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(Joe Cook) Instant Reaction: And it's goodbye to A&M

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Texas 27. Texas A&M 17. 78-37-5. Time to update that Twitter bio, Drew Kelson.

***After a first half on offense that netted an extremely disappointing 112 yards and just three points, Texas delivered quite possibly its strongest quarter of football of the entire season against one of the toughest teams on its schedule. The third quarter was everything Steve Sarkisian wants from a 15 minute period of football. The Longhorns scored 10 points after halftime and cashed in on a strong end to the quarter with one more touchdown play on the opposite side of the break. Sarkisian’s offense was balanced with 83 rushing yards, 106 passing yards, and only one penalty. The final drive of the third was a thing of beauty, with Texas involving multiple tight ends in concert with another tenacious Quintrevion Wisner effort, one that saw a Texas running back eclipse 100 yards for the first time all year. Jack Endries had his biggest play since week one with a 54 yard catch and run to the two. Then, Nick Townsend took a cheeky handoff around the left edge and into the end zone to give Texas a 20-10 lead in the first play of the fourth quarter.

***Not to be outdone, the Texas defense was magnificent even after A&M got the ball first after halftime in the third quarter. The Aggies’ offense picked up 35 total yards and only one first down, running 12 plays. Texas’ crowd did its part, helping the A&M offense into a handful of procedure penalties and making a few short-yardage situations no-go opportunities for A&M. The fourth quarter was just as dominant and forced A&M into a game of catchup it had no chance to win.

***The three and out to start the second half featured some of the good that Sarkisian wants to see from his offense and hinted at what might be on its way. Wisner notched a 48-yard run and flipped the field, getting Texas into position to score. However, in what might be indicative of the weight on his shoulders this season, Manning tried to do too much. Instead of taking a defender one-on-one with a scramble, he tried to force a throw into the end zone to Emmett Mosley. Then when in the grasp of a defender, he tried to throw a ball away and ended up flagged for grounding. Texas still was able to net three points, but against a Texas A&M defense that has struggled mightily defending its own red zone, another three-point journey seemed like a wasted attempt. Luckily, the very next drive delivered a payoff that the one prior did not.

***Manning overcame a sluggish start to put on a show in a national spotlight. He was 14-for-29 for 179 yards and one passing touchdown and added 53 yards and the backbreaking 35-yard touchdown on the ground.

***The win gives the Texas Longhorns a fighting chance to hear their names called on Selection Sunday after conference championships. In the Longhorns’ favor is a 3-2 record against teams ranked No. 3, No. 6, No. 9, No. 5, and No. 3 at the time of the games including wins over No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 9 Vanderbilt, and No. 3 Texas A&M. The loss to currently 3-8 Florida is the obvious black mark on that resume, but is there another team in the country that has played the schedule Texas had and made it through? Texas is 9-3 and 6-2 in the SEC. In the preseason, there was discussion north of the Red River wondering if a 9-3 record for Oklahoma would be enough to get them into the College Football Playoff. The real questions should have been about the team south of the Red River. You know, the team with the Golden Hat.

***The Longhorns will have to wait a long nine days before learning if they made the 12 team field for a second season in a row. The wait will be excruciating, especially as they watch a number of teams they’d like to see fall behind them play tomorrow. It is far, far better for Texas to have that wait than to be sitting around curious where it will play its late-December bowl.

***On a different macro level, Sarkisian can claim a very good position against all three of the teams Texas has as permanent SEC rivals. The Longhorns are now 2-0 versus Texas A&M as members of the SEC. Sarkisian is also 3-2 against Oklahoma and 2-1 against Arkansas. There’s room to be upset about some results against other SEC teams, but Sarkisian undoubtedly has the upper hand against Texas’ biggest rivals on the field and on the trail.

***Much credit is due to the Texas defense. Without Anthony Hill for the whole game, Ty’Anthony Smith for the first half, and Kade Phillips for most of the second half, the Longhorn defense held the Aggies to their second-lowest point total of the season. The stats may reflect decent games from Marcel Reed, Rueben Owens, EJ Smith, and a few others, the most important stat was the point total on the scoreboard. The Aggies were 3-for-5 with two touchdowns in the red zone but also had four three and outs and two turnovers on their 13 drives. Immense credit is owed to…

    Ethan Burke, who did the thing again against Texas A&M with his blocked field goal, a pass break up, and 0.5 TFL.
    Michael Taafe, who, same with his interception.
    Liona Lefau, who logged 11 tackles.
    Jelani McDonald, who flew around the field all game.
    Colin Simmons, who impacted the game even with a lot of attention on him.
    Kobe Black, who stepped in for Phillips and delivered the game-sealing pick.
    Texas’ plethora of defensive tackles.

