COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M has long been known as a sleeping giant. Well, it’s time to wake up.

It’s well past time to shake off whatever demons have held the Aggies back, whatever misfortune has befallen this proud program. It’s time for A&M to become the dominant football force many believe it’s always had the potential to be.

Now that Saturday’s 48-0 appetizer against Samford is done, No. 3 A&M can focus on a full, five-course meal — beating No. 17 Texas, winning a SEC title, earning a first-round bye and going three more rounds to win the College Football Playoff.

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Samford (1-11) was so overmatched, A&M’s second- and third-string quarterbacks got in before halftime. No more FCS-level cupcakes, thankfully. From here on out, every opportunity, every stage, every moment only gets bigger for coach Mike Elko and his 11-0 Aggies.

“I’m not sure that there’s anything for Texas A&M football to look past other than that game Friday night,” A&M coach Mike Elko said of Texas. “We know what that game means. We know what it’s all about. We know we didn’t get it done last year. We know how important it is for us to go out there and play our best football Friday night.”

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Last season, every Aggie’s stomach was so twisted into knots over the rivalry’s resumption, Elko was brow-beaten at every turn. Coach, what about Texas? You gonna beat “t.u.?” The eventual 17-7 loss caused inconsolable heartburn.

A&M senior running back Amari Daniels grew up in Miami, so he’s used to the Florida State-Miami rivalry. The Lone Star Showdown is “like that, but probably 100 times bigger.”

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“Elko said during this time of year, this is trophy season,” Daniels said. “Every time you line up, you’re either going to win something or lose something. So decide if you’re ready for the opportunity. Can’t wait to go there next week.”

A&M’s passionate fans, like the ones chanting “Mar-cel Reed!” after two first-quarter touchdown passes Saturday to Ashton Bethel-Roman, are ready, too. They’re tired of Aggie jokes about 1939 and dateless national championship plaques.

The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band doesn’t even have tuba players. It has bass horns. Sorry, “t.u.” isn’t allowed.

And yet, A&M fans still come in droves thinking this is their year. This season, A&M averaged 106,159 fans over seven home games at Kyle Field. It’s the highest average attendance in school history. They were rewarded with a 7-0 mark at home, another first in A&M history.

Now, it’s time to take that energy to Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin. Freshman defensive end Marco Jones, a California kid, admitted, “I don’t know a lot (about the rivalry), but I know it’s a big deal.”

This year, Elko stiff-armed preseason questions about Texas and drove the narrative that all 12 games matter, not just those in burnt orange.

“It’s always going to mean something,” Elko said Saturday. “I think when both teams are playing at a high level, it’s going to magnify it.”

The Aggies have been close like this before, only to see it go awry in heart-breaking fashion.

It goes all the way back to 1957 when A&M was 8-0 and ranked No. 1. News broke that coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was considering an offer from Alabama, and A&M fell apart, losing to Rice and Texas and then Tennessee in the Gator Bowl. Bryant was indeed gone the following season when “Mama called” him home.

Jump ahead to 1975. The Aggies were 10-0 and even beat No. 10 Texas. But quarterback Mike Jay suffered a season-ending back injury against UT, and Emory Bellard’s club lost to Arkansas with a backup quarterback. The program was shell-shocked having watched its national title broken like a Wishbone.

R.C. Slocum’s 1992 squad was supposed to break the jinx. A&M was a dominant 12-0 heading into the Cotton Bowl. But No. 5 Notre Dame won 28-3 in steamrolling fashion, dropping A&M down to seventh in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Not even Johnny Football, the greatest lightning bolt of A&M’s modern era, could get over the hump. Losses to Florida and LSU outweighed a win over No. 1 Alabama and kept Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel’s 2012 squad out of the BCS mix.

Had news broken this month that Elko was indeed bolting for Penn State, as national reports surmised, College Station might have melted into oblivion. Yes, Penn State made a run at the Penn graduate, according to two sources, but Elko wasn’t going anywhere, not with perfection on the line in just his second year at an SEC behemoth.

A&M officials locked up Elko with a six-year extension last week, pushing him out to 2031. Elko’s new deal gets him into the $11 million range annually and shoots him into the top five nationally, for now anyway. This current coaching cycle, led by the Lane Kiffin drama, may totally upend everyone’s financial spreadsheets.

Locking down Elko wasn’t enough. On Friday, A&M officials also announced a new deal for athletic director Trev Alberts, extending him out to 2031 as well.

Alberts keeps an ultra-low media profile in Aggieland, only speaking to reporters every other crescent moon. But his teams are winning, and ultimately, that speaks for itself.

Since Alberts’ arrival, A&M has won national titles in women’s tennis and men’s track and the baseball team reached the College World Series final. Don’t ask what happened to the baseball coach after Omaha.

Volleyball is riding high after finishing second in the SEC this season. There are high hopes for new men’s basketball coach Bucky McMillan, too.

The Aggies are competitive across the board. They’ve got a new NIL program that highlights both the school and the athletes. Jimbo Fisher’s $77-million buyout is now more line item than punch line. What about “t.u.?” What about Texas A&M?

Walk around Aggie Park before any football game. The place oozes with maroon-colored hope.

Elko believes it’s A&M’s time.

“We have 11 wins in the regular season for the first time this century,” Elko said. “All things kind of pointing up.”