Most Aggies remember the scene like they remember their wedding day or their Fish Camp jingle.

It was 1985, the Longhorns were in town, and a sea of white engulfed Kyle Field. It seemed on that spine-tingling night, when the Aggies rolled past their rival en route to the Cotton Bowl, that every fan owned a 12th Man towel.

En masse, the 12th Man towel became one of A&M’s most visible and intimidating traditions, which stemmed from the onset of Jackie Sherrill’s 12th Man Kickoff Team.

But as the 12th Man Kickoff Team dwindled to one player on every kickoff during the R.C. Slocum era, the towels have dissipated. The stadium no longer causes vertigo, except when the sawing of the horns begins.

However, there is one definitive home game this season when the return of the towel will be needed. There is that circled date when the fall colors of Aggieland can blend together like never before.

On Oct. 10, when the Big Red of Nebraska comes to town, some A&M students are banking on the white towels mixing with deep maroon. All maroon.

The event has been aptly named "Maroon Out," and the hope is for every A&M fan sardined into Kyle Field to be wearing a maroon shirt, preferably the one going on sale beginning Sept. 12 at the Louisiana Tech game.

"We’re just trying to get people to wear maroon," says Kyle Valentine, Maroon Out director and Class of 2000 president. "We don’t care if they wear our shirt. We’re just offering one (for approximately $5) if they don’t have one or if they want an event T-shirt."

Valentine said he and several top-rung student leaders are not trying to invent a tradition, but merely are trying to make the Nebraska game a most memorable one for the players and every fan in the stands.

"We’re not trying to supersede the 12th Man tradition or the 12th Man towel in any way," added Valentine, who began thinking about the idea last summer. "We’re just trying to add to it. We just tried to picture how incredible that would be to have this huge maroon background with all these towels going at once."

It’s no secret Aggies wear white at football games, primarily because of the Texas heat during September and early October games. And, yes, the Nebraska game falls in early October after College Station’s hottest summer ever.

But, as Valentine pointed out, over 75,000 fans stood through a monsoon last November to watch another victory over Texas.

"People say, ‘Well, it’s going to be too hot to be wearing a maroon T-shirt,’" Valentine said. "First of all, we’re not selling jackets. We’re selling 100 percent cotton T-shirts in October. My main concern would be for the former students, causing them any kind of heat problems. But they’re in the shade anyway, so I think that won’t be a real concern. I think the students can ante up and put on a maroon shirt."

A&M athletic director Wally Groff backs the idea and is hoping Aggies unite in color on this special Saturday.

"I was excited about the idea," Groff said. "It shows a lot of enthusiasm and creates a lot of enthusiasm. The only thing I had some reservation about is people will think we are copying somebody. But so what."

If any fan has been to Manhattan, Kan., to witness the sea of purple at Wildcat Stadium or were on hand for the Big Red onslaught in San Antonio, it’s obvious color coordination leaves a lasting impression.

In fact, at the Alamodome for the Big 12 title game, A&M fans outnumbered Nebraska fans. Yet, especially on television, it appeared as if the Huskers were far more prominent. The red outshined the mixed bag of colors worn by Aggie fans.

"I remember going to San Antonio and thinking where in the world are all the Aggies?" Valentine said. "Most of the people who were there were Aggies, but you wouldn’t know it because everyone was wearing red. You would see on A&M person in green or plaid.

"I don’t know what it is with our student body, but I know former students will come in their whole maroon suits. They come in all kinds of stuff."

The student organizers of Maroon Out are hoping sales of the shirts are brisk with students early on, allowing the sales forces to focus on former students on game days leading up to the Oct. 10 showdown.

Should Maroon Out leave an extra inventory of unsold shirts, the students plan on using them for other events, most notably a big basketball game at Reed Arena.

So, Aggies, in an effort to rekindle some of the magic of 1985, perhaps kick-starting the use of 12th Man towels in the process, some wide-eyed A&M students are asking for Aggies to show their one true color.

"I remember going up to the Kansas State game, and those fans were incredible," Valentine said. "They were all wearing purple, and that’s not a nice color, in my opinion. Maroon, now that’s just a nice color. People really shouldn’t have a problem wearing a maroon T-shirt.