It's hard to imagine Texas A&M fans asking for more from their season through the first 11 games.
An undefeated record that has gifted them pole position for the SEC championship game and a first College Football Playoff appearance, in addition to a No. 3 national ranking. Thrilling victories, from a last-second win on the road against Notre Dame to a dramatic second-half comeback against South Carolina. But there's one missing piece that matters more than just about any other element of a truly perfect season in College Station: beating Texas.
The rivalry between the Lone Star State's two biggest college football brands runs as deep as any in the sport. They played for 97 consecutive years from 1915 to 2011, with plenty of memorable moments along the way. Then, when the Aggies moved to the SEC in 2012 and the two programs didn't play for 13 years, the feud may have gotten even more intense.
Between the 13 years without the game and a pair of Longhorns wins on either side of that break, it has been a decade and a half since the last time Texas A&M won the Lone Star Showdown. With an SEC championship game berth and an undefeated regular season at stake, beating Texas this year in particular would be even sweeter for Aggies fans.
Here's what the world looked like back in 2010, the last time the state of Texas was maroon at the end of rivalry weekend.
Future pros make their mark for A&M
It's not much of a surprise that Texas A&M's nine-win 2010 campaign was one of its best seasons in years, as a pair of future NFL veterans made up the team's offensive and defensive cornerstones.
The headliner was senior defensive lineman Von Miller, who stuffed the stat sheet against the Longhorns with seven total tackles, including three for loss and two sacks with an interception. Miller was selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2011 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos and has gone on to earn eight Pro Bowl appearances and a pair of Super Bowl rings in his professional career.
Texas A&M's signal-caller was first-year starter Ryan Tannehill, who became a first-round pick in his own right in 2012 and threw for nearly 35,000 career yards across 11 NFL seasons.
Newton takes over college football
The 2010 college football season belonged to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
Newton started for only one season in college, but that was all he'd need to leave his mark on the sport. Auburn entered the season ranked No. 22 in the preseason polls, but it didn't take long for the Tigers to rise in the rankings. Newton accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) and 357 yards of offense (186 through the air, 171 on the ground) as Auburn crushed Western Kentucky in Week 1. It proved a sign of great things to come.
It was the first of 14 consecutive victories that season for the Tigers, who eventually beat Oregon in the national championship game. Newton set an SEC record by amassing 4,327 yards of total offense and was awarded the Heisman Trophy.
Elsewhere in the sports world ...
Sports fans weren't at a loss for dramatic endings and meaningful storylines in 2010.
It started in February, when Canada topped the Winter Olympics gold medal count in front of a home crowd and Tracy Porter's late game-clinching pick-six sealed the New Orleans Saints' first Super Bowl win in franchise history.
In June, an NBA Finals matchup between two of the league's most storied franchises -- the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics -- produced a back-and-forth seven-game series. One month later, Andres Iniesta's final match heroics won Spain the World Cup -- the first ever to be hosted by an African nation -- in extra time.
Rihanna dominates the charts
Rihanna had a big year on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2010; the superstar singer was atop the charts at several points throughout the calendar.
First, it was "Rude Boy," which spent five weeks at No. 1 from late March through April. Rihanna was also featured on Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie," which topped the Hot 100 from late July through early September. She also had a pair of one-week stints at No. 1 later in the year with "What's My Name" featuring Drake and "Only Girl (In the World)."
The Monday after the 2010 college football season's rivalry week played out, though, a different song and artist enjoyed a brief run atop the U.S. Hot 100: "Like a G6" by Far East Movement featuring The Cataracs and Dev moved back to No. 1 for a week after a two-week tenure earlier in the fall.
Harry Potter continues to thrive on the big screen
Six days before the Aggies and Longhorns met on the gridiron, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" was released in movie theaters across the United States. The seventh film in the Harry Potter franchise was a smash hit, grossing $280,230,127 domestically. The mark was good enough to make it the seventh-best domestic grossing film of 2010 behind the likes of "Avatar" (released in late 2009) and "Iron Man 2."