Well, that was a fun night of football. Take away the outcome … we’ll get to that in a minute … the excitement of having this game back on the schedule was off the charts. Great watch party at Texas Card House with lots of energy from the crowd. Personally, I’m so glad this game is back on the schedule and it sure helps the enjoyment factor when Texas absolutely dominates Texas A&M on their own field.
Texas was clearly the better team in this game but good grief did they do a good job of shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly to keep A&M in the game. This was a game the Longhorns should have won by probably three scores but instead there were some nervous moments in the fourth quarter.
Other random thoughts from the game …
Gotta admit, seeing Ohio State lose at home to Michigan had me pretty nervous for Texas heading into this game.
That’s one hell of a brace on Quinn Ewers’ right ankle.
Huge fourth-down stop for Texas on A&M’s first drive. Barryn Sorrell made up for jumping offsides earlier in the drive with a huge play to make the tackle. Unfortunately, the Texas offense wasn’t able to capitalize.
When ABC put Michael Taffe as an impact player, Ketch and I both looked at each other and were thinking it was an interesting choice. Then he comes up with an interception on A&M’s second drive and we both got a good chuckle out of us questioning the choice.
Holy crap, that first-quarter run by Quinn Ewers. Did not see that coming. Really good blocking downfield and it could have gone the distance had Ewers not stepped out of bounds. Twenty-six yard gain for Ewers on third-and-10. Awesome play but still a bit of a missed opportunity.
Quinn Ewers’ first four completions went for a total of -6 yards.
Quick … somebody come up with a name for the Arch Manning jumbo package! What an incredible call by Sarkisian. I thought Sark should have taken the points with the field goal but I’ll eat my crow on that one.
Why the hell didn’t I play that Arch Manning red devil rushing TD play on PrizePicks? Could have made some money on that TD!
Color me surprised to see Rueben Owens on the field. I heard earlier in the week he might play but did not really believe it.
Heck of a start by Vernon Broughton who was living in A&M’s backfield in the first half. Big drive-killing sack in the second quarter when it looked like A&M might be heading in for at least a field goal.
Hell of a catch by Gunnar Helm in traffic. That was Texas’ first completion downfield.
A couple plays after that Ewers drops a dime to Matthew Golden for a 44-yard gain. That one had to feel good for Ewers.
Losing Kelvin Banks is not good but Trevor Goosby seemed to be playing well in the first half on the plays where I watched him.
That was a hell of a ball by Ewers to Jaydon Blue and a hell of a catch by Blue. Great play by both of those guys. When that ball was in the air I didn’t think there was much of a chance at all that it was going to be complete but it found a way to sneak in there and Blue made an incredible, almost-blind grab.
That was a terrible targeting call on Mukuba. Hat tip to the officials for overturning that one because it wasn’t even close, despite Elko’s tantrum on the sideline. Big stop by the Texas defense.
Thank you Silas Bolden for letting that punt in the second quarter go! I thought for sure he was going to try to grab that sucker but he let it go for the touchback. Wise choice.
First-half stats of note … Quinn Ewers 11-17 for 142 yards and 1 TD with a 154.3 QBR; Texas 112 rushing yards; Texas 254 total yards, Texas A&M 141 total yards; Texas 1-1 on fourth down, A&M 0-2 on fourth down; Texas 12.9 yards per completion; no Texas player with more than 3 tackles; Vernon Broughton 3 tackles (all solo), 2 sacks, 1 QB hurry.
Huge swing play on the pick-6 in the third quarter. Just when Texas is about to completely put the game away, Ewers gets his pass batted to fall right into the arms of Will Lee (who got away with some BS in the first half) for an easy touchdown. Some bad luck involved in that play with the tip at the line of scrimmage but that just can’t happen. I actually thought that might be four-down territory for Texas and I suggested that Texas should run the ball twice. Would have been the safer play in hindsight.
After that interception, Sark going straight to the ground-and-pound game was visible from a mile away. He’s leaned on the offensive line and the backs in the past and came out on that next drive and ran the ball five straight times. That looked like a big-time response by Texas to drive the ball back down the field but Ewers upt the ball on the ground with a fumble. Unbelievable that Texas was letting A&M hang around in this game.
Hell of a game by Tre Wisner. It’s crazy to think of what he’s become as a runner after coming out of DeSoto as an undersized back who was more of a change-of-pace guy who some thought might even wind up at receiver. Now he’s an every-down back who can run through tackles, make guys miss and actually finishes runs.
Texas was more than doubling up Texas A&M in total yards early in the fourth quarter, yet the Aggies were still hanging around due to two turnovers by Ewers in the red zone. The Longhorns should have been up in this one by 24 points (or more) and instead A&M was still breathing. I never really felt like the Longhorns were in fear of actually losing the game, but Texas had the chance to completely choke the Aggies out and didn’t. Those second-half miscues by Texas were maddening and this team has to clean up a lot of things if it wants to actually compete for a national championship.
The Texas offensive line pretty much dominated that vaunted A&M defensive line. Game ball to the entire line, including Trevor Goosby, who did a great job in filling in for Kelvin Banks.
I don’t want to accuse A&M of faking injuries in the second half every time Texas started gashing them on the ground, but good grief.
MVP of the offense for me … Tre Wisner. MVP of the defense … Vernon Broughton. Those dudes are going to love reviewing the film of this one.
I knew A&M had the edge in special teams coming into this game, but good grief. Terrible punts buy Texas, a missed field goal, a blocked punt to set A&M for points. Terrible showing by the Texas special teams all around.
Holy crap Ethan Burke. What a fourth-down stop to essentially clinch the win.
Good to have this rivalry back, and good to go into College Station (again) and get the win on their field. It has to really suck being an A&M fan tonight.
Poooooooooor Aggies!!