***Oh by the way, Wisner is a bone fide rivalry game legend. 19 carries. 155 yards. He gave the Texas offense the opportunities it needed to open things up not just for Manning and the pass-catchers, but also to keep the Texas defense fresh and able to get after Reed. Undoubtedly a player who made the very most of his chances against A&M and also OU. Take a bow, five.

***Housekeeping: OL Neto Umeozulu, TE Jack Endries, and DL Hero Kanu are going through senior day festivities. Umeozulu and Endries are fourth year juniors. Kanu is listed as a senior by Texas but should have a year of eligibility remaining considering he redshirted at Ohio State in 2022.

Evan Vieth: A third quarter takeover propels Texas to a Lone Star legacy win

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Heading into halftime, the pulse in Austin was timid, at best. It had been yet another sluggish first half for the Texas Longhorns. Arch Manning was just 8/21. The Longhorns had just three points and trailed at the half, with the Texas A&M Aggies retaining possession as the second half opened. It seemed like a TD drive from A&M would be enough momentum to end the Longhorns’ season for good. But the team that emerged from the home locker room was rekindled. Something new showed up on the field, as Texas stormed through the third quarter to eventually take a 27-17 win in the Lone Star Showdown over bitter rivals Texas A&M.

It all started with the defense getting a stop on the first drive. A three-and-out put the offense back on the field. Immediately, Quintrevion Wisner bursted for a 48-yard run, he would end up being the catalyst of the Longhorn comeback. The offense would stall, but a field goal was converted, and Texas was within four. Three plays later, the Aggies were off the field again. Texas had just one three-and-out defensive possession in the first half. It had two within two drives in the second.

The offense would return to the field and mount an impressive drive. Wisner would rush for 22 yards on the first two plays, getting him over 100 yards on the season for the first time all year. Two plays later, he’d add 17 yards, and Texas was within the A&M 30. Manning then made the play of the game. Scrambling out of pressure, he opted to throw a risky pass on the run right at the line of scrimmage. It was risky; he had done that the drive prior and potentially lost them six points in the red zone. This time, though, a near overthrow met the hands of Ryan Wingo, who made a tremendous play to haul it in for the touchdown. Texas led.

Texas A&M wasn’t out of it yet, though. The run game came back to life, and they marched 25 yards to midfield on five plays. But on 3rd and 1, the Longhorns defense would make a stop that would’ve made the 2024 team proud. On 4th and 1, one play later, the left side of Texas A&M’s offensive line would move early. Texas’ defense was off the field. With the offense back on the field, Texas would gain 30 yards before a giant play opened the game up. Manning sat in the pocket for what felt like forever thanks to a good OL effort, finding Jack Endries on the left hash. Endries would use a stiff arm to rumble down the sideline all the way to the A&M 2.

The 3rd quarter clock would burn out, but the spark the offense had given would not. As the clock hit double zeros, Manning whooped and hollared 30 yards down the field to greet his team. DKR was the loudest it had been all year. Everyone in Austin was witnessing a monumental change of pace. Out of the break, Texas lined up in an odd formation and called an odd play call. Freshman TE Nick Townsend would receive a handoff straight from Manning. The playcall fooled everyone, and he waltzed into the endzone. Texas would take a 20-10 lead, and despite a late effort from A&M, the Longhorns kept the Lone Star Showdown Trophy in Austin.

In a season that many Longhorn fans would like to forget, Texas took down all three of its rivals: Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas A&M. A third quarter to remember, and a victory to savor for the next 365 days. Texas takes down little brother in Austin for the first time in 17 years. 

