more. Still, it is hard to structure a grant that aims to research women when the word “women” might prevent you from getting said funding.
In reality, the Trump administration needs to stop interfering and allow the NIH to function independently.
Research shouldn’t be hampered by politics. Instead, we should focus on addressing the harmful e ects this knowledge gap has created because women aren’t medical outliers — they’re over half the population in the U.S.
Gabriela Gomez is a biomedical sciences senior and opinion writer for The Battalion.
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Multidisciplinary engineering technology senior Erin Krska prepares for her lab in the Zachry Engineering Education Complex on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
