Month: September 2019

On the eve of every Aggie football game, Aggies congregate to Kyle Field or for away games, some central location for Midnight Yell. Aggies know that when a Yell Leader says they’ve got a story, the story that follows is often a fable about Ol’ Rock, the good Ag, and the encounter he had with the upcoming opposing team – essentially a joke at the opposing team’s expense.

Considering I have an awful time remembering and telling jokes, I’m not here to share my own story of Ol’ Rock, but rather a true story of the most dedicated Aggie fans I know. 

You see somewhere in the sea of maroon on game day, there is one Aggie family who has attended every second of every game, in person for the last 100 games. Yes, you read that correctly – every home and away game, for the past 100 Aggie football games.

Meet the Moeller family, Pat, Robin, and Laura ‘17 – the most dedicated Aggie sports go-ers I know. What started as a trend of attending a few away games each season turned into not missing a single one for the past 8 seasons. This weekend the Moellers will take one of their shortest road trips and attend their 100th game when we take on the Arkansas Razorbacks at Jerry World in Arlington.

I sat down with the Moellers to hear about their travels and some of their favorite Aggie football moments in, I’ve Got a Little Story for Ya, Ags.

Rewinding Back to 2011

If we rewind back to the end of the 2011 season to the dramatic 4 overtime loss (50-53) to #14 Kansas State, this is the game that started it all for the Moellers – followed up by the remaining two home games and a bowl game in Houston.

Then the 2012 season came along. Our season started with a new coach, Kevin Sumlin, and a home match-up against Florida where redshirt, Johnny Manziel made his college debut – followed up with a game against SMU in Dallas and two more home games. However, it was the 9th game in a row that the Moellers attended that really got the trend going. Shortly after Laura cheered at a Columbus High School football game they drove to Ole Miss where the Aggies would win 30-27.

The Moellers were hooked after this road trip – Johnny was having an outstanding freshman season, the Aggies were the talk of college football, and later in the season the Aggies would upset #1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa…finishing the season 11-2.

Fun fact about the 2012 season, during the Mississippi State game, Holly Rowe asked the Moellers if they knew where Johnny Manziel’s parents were sitting – it’s hard to imagine a time when the world didn’t know who the Manziels were.

It was also during this same game that the Moellers were caught doing horns down on national television and were ripped by the TexAgs community – my how times have changed since 2012.

They’ve Been Everywhere, Man (*spoken in Johnny Cash voice)

Fast forward to today and they have been to every Johnny game, three consecutive 8-5 season games, the beginning and end of the Sumlin era, and now the beginning of the Fisher era.

After Saturday’s game against Arkansas, the Moellers will have watched 6,000 minutes of football, traveled 66,088 miles, and experienced 23 different stadiums (many of them multiple times).

Throughout their travels they’ve met many wonderful people, experienced several unique colleges, and watched a number of Aggie football greats.

One of their most memorable experiences was Midnight Yell in Nashville when we took on the Vanderbilt Commodores in 2015. Friday night before the game, Aggies packed all three stories of Wildhorse Saloon in downtown. Shortly before Yell Practice began, Wildhorse Saloon staff had to turn people away because they had hit capacity (2,000 people). The Aggies that were turned away gathered down 2nd Street, near Broadway and hosted their own Yell Practice in the street while the official one took place indoors. The most remarkable thing about this game was that the Aggies literally took over Nashville for the entire weekend, everywhere you looked someone was in maroon. In fact, at the conclusion of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman, Aggies broke out into the war hymn and sawed it off right where many country music greats have stood.

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Last year I attended the Auburn game with the Moellers. Early Saturday morning of game day we woke up to the sound of pounding on our door by hotel management saying there was a fire and that we need to evacuate – no sooner than we entered the hallway the fire alarms were blaring. Laura, myself and several others shuffled down the stairs – no make-up, no belongings, and no idea of what was going on. Once we reached the hotel lobby, we spotted Pat and Robin. In typical Pat fashion, he had on his maroon shirt and Aggie football tickets in hand and not a single thing more – the last thing he was going to do was miss the game.

Similarly, in 2015 the Aggies played in the Music City Bowl in Nashville. That Friday the airlines were a mess due to weather and the Moeller’s flight got canceled. Without batting an eye, they hit the road to Nashville and drove through the night to make it to Saturday’s match-up against the Louisville Cardinals.

Continuing the trend of inconvenient encounters during the 2015 season, while visiting the ever-so nice Tigers in Baton Rouge the Moeller’s vehicle got broken into and their stuff was spread all down some random ditch in Louisiana. They drove back to Texas in the pouring rain, while the cool November air filled their car and rain drops pounded in through the broken back window.