 

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Dan Wolken: After Texas' big win over Texas A&M, get ready for a relentless media blitz to get Longhorns in the College Football Playoff

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AUSTIN — Every few minutes in this thunderdome of a college football stadium at the University of Texas, they’re making cannons go boom, releasing orange smoke from sparklers that spray flames into the sky or turning the place dark so light beams from 100,000 phones can cast a disorienting neon cacophony even the Sixth Street saloons and honky-tonks can’t match. And that’s nothing compared to the sensory overload Texas, the Southeastern Conference and their business partner ESPN are about to flood the airwaves with over the next week in their desperate attempt to get the three-loss Longhorns into the College Football Playoff.
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You know it’s coming. After Texas’ 27-17 victory over No. 3 Texas A&M here Friday night, knocking the rival Aggies from the ranks of the unbeaten, in-state bragging rights won’t be enough for Texas. The push to get the Longhorns and Arch Manning into this playoff will be organized and relentless. And the opening salvo came moments after their on-field celebration at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium when Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian turned from football coach to politician.

“I think we’re absolutely a playoff team,” Sarkisian said. “We beat an undefeated No. 3 team in the country that a lot of pundits thought was the best team in the country, and we just beat them by two scores. That’s a pretty dominant win for our team, and I don’t know how many other teams can say they have wins like that. We’ve had some great wins. I get it. We didn’t beat Ohio State, we didn’t beat Georgia. But you look at other teams in front of us and look at their schedules, it’s comical. What would their record be if they played those teams?”

This is a test for the selection committee. Are they supposed to care about a body of work which says that Texas’ three losses — including a true toe-stubber to 3-8 Florida in early October — should probably be disqualifying? Or is their job to take Texas’ best moments, including three very good wins over the Aggies, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, and project them as a late bloomer whose overwhelmingly talented roster could do damage in the CFP? And from Texas’ standpoint, the crux of the argument comes down to this: What would this look like if they hadn’t taken on the challenge of playing current No. 1 Ohio State in the season opener and losing 14-7? What if, instead of going on the road to one of the toughest places to play in all of college football with a first-year starting quarterback and a new offensive line, they had scheduled Kent State and eased into the season?

“If we’re a 10-2 team right now, this isn’t a discussion,” Sarkisian said. “But we were willing to go up there and play that game.” It’s a compelling point because it’s largely true, and you’ll undoubtedly hear SEC commissioner Greg Sankey make it every time a microphone comes into his vicinity over the next week. It’s undeniable that a 10-2 Texas with their three high-quality wins would probably get a playoff spot. But Texas isn’t 10-2. And those what-ifs don’t account for the cruel, sometimes unfair reality of college football: In a sport with only 12 data points, you are defined by neither your best nor worst moment. Instead, it’s the totality of a complicated picture, and the 12-team playoff system is supposed to account for all of it.

If Texas misses out on the CFP, can they honestly say that playing Ohio State cost them a bid? Or by losing that game, did they merely fail to earn the extra margin for error that would have allowed them to lose to a team like Florida without much punishment? “We went on the road to Ohio State and lost in a one-score game where we outgained them by 200 yards and no one else has been close against them,” Sarkisian said. “But I think more importantly it’s the message we want to send to the head coaches and athletic directors around the country. When you play five top-10 ranked teams and go 3-2 and schedule Ohio State out of conference, I don’t think we want to punish us to do that because what will we do? We’ll get out of those games like a lot of teams have done. They have nice, pretty records but they’re not willing to play those games.”

It’s the exact same argument Alabama made, unsuccessfully, when it was left out of the playoff a year ago at 9-3, kickstarting an entire offseason of discourse around CFP expansion and how the committee uses strength of schedule. And Sarkisian will come armed in every media appearance with all the stats about how difficult a road it was for Texas this year. “We’re gonna have a good shot to get in there because of Coach Sark,” receiver Ryan Wingo said. “He’s got a way with words.” But are his words enough to convince selection committee members that Texas, particularly with Manning’s development over the course of the season, is a different team than it was in August? Or, more to the point, can he convince them Texas’ trajectory should matter more than what it put on paper?

It's an attractive proposition, particularly for a television network that would love the ratings juice Manning brings. And it just might be enough to make the Longhorns the first three-loss playoff team in history. “I feel like we’ve come a long way,” Manning said. “We’ve played a lot of good teams. I hope this thing works out because we’re trending in the right direction. We’re a good team. We’re only getting better. And if you let us in, we can beat anyone.”

Brian Davis: Texas A&M takes little comfort in 11-1 record after loss to UT. 'Tired of losing to same team.'

