Nacogdoches, Texas and the Cowboys-Texans Rivalry (Which is a very real thing)

This article is a PSA out to all Cowboys fans, regardless of where you live.

It’s time we sit down and have a serious conversation about this other team that we have to share Texas with, because it feels like a topic that has never been addressed and can no longer be ignored.

The in-state rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans is titled the Governor’s Cup, which usually occurs once a year in preseason if a regular season match between the two isn’t scheduled for that season.

Many Texans (as in residents of the state) would say that this rivalry isn’t real, these teams are in opposite conferences, preseason sucks, etc.

I am writing this today to dispel any of that nonsense, and to tell all of you that where I live, no rivalry is bigger than when the Cowboys and Texans meet on the field.

Since the Texans’ first year in the NFL, the record between the two teams is 7-6, favoring Dallas. Overall, the record between the Cowboys and Oilers had been 18-13, again favoring the Cowboys, before the Oilers made the move from Houston to Memphis in ’97. These numbers look great for a “is this a true rivalry” argument, but I know I’m not off to a good start. That’s alright, I’ll do better.

Nacogdoches is a small town of roughly 34,000 people in East Texas. It claims deep roots in Texas history, being one of the first Spanish settlements in the area in the late 1700’s. Nacogdoches is located about 140 miles north of downtown Houston, 160 miles southeast of downtown Dallas, and is home to Stephen F. Austin State University, my alma mater. The student body of SFA consists of about 50% Houston residents, 40% Dallas, and the remaining ten belonging to San Antonio and elsewhere.

AKA, the perfect place for a rivalry to grow.

The line has been drawn, let’s do battle.

Being from Dallas, I was included in the many who never really gave the Cowboys-Texans games any real credence. If it wasn’t a meaningless preseason game, then it was a non-division matchup that we could usually afford to lose. And since the Texans were founded in 2002, they have had a bit of a bumpy road building themselves up to a playoff contender. Situationally, that game has not exactly been the Super Bowl.

However, shortly after moving to Nacogdoches I found out that this town was the front lines in a Texas dispute that has existed since before even the NFL had.

On game day, flags fly on backs of trucks, the local bars fill out in blue, silver, and red, and the town splits clean in half. As a small town, bars can’t really claim to be “Cowboys” or “Texans-Friendly,” so we all just fill out our usual hangouts, hunker down with a drink or two and prepare for war. It has never once mattered whether or not the game was regular season; this matchup brings the crowds, and it never disappoints. It’s cheering, it’s booing, name calling, finger pointing, jumping out your seat excitement, and it’s all in spite of the people that are there just to cheer for the opposite team. And to watch some good football too, I guess….

And it should only going to get better.

Regardless of your personal stance on both of these teams, they are at pivotal points in their development and are both ready to make the leap to playoff contender. The Cowboys have retooled their offense to fit Dak Prescott’s playing style and are ready to see what he is really capable of behind a reset offensive line and new passing weapons in Hurns, Austin, and Gallup. Houston, having struggled in finding its quarterback of the future, seems to have landed a pipedream in Deshaun Watson, who last season elevated the Texans’ offense to playoff-caliber from his first start and has potentially one of the best defenses in the league. Two teams with two new quarterbacks ready to make a playoff push… one state. Man, a Dallas-Houston Super Bowl would be an absolute riot.

And you thought there was no rivalry.