It was a disappointing rivalry renewal for Texas A&M.
No. 3 Texas beat the No. 20 Aggies 17-7 on Saturday night to clinch a spot in the SEC title game against Georgia on Dec. 7. It was the first game between the longtime rivals since the two teams last shared a conference in 2011.
The Longhorns sealed the game with a fourth-quarter goal-line stand. Instead of kicking a field goal to cut the lead to one possession, Texas A&M elected to go for a TD on fourth down and cut the lead to three. It didn’t work and it didn’t even come close to working.
Texas was then able to run the clock down inside the two-minute warning as Texas A&M used its timeouts. Once the Aggies got the ball back, Texas forced a fumble with 1:29 to go to seal the win.
Texas jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime and had multiple opportunities to put the game away in the second half. But mistakes allowed the Aggies to hang around in the second half. QB Quinn Ewers threw an interception and fumbled deep in Texas A&M territory and a blocked punt preceded the Longhorns’ goal-line stand.
