{"id":66240,"date":"2025-11-26T17:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/66240\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T17:46:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:46:06","slug":"aggies-seek-rivalry-win-spot-in-sec-championship-vs-longhorns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/66240\/","title":{"rendered":"Aggies seek rivalry win, spot in SEC Championship vs. Longhorns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Breaking down the Week 14 rivalry matchup between Texas A&M<\/a> and Texas<\/a>…<\/p>\n

No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 16 Texas<\/p>\n

When: 6:30 p.m. Friday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin<\/p>\n

Records: Texas A&M (11-0 overall, 7-0 SEC); Texas (8-3, 5-2 SEC)<\/p>\n

Last meeting: Texas defeated Texas A&M, 17-7, in College Station on Nov. 30, 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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TV: ABC<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at stake?<\/p>\n

If the Aggies walk out of Austin victorious, it would be A&M\u2019s first Lone Star Showdown win in 15 seasons<\/a>. The Aggies could cap off their first undefeated regular season since 1992 while also securing a spot in the SEC Championship, their first in program history<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Defeating A&M wouldn\u2019t just give Texas bragging rights, but also completely derail the Aggies season and conference championship aspirations. A win could also potentially stake the Longhorns\u2019 rights for a spot in the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

When Texas A&M has the ball<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Collin Klein has created an extremely volatile offense in College Station, as the Aggies possess one of the most explosive units in the nation, with 66 plays of 20-plus yards, the 12th most in the country and third best in the SEC. <\/p>\n

Quarterback Marcel Reed\u2019s dual-threat ability<\/a> has breathed life into the A&M offense which averages 465.1 yards and 38.1 points per game. Reed, an O\u2019Brien Award finalist<\/a>, has dominated opponents, racking up 2,752 passing yards with 25 touchdowns, along with 395 rushing yards and six touchdowns. Expect Reed to let it fly against the Longhorns secondary which has surrendered 242.8 passing yards per game in 2025, the 29th most in the country.<\/p>\n

The Aggies receiving duo KC Concepcion and Mario Craver continue to etch their names into A&M\u2019s history books, with the most combined yards by an Aggie pass catching pair in nine years. Concepcion has been addicted to finding the endzone, with the most receiving touchdowns in the SEC at nine. Watch out for either one them to break free for a big gain, as both have reliable hands and are incredibly difficult to bring down after the catch.<\/p>\n

One name that has emerged out wide for A&M in the second half of the season has been Ashton Bethel-Roman, the redshirt freshman has hauled in 13 catches for 356 receiving yards and five touchdowns in the last five games. If Texas is too focused taking away Concepcion and Craver, expect Bethel-Roman to find his way open. <\/p>\n

The availability of A&M\u2019s premier RB Le\u2019Veon Moss is still up in the air since he was listed as doubtful on Wednesday\u2019s SEC injury report. However, in Moss\u2019 absence the Aggies have relied on a healthy stable of running backs, spearheaded by Rueben Owens II with 570 rushing yards and five touchdowns along with 116 receiving yards. <\/p>\n

Besides Owens, the duo of Amari Daniels and EJ Smith have operated as A&M\u2019s short-distance backs, combining for 380 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Jamarion Morrow has been an elusive pass-catching back, with 80 receiving yards and two touchdowns along with 179 rushing yards and one touchdown on the ground. Regardless of which Aggie gets the ball, it\u2019s going to be tough sledding against the Longhorns, who allow just 92.75 rushing yards per game, the eighth-least in the nation.<\/p>\n

Look out for a battle in the trenches come Friday, as the Aggies offensive line boasts the best pass protection in the SEC, surrendering just 11 sacks. The \u201cmaroon goons\u201d will certainly have their hands full dealing the Texas pass rush which has the third most sacks in the country and 37 total QB takedowns. Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. remains questionable for the Lone Star Showdown after missing last week against Arkansas.<\/p>\n

When Texas has the ball<\/p>\n

The Longhorns have been quite lopsided on the offensive side of the ball averaging 259.9 passing yards to just 121.6 rushing yards per game. While Texas hasn\u2019t found a perfect balance on offense, it has protected the ball very well, with only eight turnovers in 2025.<\/p>\n

The preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, according to BetMGM, Arch Manning hasn\u2019t had the season many expected. However, he has put together a very strong resume. Manning\u2019s athleticism stands out from his NFL alumni uncles, with his 23 passing touchdowns and team-best 7 rushing touchdowns. Manning will need every bit of his dual-threat ability to avoid the Aggies\u2019 pass rush, which has accumulated 29 sacks, the second-most in the country.<\/p>\n

The only viable running back for the Longhorns this season has been Tre Wisner, with 442 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Texas\u2019 next leading rusher CJ Baxter boasts just 186 yards on the ground. If the Longhorns aren\u2019t able to establish a run game early, it could come back to bite them, as the Aggies have feasted in obvious passing downs, allowing opponents to convert just 21.99% of third downs, the lowest rate in the nation.<\/p>\n

The Longhorns have had several different pass catchers find success this season, with Ryan Wingo leading the herd with 736 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Alongside him are the trio of DeAndre Moore Jr., Parker Livingstone and Emmett Mosley V, who all have combined for 1,348 receiving yards and 13 total receiving touchdowns. The Aggies will have their hands full trying to coral the Longhorns from breaking away down field and into the endzone.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

The Aggies have managed to own the line of scrimmage all season long, regardless of location, and will attempt to bring their bruising style of play to Austin. Expect for A&M to try and smack Texas in the mouth early, and to establish the run game setting up the deep play-action pass. <\/p>\n

The Longhorns will attempt to keep pace with the Aggies, and will undoubtably find the endzone at some point. However, by the time Texas figures things out it could be too little too late, as A&M has proved it ability to adjust in the second half.<\/p>\n

Score: Texas A&M 35, Texas 33<\/p>\n

Despite Texas A&M being safely in CFP, would loss to Texas sully Aggies\u2019 magical season?<\/a>Texas A&M puts up largest point total since 1975 in rout of Mississippi Valley State<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Texas A&M coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breaking down the Week 14 rivalry matchup between Texas A&M and Texas… No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3688,154,27,260,29,537,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-66240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-colleges","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-texas-am-aggies","12":"tag-texas-headlines","13":"tag-texas-longhorns","14":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}