Texas A&M
8-4 , 5-3
Texas
11-1 , 7-1
Team Stats
TEX 7, A&M 0
TEX - Manning,Arch 15 yd run (Auburn,Bert kick), 10 plays, 93 yards, TOP 04:41
TEX 14, A&M 0
TEX - Blue,Jaydon 7 yd pass from Ewers,Quinn (Auburn,Bert kick) 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 04:24
TEX 17, A&M 0
TEX - Auburn,Bert 28 yd field goal 11 plays, 70 yards, TOP 04:33
TEX 17, A&M 7
A&M - Lee III,Will 93 yd interception (Bond,Randy kick)
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
No. 20 Aggies Fall to No. 3 Texas
Nov 30, 2024 | Football
After facing a 17-0 deficit at the half, the Aggies (8-4, 5-3 SEC) cut into the Longhorn (11-1, 7-1 SEC) lead with 5:42 remaining in the third behind a 93-yard pick-six from Will Lee III that was deflected by DJ Hicks. The return marked the longest pick-six by an Aggie since Aaron Glenn's 95-yarder against Texas in 1992.
In the fourth, the Maroon & White looked poised to cut the deficit more as Jahdae Walker blocked a punt that was recovered by Dalton Brooks at the Texas 19-yard line with 7:48 remaining in the contest. The Aggies pushed the ball to the 1-yard line but were unable to convert as they turned it over on downs. A fumble on the Maroon & White's ensuing drive ended the contest as Texas claimed the 17-7 win.
Following a turnover on downs and an interception on the Aggies' first two drives of the game, Texas struck first with a 15-yard touchdown run as 3:07 showed on the clock. The Longhorns added to their lead in the second with a 7-yard touchdown pass and a 28-yard field goal to take a 17-0 lead into the half.
Quarterback Marcel Reed finished the night 16-of-23 passing for 146 yards and led the rushing attack with 56 yards on 14 carries. Defensively, the Maroon & White were led by Taurean York as he finished with 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack. Defensive back Dalton Brooks matched York with 10 tackles on the night, nine of which were solo.
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
- Texas A&M recorded eight tackles for loss against the Longhorns, marking the fifth time in the last eight games the team has had eight-or-more TFLs.
- The Maroon & White had two players tally double-digit tackles in a game for the first time since the 2022 LSU game.
- The Aggies registered their second defensive touchdown of the season with a 93-yard pick-six in the third quarter after also scoring on an interception at Florida.
- With an interception and forced fumble in the second half, the Texas A&M defense has forced multiple turnovers in a game four times in SEC play this season.
- The Aggies have logged four-or-more pass breakups in each of the last four games.
- Tonight's attendance was 109,028, marking the third-largest crowd all-time at Kyle Field. The Aggies have played in front of three of the top-six crowds all-time at Kyle Field this season.
Individual Notes
- Sophomore LB Taurean York led the defense for the fifth consecutive game in SEC play, registering his third double-digit tackles game of the season with 10 takedowns, also setting a new career high with 3.5 tackles for loss.
- Junior DB Will Lee III recorded his second interception of the season and took it 93 yards to the house for the first touchdown of his collegiate career.
- Lee's 93-yard interception return is the longest pick-six since Aaron Glenn returned one for 95 yards against Texas in 1992.
- Sophomore DB Dalton Brooks recorded the first double-digit tackles game of his career with 10 takedowns against the Longhorns.
- Junior DL Cashius Howell made six tackles in the game, including 2.5 for loss, setting new career-highs in both categories.
- Sophomore DB Marcus Ratcliffe finished with a career high eight tackles against Texas.
- Junior DL Albert Regis matched his career high with six tackles and has now registered at least one pass breakup in his third consecutive game.
- Freshman QB Marcel Reed upped his season totals to 121 completions and 1,572 yards, to move into fourth and third in Texas A&M's all-time freshman records.
- Senior WR Jahdae Walker blocked a late punt, marking the second blocked punt of his career and A&M's second of the season.
Postgame Quotes: Mike Elko
(quotes courtesy Caption Pros)COACH ELKO: Just start by saying thank you to the 12th Man, for tonight in particular. That was an amazing atmosphere. We didn't give them a ton to cheer for, and they stayed on our back all night and almost tried to will us to victory there at the end. And so thank you to everybody who came out tonight, and then thank you for the season. I continue to say that this place is special, and this atmosphere is special. And what we need to do is find a way to build a team that matches that, and we're going to continue to work to do that.
