Texas Sends Off Texas A&M: Horns Take Suspect, Last-Second Win

Here’s aggrieved Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds on the continuation of the series once cooler heads prevail:

A&M has maintained throughout that, despite jumping to the SEC, it wants to maintain its rivalry with Texas. The Horns have turned up their noses and claimed they’re simply too busy for the time being.

This was going to be just a compilation of punts, because at one point that’s all Thursday night’s matchup between Texas and Texas A&M was good for. In the first half, the Aggies and Longhorns combined for 10 punts, seven of which came from Texas. It was as if the Longhorns carefully crafted a strategy around the kicking game.

Surprisingly, it worked for a moment. After six punt attempts that resulted in nothing, Texas pounced on a fumble after the seventh attempt, scoring a touchdown on the next play by way of a wide receiver pass. Punt to win, you guys.

A field goal and one-yard touchdown run by Cody Johnson later, Texas was on top after struggling through the first half. Tannehill’s struggles continued, with two second-half touchdowns to go along with one more for the first as the A&M offense hit a wall in the final 30 minutes.

Texas A&M added a field goal early in the fourth quarter, cutting the Texas lead to five, 24-19. Still, both offenses were stuck in neutral, trading punts again in the fourth quarter as time began to wind down. After a strong second quarter, Texas was unable to pick up critical first downs, giving A&M its chance to come from behind late in the fourth.

On the surface, the Texas band’s halftime display would seem like a kind gesture to rival Texas A&M. But come on, nothing in this rivalry is kind. These two teams, and schools, hate each other. There’s no way this moment was one of weakness.

The Texas band’s halftime formation, which thanked the Aggies, had to have some kind of deeper meaning. It had to be one elaborate inside joke that none of us understand. There’s no way it was a simple olive branch.

In what may be the final meeting of Texas and Texas A&M for quite some time, the Longhorns have adopted an all punt, all the time strategy, and it’s kind of worked. On Texas’ seventh punt of the half, and 10th total, the Aggies muffed the kick, allowing the Longhorns to seize a bit of momentum down 13. One play later, Jaxon Shipley hit Blaine Irby on a trick play for 41 yards and a touchdown to cut the deficit to six, 13-7.

While Texas was content to punt, A&M spent its time showing of the kicking game, hitting three field goals in the half. Add in a Ryan Tannehill touchdown pass, which came on the Aggies first drive of the game, and Texas A&M put up 16 points in the half.

On Thanksgiving Day, the third longest running rivalry in college football will likely come to an end as the University of Texas and Texas A&M face off for their annual clash.

The two programs have met a total of 117 times, including 63 times on Thanksgiving (UT leads the series 75-37-5). Both schools make note of the rivalry in their fight songs, and the annual matchup has spawned elaborate pre-game traditions such as Aggie Bonfire and Texas’ Hex Rally.

Game date, time: 8 pm ET, Thursday, November 24, 2011

Location: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas