It will be his first and only game as Texas A&M's head coach, Tim DeRuyter already knows. After leading the Aggies against Northwestern in the 2011 Meineke Car Care Bowl on New Year's Eve, the interim coach will step back and give way to a new era, one which will see the Aggies coached by Houston's Kevin Sumlin.
DeRuyter, who took over on an interim basis when Mike Sherman was fired earlier this month, will move on to become Fresno State's head coach, leaving Sumlin to head Texas A&M's transition into the Southeastern Conference.
The results of Saturday's game will hardly figure into DeRuyter future plans. Whatever comes of the game will affect a program he soon will not be able to call his own. Yet he does not sound very much like a man in limbo, but rather one living in the moment and hoping to maximize his team's bowl experience.
"Our guys know that there are coaches here very much like our seniors," DeRuyter told the Dallas news. "This is going to be our last game and we want to go out the right way."
Game: Meineke Car Care Bowl
Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011, 12 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN/ESPN3
Betting Odds: Texas A&M by 10