In terms of the game, defensively, just not good enough in the run game. Way too many rushing yards. Didn't win the line of scrimmage. Didn't really fit things particularly well. Weren't good enough on third down. Didn't do the things we needed to do to get off the field, but 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.
And offensively, just -- we lost the line of scrimmage all night. We weren't able to get anything going. Really disappointing. We just didn't play well enough on offense at all to have any chance at having success.
And so, from there, we'll open it up to questions.
Q. Twice you guys called a time-out on fourth and 1 and came back. The play y'all called was Amari [Daniels] with an inside run. What did y'all see that made that the right call?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, so the first one was just a time-out to make sure that we were set from a timing standpoint and we were ready to go in the first half. I don't think it was necessarily that we saw something. We ran our fourth and 1 play, and we felt like we'd be able to get a yard and we didn't.
The second one, the ball was on the half yard line. We kind of went back and forth a little bit between making it a one-score game and letting Kyle Field go crazy but also knowing that we were on the half yard line and at some point we were going to have to score a touchdown and that was probably going to be our best chance to do so. And so we decided to go for it. Again, obviously the play we called didn't work at all. So, wasn't good enough.
Q. With the block punt, how much did that feel like that was maybe a momentum switch? And did you think that maybe that was a scoop-and-score situation, or is that something you teach just to get on the ball?
COACH ELKO: No, he fell down. Yeah, Dalton [Brooks] fell down. That's a million percent scoop-and-score. Dalton went to pick it up and his feet went out from underneath him, and so he fell down. Yeah, that should have been a touchdown, but he just slipped.
And yeah, 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. We couldn't make any plays.
Q. You guys were very strong against the run middle of the season. The last three conference games, though, there was obvious struggles. Any idea what changed and what adjustments can be made now going into the postseason?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, we've got plenty of time to figure out the postseason.
In terms of what changed, South Carolina was an edge issue, a tackling issue, a crack replace issue on the perimeter, and a lot of explosive plays.
Auburn was more of like got wore down a little bit as the game went on, and we're trying to do some things to help from a passing standpoint. And I didn't feel like we played the run poorly against Auburn given what we were trying to do in that game. We didn't play it well. I'm not saying that.
And then tonight we just got way too many misfits, way too many lack of leverage, way too many just simple execution errors. And they're good, they're talented, and hat's off to them because they physically annihilated us.
Q. I'm curious looking at the game, why do you think you kind of struggled to have such consistency on offense? And, I guess, what do you kind of take forward from this game?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, I mean, we tried a lot of different things, none of it worked. When you can't win the line of scrimmage and your running back is averaging 1.6 yards a carry, it's going to make it really hard.
We had runs against light boxes, and we couldn't block the edges. The edges absolutely dominated us tonight. Made it hard, made it really hard.
Q. Mike, is there anything in the passing game that you guys, I guess, could have done differently or is it simply do you feel like there's a personnel issue that needs to be rectified as far as that goes?
COACH ELKO: No, I don't think it's a personnel issue. I think we've got to find ways to throw the ball more consistently and better. We just didn't do it well enough tonight.
Q. Mike, what went into the decision to go for it on the first possession and not to kick the field goal?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, it was fourth and 1. Felt like at that point touchdowns were going to matter in this game.
Again, I hold to the fact that if we want to be the team that we need to be, we have to be able to convert fourth and 1s. You have to, and obviously we didn't but we have to.
And so when you play a team that's explosive on offense and you get down there, touchdowns matter and you put yourself in opportunities to have fourth and short, you've got to be able to move the ball forward. And twice inside the 10-yard line we didn't get it done tonight.
Q. And on that sequence where you guys had third and goal at the 1, back-to-back runs up the middle, when it hadn't been working all night, was that something you guys just had confidence would eventually work?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, I mean, obviously we called the play to think it would work. In hindsight, there were other things we probably should have considered. We didn't. I don't have a great answer for you on that one.
Q. What's just the toughest part of this stretch, you guys losing your last three conference games and not being able to close the deal and go to Atlanta?
COACH ELKO: Losing our last three conference games and not being able to close the deal and going to Atlanta. Yeah. I mean, it sucks. There's no sugar-coating it. There's no soft words around it. We had our opportunities, and we didn't get it done. And so it's disappointing.
Q. Even though you guys weren't able to accomplish those, where do you feel like this program has come this year? And do you feel like you guys have made forward strides?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, I mean, in terms of have we made forward strides, this is a night-and-day situation from where we were a year ago at this time. Anybody who knows the inside of this program knows that and is confident in the direction this thing's headed.
But that doesn't change the fact that we had an opportunity to do something really special this year, and we couldn't close on it. And so that will haunt me, that will haunt us, that will haunt the players.
We had chances, and we just didn't get it done. Unfortunately, that's part of football and that's part of life, but doesn't make it any easier and certainly doesn't make it acceptable.
Q. What went into the decision to bring back Rueben Owens? And I guess how frustrating was it that y'all just weren't able to get him going or the running game going?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, Rueben was available in a limited role. It's probably been four weeks now that he's been able to be out there running, two weeks that he's been able to be out there practicing. So, from a conditioning standpoint and all of that, he's not close to 100%, but physically he is, you know what I mean?
And so we felt like we had the opportunity to get him out there and get him some snaps. We did it, but we certainly didn't have him in a full role or available to carry the ball a significant amount tonight. He was healthy, he was able to carry the ball, but it was not going to be for a long period of time.
Q. Coach, what was your message to the team when you fell behind 14-0? Seemed like y'all were having a lot of near misses leading up to that with the fourth-down stop. You were slipping out, having the run, the touchdown catches. Seemed like y'all were playing well, even though the score maybe didn't indicate as much.
COACH ELKO: Yeah, I think the irony of it is I think we played better in the first half, and they made a handful of plays that we didn't make or had opportunities to make, and that's where the points came.
I felt like we played worse in the second half, but made the plays, got the pick, got the fumble, and so made the plays that stopped the drives, and then they took the air out of the ball in the fourth quarter a little bit.
But, yeah, it just was interesting how it played out like that.
Q. Mike, at the line of scrimmage, I know that last play obviously stands out. But how do you feel like you handled their front end, and what do you guys have to do better up front to handle an elite defensive line like that?
COACH ELKO: Yeah, we did terrible, absolutely terrible. We got physically beat up. And in order to win games in this league, we can't do that. And so, that's -- yeah, no sugar-coating it.
Q. Having waited so long with this game specifically to play it, even if you didn't come out on top, do you feel like it was a good first iteration of this new Lone Star Classic showdown, as far as making it something to look forward to for the years to come?
COACH ELKO: No, I don't feel like it was a good iteration of the Lone Star (Showdown). I think to your point, though, yes, I think it's great that this game is back. I think it's great that these two teams are going to play each other every year. But, no, I'm going to not say it was a great iteration of it tonight.
Postgame Quotes: Taurean York
Q. Taurean, you guys got off to a good start, but what happened that you guys struggled to contain the running game as the game went on?
TAUREAN YORK: Just people, everybody, myself included, we just didn't do our job tonight. It's that simple. Everyone was trying to go out there and be Superman. Just go out there and do your 1-11 and do your job. It's not that complicated. It's football at the end of the day. You got to plug, run, fit, plug the gap. Nothing too crazy.
Q. Taurean, what did you see from you guys to get those stops in the second half, force those turnovers? But I know it didn't necessarily lead to the outcome, but to be able to fight through like that.
TAUREAN YORK: I mean, we were just doing our job in the second half. Like I said, we weren't trying to go out there and make a 17-point play. Like I told them at halftime, there's no 17-point play. Just go out there each snap and try and dominate and do your job. And I think we did in the second half. Just didn't shake out that way ultimately.
Q. Taurean, you can kind of see it on your face, on Coach's (Mike Elko) face. How much does this hurt, just knowing, I guess, how close you guys were to that mountaintop?
TAUREAN YORK: I mean, it hurts a ton. I told the team, there's a big difference between the SEC Championship game and the Music City Bowl and the Texas Bowl. One of those you want to play in and one of those you don't. We'll be playing one of those games that people are really not caring about, people are not watching. So who knows how it shakes out. But it definitely hurts because you know what was at stake and you're a couple days away from being there in Atlanta and facing a really good Georgia team. But, hey, didn't shake out that way.
