December 03, 2001
The Galleryfurniture.com Bowl selected Texas A&M as the Big 12 representative for the Dec. 28 bowl game. The Aggies (7-4, 4-4 in Big 12 play) will face a Conference USA representative, either TCU or Southern Mississippi. Those two clubs face each other on Friday, Dec. 7.
The bowl game will be played Friday, Dec. 28 in the Reliant Astrodome in Houston with kickoff slated for 12:30 p.m. central and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
"We look forward to playing in Houston in the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl," Groff said. "This is a young bowl and we have a lot of Aggies in the Houston area."
This marks the fifth straight bowl and the 11th bowl game in Coach Slocum's 13 seasons as the Aggies' head coach. Every bowl opponent of the Aggies in the previous 10 bowls was ranked in the nation's Top 10 at some point of the season, with the exception of last year's Mississippi State team. The Bulldogs top ranking was #13 in the Oct. 16, 2000, AP poll.
"We're excited about the opportunity to play in the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl," Slocum said. "The city of Houston is a great football town and there will be a lot of Aggies at the game. Our players have a lot of family and friends who will also get a chance to see us play."
The Galleryfurniture.com Bowl marks the 27th bowl appearance for Texas A&M and the Aggies are 12-14 overall in bowl games dating back to the 1922 Dixie Classic. That particular bowl game saw the birth of the original 12th Man, E. King Gill.
A reminder to Texas A&M season ticket holders, bowl applications must be back into the Texas A&M athletic ticket office by Friday, Dec. 7. Fans may contact the Texas A&M athletic ticket office at 1-888-99AGGIE or 979-845-2311 to place orders beginning Tuesday (Dec. 4) at 8 a.m.
Student tickets for the bowl game will go on sale at 8 a.m. Thursday. More details are to come.