COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The ball came loose, and Matthew McConaughey darted down the sideline.
As the Longhorns jumped on Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed’s fumble, securing a 17-7 win, the Hollywood star and Texas’ “Minister of Culture” stopped on a dime, bent his knees and threw his arm out straight toward an end zone, signaling Texas possession with the seriousness and body language of a coach.
Then he turned toward the Texas section behind the bench and threw up the Hook ‘Em hand sign. No hopping up and down. No smiling. All business.
Yes, the return of the Lone Star Showdown was a very big deal to fans in this state after 13 years without it. But Texas football has bigger dreams. It always has. Head coach Steve Sarkisian, hired to win it all and win the SEC, has built a fully operational battle station. He’s one win away from winning the SEC in the Longhorns’ first season in the league, while Texas A&M is, once again, rebuilding with a new coach.
The state of these two programs looks a lot like it historically has looked: The Longhorns looking for titles and the Aggies looking for answers.
For more than a decade, Texas and Texas A&M took swipes at each other from afar, their century-old college football rivalry torn apart by conference realignment when A&M left for the SEC in 2012 as Texas threw its weight around in the Big 12. Texas’ move to the SEC meant the rivalry would return to where it ended in 2011, at Kyle Field.
Ticket prices reached the thousands of dollars. Friday’s Yell Practice pep rally turnout was the biggest anyone in town could remember. More than 109,000 people came to the game. The press box swayed. A spot in the SEC championship was on the line.
Then the rivalry was renewed in the same way it ended, with a Texas victory. After all that hype and anticipation from fans, Texas itself mostly treated this like another game and finished it the way they’ve finished so many others this season, by taking an early lead and slowly choking the hope out of an opponent with ferocious defense. All business.
And that’s what should worry Texas A&M the most.
The 2011 Texas team that waved goodbye to Texas A&M finished 8-5. The 2024 Texas team that waved hello is a much different program. It left the Big 12 with a conference title and a College Football Playoff appearance last year. It’s now one win away from an SEC title in its debut season, with a CFP spot unofficially locked up.
Texas A&M had a decade’s head start on the Longhorns in the SEC. In one season, Texas has made their position in a new conference look the same as the old one.
“A lot of our guys have been hearing since the day it got announced we were going to the SEC that we were going to struggle in the SEC, that it’d be hard, that we were going to come into this environment tonight and it was going to be the toughest environment in college football and we wouldn’t be ready for it,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “There were a lot of things we’ve been challenged with that have been brewing inside a lot of people in that locker room, coaches and players included. To do it in the fashion we did, that wasn’t a gimmick win.”
Texas ran for 240 yards, nearly surpassing Texas A&M’s total offensive output (244). The same Texas run game that averaged 1.1 yards per carry against Georgia (including sacks) and just 3.4 per carry against Arkansas two weeks ago dominated the Aggies on Saturday night.
A month ago, Sarkisian challenged the offense that it would have to run the ball better. Star left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. left Saturday’s game early with an ankle injury and didn’t return. His future status will be key for national title hopes, but on Saturday, redshirt freshman Trevor Goosby more than held his own against the Aggies star lineman Nic Scourton.
“We knew we had to step up to the plate and run the ball to open defenses,” said running back Tre Wisner, who took 33 carries for 186 yards. “It all comes down to grit and heart.”
The game was only as close as it was because of Longhorn miscues. With a 17-0 lead, a Quinn Ewers pass was tipped and returned 93 yards for a Texas A&M touchdown. On the next drive, Ewers fumbled while sliding in the red zone. Texas also had a punt blocked in the fourth quarter, setting up a short field and a chance for A&M to make it a one-score game. But Texas’ defense made a goal line stand to all but end the game.
Ewers mostly played well, completing 17 of 28 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown. One turnover was his fault. The tipped interception wasn’t. His 26-yard run in the first quarter set up an Arch Manning touchdown run. Sarkisian said Ewers was far from 100 percent with an ankle injury, and the coach needed to see more from his quarterback in Thursday practice to know whether he would play.
When Ewers kneeled the clock out, he held the ball and didn’t let it go. Through handshakes, hugs, selfies with fans and singing “The Eyes of Texas”, he kept the ball tucked tight.
He transferred into Texas knowing the SEC move was coming, knowing he’d likely be the quarterback to play when the rivalry came back. He leaves it undefeated, 1-0.
Texas was the better team top-to-bottom because Sarkisian and company built it that way, and it’s not changing anytime soon. Ewers appears on his way out to the NFL — he participated in Senior Day ceremonies last week — but next up is Manning, who looks like he may live up to his own five-star hype. Texas lost two NFL defensive tackles from a year ago and hasn’t missed a beat inside. Wisner is a sophomore. Texas is fourth in 247Sports’ Team Talent rankings.
When Sarkisian took over in 2021, he went to work rebuilding the program from the trenches outward. Of the 11 former five-star recruits on the roster, three are offensive linemen. From the sideline, Texas’ size compares favorably to a top-level SEC team in a way it hadn’t before. The incoming recruiting class currently ranks sixth nationally by 247Sports and has four more five-star players.
Texas A&M’s class is down at No. 19, with one five-star player. Now, in the transfer portal era, it’s easier than ever to turn around a team elsewhere. Maybe coach Mike Elko will find a transfer quarterback he likes better than Reed and Conner Weigman. But Elko has to deal with a reality thate previous Texas A&M coaches didn’t. The Aggies’ SEC advantage over Texas in the recruiting pitch is gone, and Texas has a coach maximizing the potential of his own place. It’s a different battle. Losing this game won’t help.
For all the rivalry hype, Saturday’s game featured little to no chippiness between players before or after the game. Athletic director Chris Del Conte was calm and reserved coming off the field. When some Texas players tried to stomp on the midfield Texas A&M logo, Sarkisian quickly brushed them away.
There are more important things to worry about, like next week’s SEC championship and the College Football Playoff spot the Longhorns have already sewn up.
Texas and Texas A&M are back together again. That’s good for college football. But for anyone who thought Texas would face a daunting path and a big adjustment in the SEC, Saturday was a harsh wake-up call. Especially for the Aggies.
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
