The class of 2015 arrived on campus just a few short months ago. Already, they are forced to say goodbye to a rivalry that has been a part of Texas culture since 1894. On Thursday, freshman will watch their first and last Texas A&M rivalry game as Texas students.

“It’s disappointing that the last game will be happening my freshman year,” said freshmen government and economics major Travis Adams. “But, at the same time, I am glad I will be able to experience it at least once. We need to give them the send off that they deserve.”

Adams has been a Texas fan “basically since I was born.” His parents graduated from and met at Texas. They got married in a church in Austin and remain die-hard Texas fans.

“My dad has several Longhorn stickers on his car,” Adams said. “Even my dad found a way, when they were in Barbados a couple of weeks ago, to text me and ask the score every so often to try and figure out why we were losing to Mizzou.”

The obsession with Texas football has been passed on to Adams. Now that he is a student, he appreciates the culture even more. He said when he was younger, going to games was something he loved to do. Now that Texas is his school too, it is even more amazing. He has enjoyed teaching his friends the songs and the cheers.

Adams was very disappointed when Texas A&M made the decision to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC. He has always enjoyed watching the game every Thanksgiving with his family.

“It’s always been a thing in my house on Thanksgiving to watch the Longhorns play and then watch the Cowboys play,” Adams said. “So that’s just going to completely change and I am definitely not OK with it. I can’t say whether or not it was the right move for A&M, but I definitely think it was the wrong move for the rivalry.”

Adams thoroughly enjoyed the Hex Rally and recorded it for his sister, who doesn’t go to school at UT. But, she is as much of a fan of Texas as the rest of their family. There’s a good chance it could be the last time UT fans will experience the tradition.

The Adams household is likely going to be filled with a wide variety of emotions on Thursday during the game.

“What happens is that we start off watching the game in our family room where we have our TV,” Adams said. “If things aren’t going well, my dad might go to his and my mom’s bedroom and watch it on their TV. My dad gets very into it.”

He said there will be a lot of yelling, shouting, cheers and boos.

Freshman business major Melanie Rich became a Texas fan when she was in sixth grade after attending various camps on campus. Since that time, she always wanted to come to UT for school. Finally, her time at Texas is here and the school’s biggest rivalry is ending.

“Coming here, I was really looking forward to all the years we got to play A&M and the rivalry going along with it,” Rich said. “The rivalry is such a big part of UT and I am really sad that this is the last year the game is going to happen. But, hopefully we will win and make the most of it.”

She has enjoyed being a part of the rivalry and will miss it even though she has only been a student at Texas for a few months. Rich, who has friends who go to A&M, said her friends feel the same way about the rivalry ending.

“My friends at A&M are pretty upset about it too,” Rich said. “They don’t want the rivalry to end either. There is so much history. It’s really unfortunate. But, they also don’t want to lose on Thursday.”

The freshman on campus this year will be saying goodbye to one of the biggest rivalries in college football on Thursday, a rivalry that they will only get to experience once.