Arch Manning put Texas up 10 points in the fourth quarter with his 35-yard TD run. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
(Alex Slitz via Getty Images)
Texas ruined Texas A&M’s chances at an SEC title for a second straight season.
Arch Manning rushed for a 35-yard TD with 7:04 to go as the No. 16 Longhorns ended No. 3 A&M’s undefeated season with a 27-17 win.
After Manning’s TD put the Longhorns up 10, senior safety Michael Taaffe — an Austin native — intercepted Marcel Reed with less than four minutes to go.
The Aggies quickly got the ball back. But Reed was picked off again. Kobe Black intercepted Reed with 2:26 to go and A&M out of timeouts to officially seal the game.
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Manning was fantastic in the second half as the Texas offense woke up. The Longhorns scored 24 points in the second half to turn what was a 10-3 halftime deficit into a 10-point lead on multiple occasions.
Manning finished the game 14-of-29 passing for 179 yards and a 29-yard TD to Ryan Wingo. That TD pass came after Manning scrambled and found a wide-open Wingo in the back of the end zone in the third quarter.
Two drives before his touchdown run, Manning helped set up a short TD run by tight end Nick Townsend with a 54-yard pass to tight end Jack Endries on the final play of the third quarter.
A season ago, the first game between the in-state rivals since 2011 was a win-and-in game for the SEC championship game. Texas knocked off the Aggies in College Station before losing to Georgia in the SEC title game.
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Texas (9-3) is out of SEC title contention this season thanks to two conference losses. But the Bulldogs are the big beneficiary of the Longhorns’ win. Georgia clinched a berth in next weekend’s title game with A&M’s loss. If Alabama wins on Saturday, Georgia will play the Crimson Tide after losing to Alabama earlier this season. If Auburn upsets Alabama, Georgia will get Ole Miss.
Manning was 8-of-21 passing for 51 yards in the first half. In the second half, he was 6-of-8 for 128 yards and that TD to Wingo.
As Manning was much better in the second half, so was the Texas run game. Texas rushed for 158 yards in the second half before Manning took two knees to end the game and had over 200 yards rushing for just the third time all season.
Texas A&M is still safely in the playoff
Even though the Aggies (11-1) aren’t playing for the SEC title, the College Football Playoff is still squarely in their future. However, A&M is now facing the prospect of hosting a first-round game instead of getting a first-round bye.
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No. 4 Georgia is set to jump the Aggies in Tuesday’s rankings as A&M could even fall below Ole Miss at No. 7 depending on how harshly the committee wants to view the loss.
Texas A&M also had to hold its breath for a moment in the first quarter. Reed crumpled to the turf after twisting his left ankle while cutting up the field. He hobbled off the field after he was tended to by trainers and missed one offensive play before re-entering the game and playing the rest of the way.
Reed’s Heisman chances are pretty much gone, however. He was as high as the No. 3 betting favorite earlier in November, but after finishing the game 20-of-32 passing for 180 yards and two interceptions to go with 12 carries for 71 yards, it’s hard to see how Reed has a chance at the award with the Aggies missing out on the SEC title game.
Where will Texas be in the playoff rankings?
The Longhorns have a very slim chance to make the College Football Playoff. But you should brace yourself for the Texas playoff push. It began as soon as the game was over.
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“That team’s undefeated, No. 3 in the country, a lot of the pundits out there think they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian told ESPN. “We just beat them by 10.”
Texas is 9-3 and will move up in the rankings on Tuesday. How far? Well, that’s up for debate. And Sarkisian believes that jump should be significant given his team’s 14-7 loss to No. 1 Ohio State to open the season.
“I think this, if you really look at the body of work and you look at the Southeastern Conference and what we have to go through every week — you look at the non-conference schedule we played and go to Ohio State in Week 1 and lose by seven when we outgained them by nearly 200 yards — we’ve got a really good football team and it’d be a disservice to our sport if this team’s not a playoff team when we went and scheduled that non-conference game,” he said in his postgame interview.
Our best guess is that Texas will be ranked no lower than No. 14 even if current No. 14 Vanderbilt beats Tennessee on Saturday. The Longhorns have a win over the Commodores and the victory over A&M is better than any win Vanderbilt has this season. Despite having one more loss than Vandy — Texas also lost to 3-8 Florida — the head-to-head advantage should put the Longhorns ahead of the Commodores.
Could Texas jump No. 13 Utah and even No. 12 Miami even if the Hurricanes beat No. 22 Pitt? Maybe. It’s far more likely that Texas slots in ahead of the Utes at No. 13 if the Hurricanes win.
