December 2, 1995: The University of Texas, the nation's Number 9-ranked college football team, defeats their arch-rivals, Texas A&M University, ranked Number 16. The score is Longhorns 16, Aggies 6, at A&M's home, Kyle Field in College Station.
Elsewhere in Texas, the University of Houston beat crosstown rival Rice University, 18-17 at Rice Stadium. These would be the last 2 football games ever played in the Southwest Conference.
It was appropriate that the SWC's finale was between the two biggest teams in its now one-and-only State. Someone once said that, if football is a religion in Texas, then Longhorns vs. Aggies is a holy war.
The SWC was founded in 1914, and played its 1st football season in 1915, with these founding members: The University of Arkansas, Baylor University, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma A&M University, Rice University, Southwestern University, the University of Texas, and Texas A&M University.
Southwestern University, in Georgetown, Texas, left after only 2 seasons. Oklahoma left after the 1919 season. Oklahoma A&M left after 1925, and changed their name to Oklahoma State in 1958.
Southern Methodist University (SMU), in Dallas, joined in 1918. Their Fort Worth rivals, Texas Christian University (TCU), joined in 1923. Texas Tech University joined in 1956, and the University of Houston joined in 1972.
Arkansas left after the 1991 season, leaving the SWC as a Texas-only league. They joined the Southeastern Conference, in what turned out to be a foreshadowing of the SWC's end.
In 1994, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor reached a deal to join the Big Eight Conference, to form the Big Twelver Conference. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would join them in a South Division, while the remaining Big Eight teams would form the North Division: Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Colorado. The remaining SWC teams -- SMU, TCU, Houston and Rice -- joined other leagues.
Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2011. Texas no longer had the revenue from that rivalry, but didn't want to give up the revenue from their rivalry with Oklahoma. So the Longhorns talked the Sooners into joining the SEC with them, and they will do so for the 2024 season.
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December 2, 1995 was a Saturday. These other college football games were played that day:
* Number 2 Florida beat Number 23 Arkansas, 34-3, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
* Army beat Navy, 14-13 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* And Oklahoma State beat the University of Hawaii, 24-20 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
Nebraska won the National Championship defeating Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. Texas lost the Sugar Bowl to Virginia Tech. Texas A&M beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The last Cotton Bowl of the SWC era had no Texas-based team: Colorado beat Oregon, 38-6. Southern California beat Northwestern in the Rose Bowl, and Florida State beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
Baseball was out of season. There were 10 NBA games on this day:
* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 94-85 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 79-78 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 135-107 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-96 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 113-98 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") Clyde Drexler scored 41 points.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns, 101-93 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. David Robinson scored 37 points.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-105 at the McNichols Area in Denver.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 104-98 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Michael Jordan scored 37 points.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-97 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* The Sacramento Kings beat the Orlando Magic, 109-106 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.
There were 10 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).
* The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 11-1 at the Montreal Forum. Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 4 of those Detroit goals. Mark Recchi had the lone tally for the Habs.
This was the game in which Canadiens' goalie Patrick Roy was infamously hung out to dry by Canadiens management, leading to him being traded 4 days later, leading to "The Curse of St. Patrick.," I have a separate entry for that event.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-4 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 2-2 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-3 at the Edmonton Coliseum (formerly the Northlands Coliseum).
* The Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The San Jose Sharks beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).
* And the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning were not scheduled.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Birmingham, and played Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.
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