1971 Texas A&M Aggies football team

1971 Texas A&M Aggies football
Conference	Southwest Conference
Record	5–6 (4–3 SWC)
Head coach	Gene Stallings (7th season)
Home stadium	Kyle Field

1971 Southwest Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 18 Texas $	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
No. 16 Arkansas	5	–	1	–	1			8	–	3	–	1
TCU	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Texas A&M	4	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
SMU	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Rice	2	–	4	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
Texas Tech	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Baylor	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971 Texas A&M Aggies football team represented Texas A&M University in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC). The Aggies were led by head coach Gene Stallings in his seventh season and finished with a record of five wins and six losses (5–6 overall, 4–3 in the SWC). Stallings was fired as head coach and athletic director at the conclusion of the season and replaced by Emory Bellard, offensive coordinator of archrival Texas and the architect of the Wishbone formation. Bellard was hired after LSU coach Charles McClendon rejected a lucrative offer to become the Aggies' coach and AD (McClendon was not AD at LSU, unusual for the time in the Southeastern Conference). Stallings was hired by Tom Landry to be an assistant coach with the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys, a position he held until he was named head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1986. Stallings returned to college coaching in 1990 as head coach at Alabama.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	Wichita State*	Kyle Field College Station, TX	W 41–7	29,580
September 18	at LSU*	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	L 0–37	68,576
September 25	at No. 1 Nebraska*	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	L 7–34	67,993
October 2	Cincinnati*	Kyle Field College Station, TX	L 0–17	26,627
October 9	at Texas Tech	Jones Stadium Lubbock, TX (rivalry)	L 7–28	44,380
October 16	at TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	L 3–14	31,910
October 23	Baylor	Kyle Field College Station, TX (Battle of the Brazos)	W 10–9	28,662
October 30	at No. 8 Arkansas	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR (rivalry)	W 17–9	54,446
November 6	SMU	Kyle Field College Station, TX	W 27–10	27,358–28,570
November 13	at Rice	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 18–13	47,000
November 25	No. 12 Texas	Kyle Field College Station, TX (rivalry)	L 14–34	52,090
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game