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AUSTIN — Not that Texas A&M fans want to hear it right now after what happened Friday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, but let’s start with the good news. No. 3 Texas A&M is probably going to host a College Football Playoff game at Kyle Field in December. Mike Elko’s Aggies still have a leg up in the national championship hunt. Last year, every team that hosted a first-round game went 4-0. It’ll be electric, no question. To get that home game required a huge, painful tradeoff. A&M lost to its biggest rival No. 16 Texas for the second straight year, 27-17, watched its undefeated record go by the wayside and missed out on playing for the SEC championship in what was shaping up as the greatest season in school history.

“We want to go to the SEC championship. We’re tired of losing to the same team back-to-back years, tired of not winning that trophy,” linebacker Taurean York said. It might take Elko a few days to recover. As Elko spoke to reporters, Texas fans exiting the stadium made tons of noise and were banging on the press conference door. “I think we’re just thinking about not getting the job done tonight,” Elko said. “Coming out of this weekend, maybe we’ll regroup and figure out moving forward what the positives are of 11-1. “Right now, it just hurts that we lost to our rival.”

There’s plenty of time for soul-searching in College Station long before the final CFP rankings are unveiled Dec. 7. Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1 SEC) now just has to sit around and wait. “We’re going to drive out to College Station for the next two hours, and it’s probably going to be really silent,” York said. “Hurts a lot, but you’ve got to regroup and get ready for the playoffs.” Start with the difference in physicality between the first and second halves. Elko’s Aggies were the ones smashing through Longhorns and dashing all over the field in the first half. A&M running back Rueben Owens II laid out Texas’ Brad Spence and sprung KC Concepcion loose for an 8-yard touchdown run. Then it was A&M defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim sacking UT’s Arch Manning and knocking the Horns out of field goal range just before halftime.

The Longhorns had just 61 rushing yards in the first half and went a pedestrian 3-for-9 on third down. The Aggies held a 10-3 lead, but it felt bigger than a one-score game. The tide started turning when A&M quarterback Marcel Reed misfired on a deep ball to Concepcion on third-and-2 early in the third quarter. The incompletion forced a punt, and the Horns went the other way and took the lead. Manning’s lofty 29-yard throw to Ryan Wingo almost sailed out the back of the north end zone. Only it didn’t, and Texas had a 13-10 lead and the momentum.

Then, A&M had a fourth-and-1 setup at midfield. The noise level was at ear-splitting highs thanks to a crowd of 103,632, and A&M’s Reuben Fatheree moved before the snap. It was one of three A&M false start penalties. “Obviously, it’s a good environment,” Reed said. “There’s going to be noise, but I don’t think it’s anything that we haven’t heard before.” Manning, who started awful, found his groove. A 19-yard completion to Parker Livingstone was big. Then, Manning hit Jack Endries for a completion, and Endries stiff-armed Marcus Ratcliffe for a 54-yard gain to finish off the third quarter. The Horns scored on the next play and the place was roaring. “We had too many busts. We weren’t doing our job,” York said. “This same story I told y’all last year happened again. We didn’t do our job in the second half, therefore they won the game.”

Said Elko: “You have to be in position to deliver blows, and so it’s hard to do that if you’re not in the positions you need to be in to do those things. And so we just weren’t where we needed to be.” On A&M’s next possession, Elko went for it again on fourth-and-1 from his own 38-yard line. Reed said the Aggies substituted personnel, and by rule, the defense is allowed to sub out. Reed said the official delayed the snap, and the play clock got away from him. “That’s really on me a little bit, and I got to try to beat the clock there and know what we’re working with,” Reed said. The Aggies got back in it with EJ Smith’s 13-yard touchdown run. But Manning answered with an aggressive run up the middle, a 35-yard sprint to the end zone that was his longest scoring play of the year.

At that point, the Aggies went into hurry-up mode and started pressing. Reed threw an interception to UT’s Michael Taaffe at the lip of the goal line. The Aggies forced a punt, but Reed threw another pick on the next offensive snap to Kobe Black. Reed wasn’t going to blame an ankle injury that took him out of action for one offensive play. “I just kind of got spooked. I’m good,” he said. Reed wasn’t going to blame anything. The A&M and Texas quarterbacks had a nice postgame exchange on the field in a moment of sportsmanship. Who knows? Maybe they meet again in the CFP, if the Horns can jump high enough in the updated rankings.

