Texas A&M football holds Longhorns scoreless in second half but are unable to come up with a win
In a game painfully reminiscent of the first contest of the year, Texas A&M football found itself unable to move the offense up and down the field in a top-10 matchup. The Aggies had plenty of chances, but each one ended up wasted.
You'll always feel like there were more huge flashpoints in a game that was so close on the scoreboard, but it really does feel like there were simply a few tone-setting plays that were not made—similarly to the South Caroline game. The missed sack on Ewers near the beginning of the game that resulted in a 26-yard scramble for a third-down conversion really felt like it took the air out of the defense, two red zone trips without a score... the list goes on.
There were some plays made, to be fair. The pick-six by Will Lee looked to give the Aggies a lot of life, as did the blocked kick by Jahdae Walker. But the failure to follow up on those big moments—either with a defensive stop or a red zone score—meant that they ultimately fell flat.
It was that lack of defensive stops that was maybe the most disappointing coming out of this game; specifically, losing the line of scrimmage as badly as they did. The Aggies should expect more out of their DL with as highly-touted as they've been, but ever since the calendar flipped to November, they've been much less of a factor than they should be.
I keyed in on the importance of the ground game yesterday for a reason. This was maybe the best passing performance by a Texas opponent this year, all told; Reed ended up 16/23 for 6.3 YPA, which is a lot better than the Longhorn pass defense has allowed on average.
But winning via the pass hasn't been what A&M has done best this year, and when there was nothing going on the ground, they were pretty much rudderless. Meanwhile, Texas ran sweep after sweep with Wisner and the Aggies were unable to find an answer.
The Aggies drop to 8-4 and will now await their bowl destination.