After waiting 13 long years for the return of the Lone Star Showdown, the No. 3 Texas Longhorns defeated the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies, 17-7. In front of the third-most fans in Kyle Field history, the Longhorns shined with not only the entire state of Texas, but the whole country watching.

The A&M offense got the ball to begin the game and managed to nickel-and-dime its way down to the Texas 10-yard line before junior running back Amari Daniels was stuffed on fourth-and-one by a herd of Longhorn defenders.

After forcing a quick three-and-out by the Burnt Orange offense, it was the Aggies’ offense that made the first big mistake of the night, when redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed’s pass was intercepted by former walk-on redshirt junior defensive back Michael Taaffe.

Following the turnover, the Longhorns proceeded to drive 93 yards down the field, thanks to a 26-yard scramble from redshirt junior QB Quinn Ewers. However, it would be Ewers’ understudy, redshirt freshman QB Arch Manning, who would find the endzone on a 15-yard designed quarterback keeper on fourth-and-two.

In the wake of the Texas touchdown, a familiar face returned to the Aggie backfield as sophomore RB Rueben Owens made his first appearance of the 2024 season after suffering a lower leg injury in preseason practice.

While Owens’ return elicited roars from the Kyle Field crowd, it wasn’t enough to help the Aggies, who had to punt from the Texas 49-yard line.

The only significant statistic at the end of the first quarter would be the lack of ariel-offense by Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s team, which finished with minus-6 passing yards after the first 15 minutes.

The Longhorns would also lose highly touted NFL Draft prospect junior offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. for the remainder of the game after going down with an apparent leg injury.

The limited passing game did not last long, as Ewers aired out the Maroon and White secondary on the Longhorns’ next possession, beginning with a 44-yard pass to the left side of the field to junior wide receiver Matthew Golden. Ewers followed that throw with a precise seven-yard pass right into the hands of junior RB Jaydon Blue, who managed to get a foot down in the back-right corner of the end zone.

Down 14-0, A&M still could not muster anything on offense and punted, going three-and-out. Texas proceeded to drive down field and settle for a 28-yard field goal.

Trailing 17-0, the Aggies managed to reach midfield before another unsuccessful fourth down attempt. Forcing the turnover on downs gave the Longhorns excellent starting position, but they couldn’t capitalize with just 30 seconds left, as senior kicker Bert Auburn missed the 48-yard field goal wide right.

As both teams headed to their respective locker rooms, one thing that stuck out was the Aggies’ lack of productivity on offense with just 141 yards to the Longhorns’ 254.

With just 30 minutes left to figure out who will face the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship, A&M managed to force a Texas punt for the first time since the Longhorns’ first possession of the game.

The Aggies wouldn’t muster much with their first possession of the half, punting after just four plays. Texas then made its way down to the A&M 21-yard line before junior cornerback Will Lee III intercepted Ewers’ pass and housed it for 93 yards. Lee’s interception breathed life into an Aggie team now trailing 17-7.

The Longhorns then got all the way down to Aggies’ eight-yard line, but another Ewers turnover, this time a fumble recovered by defensive captain sophomore linebacker Taurean York, gave A&M a Farmers’ chance at getting back into the game.

All was for naught, as A&M punted the ball right back to Texas, but Ewers missed junior WR Isaiah Bond on a crucial third-and-seven, leaving freshman punter Michael Kern to punt for the Longhorns.

While freshman athlete Terry Bussey was prepared to receive the punt, senior WR Jahdae Walker had other plans for the Maroon and White. Walker blocked Kern’s punt which was eventually recovered at the Texas 19-yard line by sophomore safety Dalton Brooks.

Coach Mike Elko touched on how much effort he saw from his team in the second half fighting tooth and nail to keep themselves in the game.

“I thought we showed tremendous heart and fight to continue to battle and gave ourselves a lot of chances in that second half to win with just grit and toughness,” Elko said. “I thought we had multiple plays that should have shifted momentum: the pick six, the fumble in the red zone, the blocked punt. We had our chances to shift momentum.”

However, the failure to scoop and score cost the Aggies, as they managed to get down to the Longhorns’ one-yard line before Daniels was stopped again on a fourth-and-one scenario. Texas defenders burst through the Maroon Goons’ blockade, bringing down Daniels for a three-yard loss, deflating the hopes of many of the 109,028 fans in attendance.

Texas then made Elko use up his remaining timeouts before punting back to the A&M offense. With just 1:47 left on the clock, the Aggies needed a quick touchdown and an onside kick recovery to beat the Longhorns.

The Aggies’ dreams would be shot dead as junior edge rusher Trey Moore punched the ball right out of Reed’s hand, which was then recovered by another Longhorn, effectively ending Aggies dreams of shutting up their “big brother.”

The story of the day for the Aggies was the failure to get anything going on offense with their only points coming from Lee’s pick six. A&M only managed to conjure up 98 total rushing yards — its first time failing to reach over 100 yards on the ground all season.

“I don’t think we were able to make any adjustments tonight, and it showed,” Reed said. “Couldn’t move the ball down the field passing really, and obviously not running. So they stopped us tonight and there was nothing we could do about it.”

A&M ends the regular season 8-4, a lackluster ending for the group of Fightin’ Farmers who were once 7-1 and undefeated in SEC play. The Aggies await a postseason bowl bid, forced to watch the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff from the outside looking in.

“There’s a big difference between the SEC championship game and the Music City Bowl and Texas Bowl,” York said. “One of those, you want to play in. One of those, you don’t. We’ll be playing in one of those games that people are really not caring about. … But it definitely hurts, because you know what was at stake, and you’re a couple plays away from being there in Atlanta facing a really good Georgia team.”