“I mean, there’s a lot right now to be proud of,” Reed said. “We’ve put up an 11-win regular season for the first time this century, I’m pretty sure. And you know, there’s still a lot to work for.” Reed is excited for a playoff game at Kyle Field “in front of our fans.” “We’re going to have to win out now,” Reed said. “I think this team is really capable of it, and I think we believe that we can make it to the national championship. And so we’re just going to put our heads down and grind.”

 

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(Graham Harmon) Instant reaction: Texas A&M's Atlanta dream dies in Austin disaster

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For the second straight year, Texas A&M was playing in the Lone Star Showdown for a chance to get to the SEC Championship in Atlanta— and for the second straight year, they failed to do so. Admittedly, this game was far different than last year's, but the fact remains that they were still unable to get it done when they needed to. There were a lot of factors on paper that favored the Aggies in this one— Texas's lack of rush offense up until this point in the year, the Aggies' excellent pass rush, A&M's heretofore great passing offense— and you saw some of those come through, but others failed to.

The pressure that the Aggies got up front on Arch in the late part of the first half seemed to bode well, especially given how much of a second-half team this has been, but the off-schedule plays were the kryptonite here. Things began to fade quickly in that second half, and a game that the Aggies should have won handily turned into a costly loss in a really uncharacteristic way.

Texas A&M comes apart in second half in Austin to fall just short of undefeated regular season

The biggest issue, though, was the wasted red zone possessions. Texas A&M had three red zone possessions in this game that ended up netting them only three points. Convert touchdowns in those possessions, and this is a blowout the other way— but for once, the Aggies' issues in wasted yardage came back to bite them. This is something that the Aggies had flirted with all year, but this is the first time it really cost them. The Ags had a penchant for driving down the field and failing to get the score in certain games (see Auburn and Mississippi State), but they were always able to evade a scrape.

You can only do that so many times in big road environments and win, though. At some point, you need to play a full, four-quarter game. We still actually haven't even seen that yet out of this team, which is crazy to say, but it's the case. This is one that Aggie fans will want to flush quickly, of course. A&M is in the playoff at this point, so it's just a question of how far the committee will have them tumble. There could be some bad news on that front, as it's not out of the question that they fall all the way to 8th or lower given the committee's poor way of calculating SOS.

We'll await selection Sunday to see just where the Aggies end up— hosting a first-round playoff game in Kyle Field isn't the worst fate by a long shot, but you desperately wish you had gotten this one across the finish line.

Cedric Golden: Did Texas do enough to get to the College Football Playoff?

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A season wrought with frustration wasn’t just about the Texas football players. The fans felt it too. Friday night’s 27-17 win over No. 3 Texas A&M provided Longhorn Nation with some release. And hope. The signs in the Royal-Memorial Stadium stands reflected the feelings of a fan base that came in believing the home team would find a way to squeeze into the College Football Playoff despite coming in at No. 16 in the latest rankings. “This is absolutely a playoff team,” said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, who laid out his team's case in spectacular detail, from the 14-7 season-opening loss at Ohio State to the Horns becoming the first team since the 2019 national champion LSU Tigers to beat three top-10 teams in the regular season. 

The Horns finished up at 9-3 and with a week of championship games still remaining. They will need too many teams to count to lose to opponents they should beat. Frankly, the Longhorns aren’t likely to get in even if they are capable of going toe-to-toe with any team in the country except maybe (gulp) Georgia. The odds aren't in their favor, especially since they would have to likely climb from 16th to 10th while sitting on the sidelines. That said, the 2025 Longhorns will still bask in the satisfaction of knocking the undefeated Aggies out of SEC title contention and preventing them from running the regular-season table for the first time since 1992. Yep, the Horns delivered yet another dose of Battered Aggie Syndrome to a team that had to believe it would finally get the best of its fiercest rival only to be turned away yet again.

And the fans let the Aggies have it hours after the 12th Man's famous band marched up downtown Congress Avenue — 2,500 strong  — earlier Friday. “It’s been 5,482 days since the Aggies beat Texas,” one sign in the DKR stands read. “11-1” read another. “They answered the bell,” Sarkisian said. “They answered the bell in Round 11 and they surely answered the bell in Round 12. Around here, we call those the championship rounds.”

