If you ask any UT student what their favorite season is, the response, the majority of the time, will be the same: football season. The weekends of the fall semester are dedicated to tailgating, cowboy boots, burnt orange, and the beloved Longhorn football team. Students, faculty, and alumni congregate to celebrate school pride and cheer on the football players. This season is rowdy, hot, and missing one thing — a homecoming game.

A homecoming football game is a game played on the school’s home field where alumni are invited back to the university with activities to celebrate their great four years on the Forty Acres. Activities generally include tailgates, pep rallies, and traditions that have been passed down at universities from class to class.

University of Florida, Virginia Tech, and University of Alabama are just a few of the large state schools that throw memorable homecoming weekends. There are events like parades, bonfires, live music from the marching bands, and professional performances that take place on these weekends to foreshadow the excitement of the home football game itself.

While these pastimes are fun and entertaining, homecoming games are so much more than day parties and watching football. These games remind the UT community of what it genuinely means to be a Longhorn.

Football is an essential part of what defines Longhorn pride. In 2016 alone, attendance for UT football games rose 8.7 percent. The numbers continue to climb. Games will forever be a core part of attending this university. The Longhorn football team is noted as the only college football team to exceed $100 million in revenue, which they have managed to do for the last four years. Just looking at attendance and amount of money put into the support of the team, it is clear that football is and will always be a fundamental part of the foundation at UT.

Although UT does offer a homecoming weekend, there is no football game to accompany it. The weekend usually falls around October 20-2. There is a great opportunity to add a home football game to the event. Longhorn football is important to UT students, past and present, and adding a game to the already existing weekend, would be a great way for alumni to reminisce on how much football meant to them. With October being just over three months away, this summer is the time to really start pushing for the game.

Homecoming does not cater to one specific group, but is an event where all students, graduates, and professors can gather to show off their pride and remember why they chose this university in the slew of college acceptance letters from senior year of high school.

Football season, especially in Texas, expresses school spirit and boosts morale. The entire Longhorn community deserves a game where alumni can “come home” and the community as a whole can be in the same place at the same time and bleed burnt orange together.

Mia Ciardi is a Journalism junior from Bernardsville, New Jersey. Follow her on twitter @mia_ciardi.