When Mark Stoops takes No. 13 Kentucky (5-0, 3-0 SEC) to face his old boss, Jimbo Fisher, and Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1) on Saturday night, the Wildcats will encounter one of college football's most captivating traditions.
From the time the ball is kicked off Saturday until the final second ticks off the Kyle Field playing clocks, the Texas A&M student body will stand as one.
At A&M, the custom of "The 12th Man" _ the idea that all Aggies students stand ever ready if called upon _ has persisted for almost a century.
On the weekend when UK visits A&M for the first time as an SEC rival, it seems appropriate to recall that the defining tradition of Texas A&M athletics began when an Aggies student actually was called to leave the stands to help in a game against one of the most famous college football teams the state of Kentucky ever produced.
The contest which looms so large in Texas A&M lore also featured one of the craziest "game setups" ever.
