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Texas fans showed up at ACL Fest to cheer on the Longhorns against OU

Texas fans showed up at ACL Fest to cheer on the Longhorns against OU

If you had walked into the Austin City Limits Music Festival after 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, you would have noticed that the largest crowd in the park was not at any of the stages, but in the park’s Big Tent next to the Miller Lite stage. The top-ranked Texas Longhorns football team faced their arch-rival Oklahoma Sooners in an important game for the Horns as they hope to advance to the College Football Playoff, and the festival showed the game in the makeshift beer hall and pizzeria. It seemed like about a thousand people were streaming out of the tent.

The Red River Rivalry, a notable game in college football, represents one of the greatest rivalries in sports. It overlaps with Austin’s largest music festival almost every year. For this reason, it has become almost a tradition for feverish fans to crowd around giant televisions at the festival to cheer on their team.

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While some may find it ironic that festival-goers come to the park just to watch TV, many of the fans here today would say that not only do they care about the game, but that logistically it just makes sense to take a break and be with friends talk.

One Longhorn fan watching the game was Mac Smith, who said that not only was it a tradition for him to watch the game at ACL, but that it was actually a sensible financial compromise.

“Every year when I come to the ACL, I also watch the UT game here and it just makes financial sense for me because I can either spend $350 to watch UT-Oklahoma in Dallas or I can to spend the money to come here and watch the game with other fans,” Smith said.

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Robert and Karin Foster are Texas alumni who have also made watching the game at the park a tradition. They said the start of the day is usually a little slow anyway, so taking the time to watch the game while waiting for bands they want to see was a good way to pass the time.

“Being with comrades and occasionally commiserating is just a really nice time. That’s why we’re going here, to watch the game and make sure Texas wins,” said Robert Foster.

Adriana Jimenez and Matias Fragoso were a couple who, if you ask Jimenez, were hesitant to watch the game at ACL right from the start. Fragoso is a UT alumnus and was grateful to see his former school play in such a big game.

“It’s a big year and I think if we can win this game, we’ll be a lot closer to our goal of winning the championship this year,” Fragoso said.

Jimenez said she doesn’t mind watching the game because there are also things she convinces her significant other to watch.

“I always support him and it’s fun when they play well and not so much when they play badly,” Jimenez said, “but he watched ’90 Day Fiancé’ with me, so I guess it’s the same thing.”