Sark wasn't the only one selling wolf tickets. "They should let us in," UT quarterback Arch Manning said. "We can beat anyone." It was Manning who helped keep Texas' CFP dream alive with a pair of second-half touchdowns, including a 35-yard burst to put the Horns up double digits late. They were the truth in this 2025 regular-season finale, especially in the third quarter when they outgained the Aggies 189-35 after totaling only 112 yards in the first half,

Manning's run was his second rushing touchdown against the Aggies in as many meetings and it was the perfect prelude to two defensive highlights. A&M Heisman Trophy contender Marcel Reed didn't have his best night as his attempt at a second late miracle, after the South Carolina comeback, fell short as defensive backs Michael Taaffe and Kobe Black intercepted him on consecutive fourth-quarter drives in the red zone. "The best player in college football, Arch Manning!" Taaffe bellowed as his buddy was finishing up his postgame interview.

The Horns are a good team and they believe they made the case to prove they can be great though the 29-21 loss at Florida will likely end up being the one that keeps them out of the postseason. The CFP conversation was more about where this team is going, not about the playoff-bound Aggies or the Florida loss.b"I feel like we're a playoff team," UT linebacker Liona Lefau said. "We've battled our hearts out. Obviously some games didn't go our way, but we got up and kept fighting." Texas Fight. Texas Fought. But will the Horns get to fight again in the CFP? We'll find out soon enough.

 

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Scipio Tex: There Goes My Heroes

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Rivalry wins hit differently. Particularly when all of the eyes of college football are on a game between two highly ranked teams who don’t have much love for each other with real stakes at hand. You always remember the players who step up in these games, as they write their names in legend forever. Here were mine from last night

Offense

Tre Wisner

17 touches for 174 yards. Constantly added to the run. Great patience and toughness. Now consider that he had a manly 35 touches for 207 yards last year at A&M and you’ll understand why Aggie parents scare their children with Tre Wisner stories. “Did you do your whoops today? If not, Tre Wisner will get you!”

Arch Manning

Navigated a tough pocket and a lack of wide receiver separation to turn in a flawless second half, punctuated by some timely chain moving runs and the final coup de grace touchdown run. Tough as nails and made no mistakes. No turnovers. Love this guy. He battled through some real bullshit this year.

Trevor Goosby

Shut down Texas A&M edge Cashius Howell, who had a season impact for the Aggies comparable to our Colin Simmons. The problem is that unlike Simmons, Howell is not a complete football player. Goosby shut down Howell with great feet and his length. Then Goosby exploited him multiple times on zone runs when #9 tried to hunt tackles for loss outside of the scheme. The best player on the Aggie defense was the target of the Texas run game and Goosby was the marksman.

Jack Endries

5 targets, 4 catches, 93 yards, a 54-yard catch and run and 3 first downs. Endries also blocked his ass off in pass pro and on outside on the A&M edges. His best game as a Longhorn. By far. He was the Texas passing game.

Defense

Ethan Burke

An amazing effort from the lanky Westlake senior. Nine tackles, a blocked field goal, and excellent disciplined pass rush. He added 2 pressures and 2 hurries on Marcel Reed and he was responsible for disallowing the Texas A&M edge runs that had driven their success all season. Burke’s physicality and movement are always underestimated and the senior from Austin turned in a fantastic performance.

Colin Simmons

He endured some blatant uncalled holds, but still recorded 5 pressures and 4 hurries on Reed. A&M double teamed him constantly, but he still impacted the game on multiple occasions. He missed a pair of tackles on the slippery Reed, and though Marcel “One” Reed has some faults, elusiveness isn’t one of them. Weird that Armaj Reed-Adams ran to the locker room rather than look up Simmons in the postgame.

Kobe Black

Discounted in the CB rotation, Black was inserted into the game and his play rewarded that decision. He recorded a hard tackle in the flat, blanketed A&M’s speedy receivers (only targeted twice, for 4 yards) and then grabbed a game-sealing pick late in the 4th. From the outhouse to the penthouse. You have to love college football.

Liona Lefau

Lefau had been in a funk for some time, but he recorded 11 tackles and gamely held down the fort in the absence of Anthony Hill and the first half absence of Ty Smith. Lefau cleaned up the run beautifully and with every tackle, Texas A&M got more and more frustrated and put more of the game on the shoulders of a QB who isn’t built to handle it. 

