At the geographic center of the Greatest College Football Rivalry that isn't, as the natural laws of Texas likely demand, stands a barbecue pitmaster.
Gerald Birkelbach, the smoke-infused owner of City Meat Market in downtown Giddings, Texas, is hunkered over charred pits in the back room of a brick building at the corner of Texas Highways 77 and 290 -- precisely 54.6 miles southwest of Kyle Field, home of the Texas A&M Aggies, and 54.4 miles east of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, home of the Texas Longhorns.
This weekend, those two teams will participate in the single largest shared evening of football in recent memory for the Lone Star State's most hallowed college teams.