{"id":66265,"date":"2025-11-26T18:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/66265\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T18:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:11:10","slug":"can-longhorns-pull-off-rivalry-win-at-home-against-the-aggies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/66265\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Longhorns pull off rivalry win at home against the Aggies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

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

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

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

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

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TV: ABC<\/p>\n

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

Last year, Texas football was in a very different position, yet a similar one to Texas A&M now. The Longhorns were traveling to an away game in a renewed rivalry matchup with the hopes of qualifying for the SEC title game. <\/p>\n

However, this year, the Longhorns don\u2019t have those hopes. They are just trying to focus on beating the undefeated Aggies at home, while clinging to any hope of making the College Football Playoff again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this game deserves all that it deserves, and this is a great rivalry game,\u201d head coach Steve Sarkisian said at Monday\u2019s press conference. \u201cWe\u2019re playing an undefeated team in the Southeastern Conference, which is really hard to do. They\u2019re a long-standing rival of ours, that\u2019s where our focus and energy is, and that\u2019s what we can control, and I think the moment you start putting energy into things that are out of our control, you miss what\u2019s right in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

An upset win against Texas A&M would give Texas its third win against a Top-10 team and force the CFP Selection Committee to give a closer look. An Aggie win would keep their undefeated season alive<\/a> and send them to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. <\/p>\n

For both teams, though, this game has an added incentive. For the players who grew up in Texas, like safety Michael Taaffe, they understand how deep this rivalry runs and what a win would mean for the program and the fanbase. <\/p>\n

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

The Longhorn offense will need to be at their best against a strong Aggie defense if they hope to put points on the board and win. They will need to be schematically strong and win in one-on-one matchups, specifically on third down. <\/p>\n

Texas A&M is the best defense in the country on third downs, only allowing its opponents to convert less than a quarter of the time. The Aggies have a strong scheme and even stronger pass rushers. While it may seem like this would be an effective time to switch over to a run-dominated game to take pressure off the pocket, Texas A&M still ranks 27th in rushing defense, which would not bode well for the 110th-ranked Texas rushing offense. <\/p>\n

The key for the Texas offense will be to target corners playing man coverage and hope to beat them while they are isolated. To do this, the younger offensive line will need to hold the pocket long enough for quarterback Arch Manning to make deep throws. <\/p>\n

Specifically, the Longhorns will need to hold off defensive end Cashius Howell. Howell is aggressive and explosive off the ball, making him a tough task for Texas\u2019 offensive tackles. Against Utah State earlier in the season, Howell got three sacks on consecutive plays and has only continued to build on that success. He currently has 11.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. <\/p>\n

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

The Texas defense will need to create pressure up front in order to stop a multi-faceted Texas A&M offense. A well-known dual-threat quarterback, Marcel Reed, will punish the Texas defense if the team is not communicating effectively in the secondary or up front. If Reed builds momentum and gets into a rhythm, he will be hard to stop. <\/p>\n

Sarkisian praised Reed in Monday\u2019s media availability, comparing him against the other quarterbacks Texas has faced this season, including Georgia\u2019s Gunner Stockton, Vanderbilt\u2019s Diego Pavia and Arkansas\u2019 Taylen Green. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou could probably argue, Marcel Reed is the most dynamic of all those guys,\u201d Sarkisian said. <\/p>\n

However, Reed has gotten flustered in previous games, such as in the first half against South Carolina. It will be key for the Longhorns to make Reed feel uncomfortable in the pocket and force him to make mistakes. <\/p>\n

Luckily for the Longhorns, they have several talented pass rushers to do this. Edge Colin Simmons has been on a roll recently, recording a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss in each of the past three games. Simmons also caused a forced fumble that was returned for a touchdown against Arkansas and has 12 quarterback hurries this season. <\/p>\n

Having linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. back in the game will also help the Longhorns, if he is ready to go on Friday. Although the team sounded hopeful on Saturday after their Arkansas win, Hill is currently listed as questionable in the SEC injury report that came out Tuesday night. Hill currently has 69 total tackles, including 7 tackles for loss and four sacks. <\/p>\n

Hill will be needed especially in the first half, with the linebacker room already down Ty\u2019Anthony Smith due to a targeting call in the Arkansas game. While Reed can create plays through the air, Texas A&M is also good on the ground, ranking 25th in rushing offense. <\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

The Longhorns want it. It would mean so much to them to get a rivalry win at home, and a win to renew their hopes of making the playoffs.<\/p>\n

However, just like in last year\u2019s renewal of the Lonestar Showdown, the home crowd isn\u2019t going to be enough to get the win. <\/p>\n

Score: Texas A&M 35, Texas 31<\/p>\n

Texas A&M prediction: Aggies seek rivalry win, spot in SEC Championship vs. Longhorns<\/a>Despite Texas A&M being safely in CFP, would loss to Texas sully Aggies\u2019 magical season?<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breaking down the Week 14 rivalry matchup between Texas and Texas A&M… No. 16 Texas vs. No. 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3688,3231,27,29,537,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-66265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-colleges","9":"tag-steve-sarkisian","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-texas-headlines","12":"tag-texas-longhorns","13":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66265","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=66265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}