(Scipio Tex) 2025 Texas A&M Aggies Postmortem: Offense

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It was the worst of halves, it was the best of halves. It was the season of disappointment, it was the season of triumphs. It was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope. It was the winter of the portal. It was an epoch of rivals destruction. The Texas Longhorns closed out an inconstant season with another double digit thumping of a rival, highlighted by a dominant second half after a sluggish first. Despite a strong Longhorn defensive effort, Texas trailed #3 ranked and undefeated Texas A&M after the first half 10-3, with only 112 yards of offense, their first three drives accounting for 24 yards on 13 plays.

The feeling in the sell out crowd wasn’t great during intermission. The Longhorns couldn’t handle Mike Elko’s 3rd down packages and they struggled to find traction in the passing game as the Texas OL surrendered penetration and free defensive runners. It got a lot better. Texas whipped A&M 24-7 in the second half with three consecutive scoring thrusts out of the half on 50, 70 and 83 yard drives. Texas would finish the game with almost 400 yards of offense at 6 yards a play, including a robust 218 yards on the ground.

In the second half, Manning was deadly efficient with both his arm and legs, The Rival Assassin Tre Wisner started stacking up bodies, and Texas found solutions in the passing game exploiting Texas A&M’s linebackers and safeties on TE Jack Endries. Trevor Goosby and Brandon Baker also turned in dominant second halves blocking the edge. Texas picked on some aspects of the Aggie defense that they had been able to paper over against other opponents, but the Horns laid them bare in the second half, revealing a Longhorn running game that had been AWOL all season.

Texas ruined Texas A&M’s perfect regular season, stated their strength of schedule and strength of record case for a Playoff Committee beguiled by win/loss bias, and reminded little brother that big brother can still take his Thanksgiving plate away from him whenever he feels like it.

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Hey On3, keep Tre Wisner, the Rivals Slayer, away from your properties. #5 played his ass off. What heart. 

Wisner totaled 155 yards on 19 carries – a season high – surpassing his prior high performance against Oklahoma in Dallas. He also added 2 catches for 19 yards, for a smooth 174 yard effort. Wisner’s only 100+ yard season effort came at the perfect time against an Aggie defense that constantly struggled to fit the run as their linebackers and edges lost gap responsibilities trying to hunt big plays.

107 of Wisner’s yards came after the first hit, finishing the regular season finale with a sizzling 5.35 yards after contact, a season and career high. It wasn’t just one explosive – though his timely 48 yard run was the first flash of light for the Longhorn offense in the 3rd quarter – as Wisner added six 10+ yard runs, also a season high. CJ Baxter had 6 tepid carries for 10 yards. I let out a long sigh and couple of curses after his series at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Let’s go get Tre Wisner a worthy 1-2 punch.

QB

Arch Manning got off to a rocky start, but negotiated the pocket beautifully against what was, at times, withering first half pressure. As the Texas ground game settled in and Manning continued to use his legs opportunistically, the Aggies began to tire out and some of their schematic smoke and mirrors revealed a front and linebacker corps that could be handled on standard downs without Elko’s sideline cheat codes. Their key pass rusher couldn’t beat our left tackle. 

Maning finished 14 of 29 for 179 yards with one touchdown and ran for 70 yards and a touchdown (if you take away sacks). His numbers weren’t gaudy, but it was clear who the best QB was on the field and he consistently made the winning decision on every play. Manning’s growth is obvious. He took great care of the ball and finished with 3 10+ yard runs including 4.29 yards after contact. He was lights out in the second half throwing the ball, when the Texas passing game could snipe for matchups after A&M had to stop the run. 

#16 is becoming a very good QB and he’s a hell of a tough competitor. Let’s go get him some more pieces.

OL

Elko’s blitz packages are no joke (Texas finished 4 of 13 on 3rd down) but the big guys battled up front and settled in just enough to give Wisner, Manning and crew a shot. Arch Manning aided the cause quite a bit with Grade A pocket manipulation. The Texas OL struggled early to protect and run the ball, but they eventually settled in and started nailing the timing and angles on some of Wisner’s runs, punishing an A&M defense that constantly hunts tackles for loss, sometimes at the expense of soundness. That slowed down the rush and eventually Texas started combining explosive plays with steady gains.

