In a year that’s been basked in the maroon glow of Aggieland being satisfied by No. 3 Texas A&M football, in a year that’s been characterized by comebacks and sawing ‘em off at opposing stadiums and in a year that’s featured the highest highs the Aggies have seen in the 21st century, burnt orange sparklers went off as No. 16 Texas took down its rival 27-17 in the Lone Star Showdown in Austin.

“We didn’t handle the atmosphere well enough,” coach Mike Elko said. “That’s what makes this league challenging is when you play night games in this atmosphere, that puts a lot of stress on you. We have to handle it better. You can’t be successful with the penalties we had.”

Longhorns flip a switch

While this season A&M has been the team of which tales of rapturous halftime speeches and thunderous third quarters will be told, it was Texas that emerged a team anew from the locker room.

Much like two crafty veteran boxers circling each other in the ring, the two rivals spent much of the first half throwing jabs, not fully committing to a knock-out blow. A&M and Texas combined for seven first-half punts, including the first five drives of the game. The two teams combined for 289 yards on a measly 4.1 yards per play.

After redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning’s rudder struggled to steer through the waves of maroon bashing him in an 8-for-21, 51-yard performance in the first half, he led three straight scoring drives to open the second half. 

The heir to the Manning dynasty’s throne went 6-for-8 for 128 yards and a touchdown in the final two frames and used his mobility to dash up the middle for a 35-yard dagger of a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“I’ll probably say that on that touchdown with Wingo … I thought you kind of felt the momentum move a little bit,” junior linebacker Taurean York said. “They were turnt up on the sideline in the fourth quarter … that was a momentum swing right there.”

Despite Manning’s success, it was A&M’s old nemesis junior running back Quintrevion Wisner that reared his head again. After Wisner’s career-high 186 yards rushing in last season’s Lone Star Showdown, the DeSoto High School product thrived in coach Steve Sarkisian’s outside zone-based scheme for 155 yards — 126 of those in the second half.

“Too many busts,” York said. “We weren’t doing our job. Same story I told you guys last year happened again. We didn’t do our job in the second half.”

Aggie execution issues

As the Longhorns rose to the occasion in the second half, the Aggies looked like a shell of their usual precise selves. A&M’s issues that have been snuffed out at times during the season — like penalties and short-yardage offense — burned the Maroon and White.

The problems started before halftime, with an inability to block sophomore edge rusher Colin Simmons causing issues. The Texas star used a stellar first step to terrorize graduate student right tackle Dametrious Crownover all game, including when he blew up a red-zone trip by getting into the throwing window of a screen pass, paving the way for senior EDGE Ethan Burke’s ensuing field-goal block.

A&M also reopened the coaches’ Cabo fund, getting flagged eight times for 62 yards, including three false start penalties.

“We just have to be disciplined and understand how to be focused,” redshirt sophomore QB Marcel Reed said. “ … A lot of times we jumped off of our own motions, just hearing things and stuff like that. So we got to be better there. We can’t cause ourselves penalties.”

Elko and Co.’s biggest guffaw came with 13:01 left in the game, when A&M attempted to go for it on 4th-and-1 at its own 38-yard line. A late substitution caused the Aggies to be behind the play clock, and they were flagged for delay of game and forced to punt.

“We had a sub change, and whenever we sub, they are allowed to sub, so they took forever to do that,” Reed said. “The center judge held us a little bit, and we’re trying to go through our cadence and stuff. … I gotta try to beat the clock there.” 

Marcel Reed goes down

The player who spent all season giving the 12th Man chills sent a different kind of shiver down the spine of the Aggie faithful.

Reed was in the midst of engineering A&M’s best drive to that point when he attempted to make a cut, his left leg buckling as the neon-cleated quarterback crumpled to the turf with a non-contact injury — the crowd’s palpable energy instantly sucked out of the stadium.

The athletic trainers came out to look at him as the crowd energy ground to a halt, but to a mix of groans and cheers, Reed jogged to the sideline. After a brief redshirt freshman QB Miles O’Neill cameo — and more kicking woes in the form of a graduate student kicker Jared Zirkel’s blocked field-goal attempt — A&M’s starlet returned.

“I’m a soldier,” Reed said. “It’s a football game, so you’re going to get hit, banged up a little bit, but you gotta keep going.”

His return did not go the way he hoped.

Back in the game, Reed completed his first six passes for 46 yards. With 5:11 left in the second quarter, Reed led a methodical nine-play, 42-yard drive culminating in a junior wide receiver KC Concepcion touchdown on a jet sweep. The drive was set up by Concepcion’s 30-yard punt return that ended in him being slung down by his undershirt.

Following A&M swinging the momentum in its favor just before halftime, the wheels came off the Aggie quarterback’s proverbial wagon. Reed went 10-for-17 for 86 yards and two interceptions in the second half, which were both in two-minute scenarios that ostensibly ended the game.

“It’s just a feeling we don’t want to feel anymore,” Reed said. “We haven’t felt it in a long time. We know how bad it feels.”

The result knocked A&M out of Southeastern Conference Championship contention, a game it has yet to reach since joining the SEC in 2012. The results likely slot A&M in to host a College Football Playoff game at Kyle Field, though York said that’s the furthest thing from his mind.

“We are still going to the playoffs,” York said.  “We will get a good seed. …This one hurts. I wanted to have that in-state rivalry.”