Friday night in Austin was supposed to be the moment this team cemented itself in Aggie history. Everything was right there: a chance to go 12–0, earn an SEC Championship berth and walk out with a rivalry win that would be talked about for years.
Instead, Texas A&M played its worst second half of football all season and fell to Texas 27–17 as the Aggies let a game they controlled early slip straight through their hands.
And that’s what hurts. The Aggies were the better team for two quarters. They were physical, disciplined and in control, but the second half showed a completely different version of this team. Texas outscored A&M 24–7 after halftime, won the field-position battle and made the explosive plays A&M simply could not.
Rivalry games on the road come down to execution in big moments. Sadly, A&M couldn’t finish the job of a perfect season.
Offense
From in rhythm to completely out of sync
The first half wasn’t perfect, but it was controlled. Marcel Reed was efficient, took what the defense gave him and used his legs to keep drives alive. A&M went into halftime up 10–3 with all the momentum and all the pressure sitting squarely on Texas.
Then the second half happened.
A&M opened the third quarter with a great opportunity to go up two scores and pull the energy right out of DKR. Instead, the offense stalled. Third downs disappeared, drives died early, and in the fourth quarter, Reed had two interceptions that completely shifted the flow of the game.
Reed finished 20-of-32 for 180 yards with no passing touchdowns and two picks, adding 71 rushing yards on 12 carries. His legs were one of the main things that kept A&M moving late, but the passing game never found rhythm again after halftime. Texas tightened its coverage, sat on the crossers and forced A&M behind the sticks all night.
No explosive plays = no pressure on Texas, and without an answer once the game tightened, the offense looked stuck in neutral.
EJ Smith’s late touchdown gave a flicker of hope, but Arch Manning’s long scoring run immediately punched it out.
This wasn’t the offense we’ve watched grow all year. This game was a bad showing on all levels, and it was not a showing that you can have to win tough SEC-level games in November. All this being said, this is one game that does not define the offense for this season. I have total confidence that after some time off, this team will get back onto the right track and come back swinging harder than ever for the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Running backs: Solid effort, no game-changing runs
All night I kept waiting for the momentum-swinging run, the one that flips a rivalry game on its head. It never came. Part of me wonders how this game could have been different if Le'Veon Moss was healthy.
While A&M did run the ball well as a whole for 157 yards, it never felt like the run game really took over, as it has in games past for the Aggies. The holes just weren’t consistently there, especially after halftime. And once you’re chasing the game, the margin for big runs shrinks to almost nothing. What I really want to see in the next game for the Aggies is a heavy focus on establishing the run game and utilizing backs alongside Ruben Owens II, like Smith.
Receivers: Productive but missing the explosive play
The receivers put up numbers, but the missing ingredient was obvious: no knockout punch. KC Concepcion had five catches for 57 yards. Mario Craver went five for 44, and Theo Melin-Öhrström had three for 43.
Without a deep shot, a catch-and-run chunk or something to stretch Texas vertically, the offense became predictable. Texas forced A&M to play mistake-free football across long drives, and in the second half, the mistakes showed up.
Defense
Strong early, then worn down
For the first half, A&M’s defense was everything you’d want: physical, fundamentally sound and locked in. Holding Texas to three points in their own stadium is impressive, no matter the circumstances.
Then the second half unraveled.
Texas finished with 397 yards, including 218 rushing yards and repeatedly gashed A&M both inside and outside. Quintrevion Wisner ran for 155 yards, and Manning added 53 and the back-breaking touchdown run.
A&M still made plays, 10 tackles for loss and two sacks, but the consistency wasn’t there. Too often, Texas hit the perimeter untouched or found easy cutback lanes with no second-level support.
Dalton Brooks (12 tackles and a sack) and Taurean York (11 tackles) were warriors, but without a turnover or momentum-changing play, the dam eventually broke. Combined with offensive struggles, the defense was put in terrible spots and couldn’t hold forever.
It was their most undisciplined half of the year, and it showed.
Special Teams
Competitive, but no spark
Concepcion gave A&M good field position with 62 punt-return yards, and Terry Bussey added 55 on kick returns. The opportunities were there to flip the field, but the offense couldn’t capitalize.
Jared Zirkel stepped in for Randy Bond, going 1-for-2, with the early blocked field goal attempt hurting momentum. This is something that I wish we could get ahead of.
Texas, on the other hand, hit two big field goals that kept constant pressure on A&M.
This Was Lost in the Second Half
This game came down to one thing, which is the fact that the Aggies didn’t respond when momentum shifted.
Texas found rhythm early in the third quarter, and A&M never got it back. The energy changed, the efficiency changed, and the discipline changed. Rivalry games run on emotion, but the team that channels that emotion wins. Texas did. A&M didn’t.
This wasn’t about talent. It was about execution in key moments. I know that when the Aggies go back and watch film, they will kick themselves for the mistakes that they made that ultimately led to being outscored by so much in the second half.
The chance was massive, and that’s why it stings so much.
Closing Thoughts: Opportunity is still there, but margin is gone
No doubt, this loss is frustrating, but the season isn’t over. Everything meaningful is still in play, and now that we are in postseason play, the margin for error just vanished.
The film will be hard to sit through, but necessary. You learn more from these types of losses than you do from blowouts. This one highlighted exactly what needs fixing: Urgency, communication, finishing drives and cleaner run fits. This could be the wake-up call that this team needed in order to get back on track and play their best football in the playoffs.
The standard this team has shown all year is still there. They just have to get back to it quickly.
A rivalry loss can either crack a team or bring it together, and based on what we’ve seen all season, I believe this group will respond the right way and go on a great run in the College Football Playoff.
Here’s what the mindset needs to be for every Aggie fan across the country. The job’s not finished, and the goal has not changed either. One bad game does not define this team. That said, it’s time that we get after it.
Gig ‘Em.