Trevor Goosby put Cassius Howell on lockdown. A+ effort from the big man. Howell struggled with Goosby’s live feet and length all game. Brandon Baker actually had a terrific second half. Robertson had some early struggles with A&M’s inside strength early, but he competed once Texas started getting some traction. DJ Campbell was above average and consistent for four quarters. Cole Hutson had a very, very rough game in what has been a very rough year. Texas still surrendered 18 pressures, but as long as it was one free runner and not multiple, Arch and Tre had a chance to make it right.

WR/TE

Frankly, the Longhorn receivers struggled to separate from Ricks and Lee outside. The four primary pass catchers outside finished with a combined 7 catches for 64 yards, a stat line that if you’d told me before the game, would have suggested a very rough day for the Texas offense. The officials ate a pair of flags that might have helped to free things a bit, but separation just wasn’t there when Manning had time to survey the field. Credit to the Aggies. Fortunately, Texas pivoted to TE Jack Endries in the second half. He finished with 93 yards on 4 catches on 5 targets, including 3 first downs and a dynamic 54 yard catch and run. He also blocked his ass off. His best and most complete game as a Longhorn by a large margin. There were a lot of Texas heroes in this game on both sides of the ball, but Jack Endries is on the very short list.

This was such an unexpected and terrific play call.

Final

Texas smashed the favored Aggies convincingly on the ground and in the air on the strength of a dominant second half, securing the most convincing win over Agriculture since the boll weevil. Whipping the Aggies always make the sun shine a little brighter and breakfast taste just a little better. The smile has not yet come off of my face. Hook ’em!

 

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Justin Wells: Top PFF grades from Texas' 27-17 win over Texas A&M on Friday

Quote

Arch Manning and No. 16 Texas’ offense took it to the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies in the second half on Friday from Austin. Here’s how the offense graded out, per PFF.

OFFENSE

QB – Arch Manning, 70.6

Once again, behind the arms, legs, and arm of Manning, the offense played well, especially in the second half. Manning is the unquestioned leader and maybe one of the most improved players in the program. Two more touchdowns, zero turnovers. 

RB – Tre Wisner, 69.7

Wisner shows up big in the biggest games. His 180+ yard performance was the antidote for this offense on Friday. 

WR – Ryan Wingo, 54.9, Emmett Mosley V, 61.4, Parker Livingstone, 71.3

While there were a few early drops, this group rallied and made life hell for the A&M secondary. Wingo’s TD catch was his best of 2025. 

TE – Jack Endries, 75.3, Spencer Shannon, 84.3, Nick Townsend, 62.3

This was Texas’ Tight End breakout game. Endries caught everything, Shannon led the offense in grades (76.7), and Townsend scored a touchdown. 

OL – Trevor Goosby, 72.4, DJ Campbell, 58.9, Brandon Baker, 59.1, Cole Hutson, 61.0, Connor Robertson, 69.3

The Longhorns offensive line continues to improve, and after a sluggish first half, came out in the next half firing on all cylinders. Goosby was fantastic against the SEC’s top pass rusher. 

****

The Texas defense held down the Texas A&M Aggies on Friday night, even missing All-SEC LB Anthony Hill Jr for a second game. Here’s how the defense graded out, per PFF.

DEFENSE

DL/EDGE – Colin Simmons, 50.6, Ethan Burke, 76.1, Alex January, 60.1, Lance Jackson, 66.3

Burke led the front four and was tremendous once again vs the Aggies, with a blocked FG and multiple tackles.

LB – Liona Lefau, 87.1, Tyanthony Smith, 63.2, Trey Moore, 60.2

Lefau led all defenders with an 87.1 overall grade. Smith’s second half energy was needed for the Horns.

CB – Malik Muhammad, 63.8, Kobe Black, 81.9, Kade Phillips, 59.5

Black led the secondary in overall grades, brought hat, and snagged an INT. He played his best game as a Longhorn. 

S/N – Michael Taaffe, 65.1, Jelani McDonald, 57.7, Graceson Littleton, 58.4

Taaffe and McDonald each made plays when they needed them most, including Taaffe’s game-clinching INT, which we’ll call the Michael Taaffe-Texas A&M Memorial Interception. 

 

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