Q. Taurean, obviously as a leader here on this team, what is the message? What do you tell the guys who are coming back and moving forward here?
TAUREAN YORK: Remember how this feels. It's that simple. Remember how we felt in Carolina. Remember how it felt in Auburn. Remember how it felt versus Texas, especially this game. This was the biggest game of the year.
How many people were here? Probably 300,000 people here in the vicinity of Kyle Field. This was the biggest game of a lot of people's lives. We just didn't rise to the occasion tonight. Maybe it just wasn't our time. It wasn't because we're not going to the SEC Championship.
Q. You know, obviously, it didn't turn out the way you wanted, but you mentioned the amount of people here in the crowd. What did that environment mean to you getting to play in that?
TAUREAN YORK: I mean, it means a ton. You get on the bus and you're going through campus, passing MSC (Memorial Student Center) and they're already flooded. People are packed by the MSC, past MSC, by the Corps Cadets area. It was insane.
And I hate that we can't put on for Kyle Field in these type of environments, and we want to go out there and win. I remember as my time here, Alabama game was crazy with the fans, the Notre Dame game was crazy with the fans, and this game was the craziest one yet. We haven't rose to the occasion, so you better believe in the entire offseason we'll be working on that.
Q. Taurean, obviously a disappointing finish to the season for you guys. But as you take a look back, where do you feel like this program has really come in the last year moving forward?
TAUREAN YORK: It's come a long way. I always tell people, it used to be a circus around here. Now it's a college football program. It feels like home for a lot of people. We have a really good locker room. Nobody in our locker room, in all of our losses, nobody has been pointing the finger, because we understand it's a cumulative effort with the team. And it takes everyone to win, coaches included, staff included.
But my heart goes out to all the operations people, all the recruiting, all the equipment staff, trainers, you name it. The people who are here the same amount of hours as us and they don't get the recognition for it.
Trust me, I feel the worst. I get on a first-class seat coming back from South Carolina and Auburn. But how about the equipment managers who are driving 18 hours and 11 hours from South Carolina to Auburn? So my heart hurts for them because they put in so many hours and they're here so early.
It stings, bro. It really does.
Q. Taurean, kind of going off that, what do you take from this game kind of moving forward? And you've got some time to think about it heading in with a bowl game later. What do you guys reflect on and take from this game as you build?
TAUREAN YORK: You have to understand what's at stake. Every player, urgency has to increase. It's not just Saturday at 6:45. Your urgency has to be increased on Monday's walk-through, the Tuesday physical practice, the Wednesday practice, and Thursday fine-tune practice.
I felt like what you guys saw from me tonight wasn't, I just woke up on Saturday and decided to go play good football. I attacked this week with great urgency, and I did everything I could to prepare. So I'm going to be working all season long to bring people with me. At the end of the day, football is not a one-man game. It takes all 11, all 22. It takes a lot of people to win the game. There's no single player that can win a game.
Postgame Quotes: Marcel Reed
Q. Marcel, so many times you guys drove into plus territory and just were never able to get the play you needed. What did you feel like you guys weren't able to do to get those pivotal plays?
MARCEL REED: I mean, we really just didn't execute. I don't know. I've got to go back and watch. I haven't seen everything where we missed, where I missed. I could have missed a wide-open guy. I mean, we just didn't capitalize on opportunities that we were given. I feel like the defense played a great game.
Aside from what the numbers say on Texas' end, I think they played an amazing game, because Texas had a lot of time of possession. We didn't have the ball in our hands a lot. And I think the tougher the time that the defense was out there, they did a great job, and we just didn't capitalize on the opportunities that we had.
Q. Marcel, how difficult is it to get the pass game going when the rushing game is minimized? I think 2.9 yards per carry this game.
MARCEL REED: Yeah. It's pretty difficult to get the pass game going when a team knows that they can stop your run and that you can't get going on the run game. I feel like the run game opens up a lot. The passing game, play-action things, stuff like that.
But we weren't able to get it going, and that killed us tonight.
Q. Marcel, obviously you made a few starts this year, and some more film is being collected of you. As the season progressed, what have you seen from defenses, how they started to play you as the season went on?
MARCEL REED: I feel like a lot of defense stayed the same. Maybe they changed up their front structure a little bit to keep me contained and make me throw the ball. But I don't think too many people did anything crazy besides South Carolina when we played them.