The following season Laura spent the Mississippi State game in the first aid room of Davis Wade stadium. She watched the game on a tiny TV while being treated for a reaction she had to a previously prescribed medication.

BUT…the award for “Most Dedicated Aggie Football Fan” goes to Pat when he tussled with some farm equipment and ended up losing part of his left pointer finger. If you ask him about it he’ll say he took one for the team and sawed a finger (horn) off.

If that’s not dedication, I am not sure what is.

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All in all, the stories they have are endless and quite comical. Each game brings a new adventure, a new memory, and even a new friend at times. I should have kept a journal over the past 8 years of all their encounters they’ve reported back on because some of it you just can’t make up – college football fans are crazy.

However, there are a lot of good people and places out there and below they shared some of their favorite stadiums and fans should you find yourself looking for a road trip:

• Favorite SEC Stadium: Mississippi State and Auburn

• Favorite SEC Fans: Auburn

• Favorite non-SEC Stadium: Rose Bowl (though not as impressive as anticipated)

• Favorite non-SEC Fans: Penn State, Nebraska, and Clemson

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The Ultimate Aggies

Traveling to every out-of-town game may be new in recent years, but the Moellers love for Aggie football certainly is not. Since 1990 Pat has missed two home games and Laura has missed five since she was in kindergarten – I didn’t quite do the exact math on this one, but that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 203 home games for Pat and 133 for Laura.

In fact, there was a period for about 3 years when Laura was younger that she made a mum for Miss Rev. (Back in the day Revielle used to wear one and she would even wear the ones Laura made to the game.)

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If you’re a betting man, you might assume that after attending hundreds of games they would arrive to the game just in time and may leave early depending on the forecasted outcome. Well sir, you and I would both lose if I didn’t know better.

The Moellers arrive to the games hours beforehand and never leave the stadium until the game clock hits 0:00. Ironically, they have always sat on the east side of Kyle Field where they can stand, cheer, and be loud – they have no plans of switching to the west side where most alumni can be found…and all of them, at all times, have a 12th Man towel in hand and wear maroon – they are for real, for real Aggies.

In fact their favorite tradition is the 12th Man and standing during the game. They encourage the students to yell loud until the end because students are a huge factor in the game…and even though they’ve visited 23+ stadiums in the past 8 years, they still wholeheartedly encourage out-of-town visitors to appreciate the experience at Kyle Field and Aggieland because you won’t find anything like it.

Some of their favorite players to watch from the 1990s to present day have been Johnny Manziel (2012-2013), Von Miller (2007-2010), and Dat Nguyen (1995-1998) – with their favorite coaching era being R.C. Slocum (1988-2002). They are hopeful Jimbo Fisher be right up there with Slocum as well.

Some of their most memorable games since the 90s include:

• 2018 vs #8 LSU (74-72) – 5 hours and 7 exciting overtimes later had fans rushing the field…and Northgate after the game. What a time for college football. 

• 2012 at #1 Alabama (29-24) – As expected, the Moellers dealt with trash talk all day from Alabama fans, making the win even sweeter. Their fondest memory from that game was running from the upper deck to the corner where Ryan Swope was standing on the pillar, tho that moment flashed by incredibly fast for the Moellers. Sawing it off on Alabama’s home turf was the icing on the cake. Perhaps the best part of this game was the Indiana fan sitting next to the Moellers, wearing an Alabama shirt. After the Aggies beat Alabama, the Indiana/fake bama fan said he wanted an Aggie shirt, so Pat took his shirt off and gave it to him.

• 2002 vs #1 OU (30-26) – This is the first big win Laura can vividly recall and an exciting one at that!

• 1998 Big 12 Championship vs. #2 Kansas State (36-33) – Aggies narrowly beat the Kansas State Wildcats to claim the Big 12 Championship, once again another exciting victory!

The stories, people, and games that the Moellers reflect on are too many to count, but one thing for certain is that they are thankful for the abundance of memories and experiences that have been packed into the last 8 years.

The thing that I admire most about the Moeller family is their genuine love and enthusiasm for Aggie football – they attend these games because they absolutely enjoy it and they do it as a family, often inviting others to join in on their fun too. You will not meet a finer Aggie family.

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BEAT THE HELL OUTTA arkansas!

Fun fact: The Moellers Aggie sports dedication doesn’t stop with football, they are season ticket holders for Men’s Basketball and Baseball as well, once again not missing hardly a single home game and traveling to many regular and postseason matchups.

Fun fact #2: The Moeller family has deep Aggie roots with several family members attending A&M over the years.