So, I mean, I've just got to adjust to what I see and be a better player.
Q. Marcel, when you kind of look back at the season, how do you feel like you personally have grown as a quarterback? And the team, do you feel like the team is in a different spot than they were in the offseason?
MARCEL REED: Yeah. I feel like I've said this a lot, just being able to be a leader and have the team follow me.
I think as the season went on, a lot of people felt more comfortable with me being in the position I was in, and they trusted me and I trusted them.
So I think I've grown as a leader. I still need to grow vocally as a leader, but I think I took some strides this year in that.
Q. Hey, Marcel, I'm curious, you look at some of the performances that you guys have had, obviously getting close to 40 points against LSU, 40 points against Auburn, and then you kind of have games like this and South Carolina. What do you think is kind of the reason for some of the swings that you guys have had game to game?
MARCEL REED: Defenses making plays. I feel like a lot of the defense we've played, we've been able to make adjustments. I don't think we were able to make any adjustments tonight, and it showed. 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.
Q. Hey, Marcel, Coach (Mike Elko) mentioned that the end of this team's conference run kind of being something that's going to haunt him, maybe haunt you guys. As you kind of look forward to what's next, next season or moving forward, how do you handle a feeling like that, knowing you guys had your chances, maybe you just didn't execute?
MARCEL REED: Yeah, definitely going into next season, we're going to have some guys -- or some teams on our radar that we need to get back.
And it sucks, especially being this late in the season and losing these last couple of games here. These are important, and we needed them.
So next year we're going to bounce back for sure and definitely take care of business.
Q. Where do you feel like this program has come over the last year, even though you guys weren't able to close out what you hoped to accomplish?
MARCEL REED: I mean, I feel like we have come a long way. Credit to the people who stayed when Coach [Mike] Elko came in. It shows a lot about how they trusted him and the people that came with him.
And you could see this year, we had a lot of success. So I mean, we should be really proud of that. Obviously, we didn't get where we wanted to go, but we took tremendous strides from what we were last year. So, I mean, kudos to us really.
Q. Hey, Marcel. What area of your game would you say progressed the most this season, and what area of your game would you say you need to work on the most?
MARCEL REED: I think just being able to identify defense pre-snap and be able to eliminate reads based off of what I see and rotation, things like that.
I think I definitely need to improve on obviously my size, and then just being able to be comfortable in the pocket and make throws with pressure in my face.
Q. Marcel, a couple things for you. One, what's the hardest part to swallow about tonight?
MARCEL REED: We lost the rivalry game at home. That sucks. It's the first time back, and we didn't get it done. It was just the way that we did it. As an offense, we didn't get any points on the board and that really sucks. So that was the biggest.
Q. On that first drive, you guys got some big plays, got the chains moved down the field. But it seemed like as the game went on, a lot more was on the sideline, a little bit harder to get things downfield. I guess what happened that you guys weren't able to create more opportunities, especially in the rest of the first half down the field?
MARCEL REED: I don't think anything spectacular happened. I think, like I said, their defense just made a lot of plays today. And momentum does a lot. So I think they had the momentum. And we had a couple times later in the game where the momentum switched, but obviously we didn't capitalize on it.
Q. Marcel, when you looked at the two defensive takeaways and the blocked punt, do you feel like that sparked the offense a little bit and y'all just couldn't convert on that? Or do you feel like they gave you a little extra motivation?
MARCEL REED: I feel like it should have sparked the offense. It didn't seem by the result like it did, but I think it did spark the offense a little bit. We didn't capitalize.
We had a lot of opportunities where we were in the red zone, and we had a chance to score or just put up points on the board and we didn't. So that sucks.
Q. Y'all showed a lot of creativity on that final play at Auburn. Do you wish there had been more creativity on the fourth down plays? Even though I'd imagine you like that mentality of going for it in that situation as well.
MARCEL REED: I mean, yeah. We practice things like that all the time. And the plays that we ran, we practice all the time. We just didn't execute it tonight. I mean, I'm not going to say we should have ran something different, just because I'm not the one making the calls and I'm not the one seeing what their defense is -- their signalers or what they're calling, what they're lining up in. But, you know, we didn't get it. So, I mean, that's the bottom line.
