(This story was updated to correct a misspelling/typo.)
COLLEGE STATION — Thirteen years later, the Texas football team didn’t need a last-second kick to beat Texas A&M.
In front of an announced crowd of 109,028 at Kyle Field on Saturday night, No. 3 Texas secured a spot in the SEC championship game with a 17-7 win over No. 19 Texas A&M. The Longhorns got 186 rushing yards from running back Quintrevion Wisner as well as a dominating performance from its defense in the victory.
Saturday’s showdown was the first between Texas and Texas A&M since Justin Tucker’s 40-yard field goal lifted the Longhorns to a 27-25 win in College Station on Nov. 24, 2011.
After waiting 4,755 days for a rematch, Texas A&M came out swinging Saturday night. The Aggies drove into Texas territory on each of its first two drives, but the UT defense thwarted both attempts to score. Jermayne Lole stuffed Texas A&M running back Amari Daniels on a 4th-and-1 attempt at the UT 10 to end one possession, and Michael Taaffe then intercepted a deep shot by Marcel Reed at the Texas 7.
That would be the closest that Texas A&M would get to taking a lead Saturday night.
Texas (11-1, 7-1) turned Taaffe’s interception into a 10-play, 93-yard touchdown drive that featured a relief appearance by backup quarterback Arch Manning, who scored on a 15-yard run. On UT’s next possession, starting quarterback Quinn Ewers threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to running back Jaydon Blue. Both Manning and Ewers were initially ruled to have not scored — Manning was ruled to have run 14 yards when he needed 15 while the pass to Blue was called incomplete — but video reviews corrected those calls.
Texas eventually took a 17-0 lead into halftime after Bert Auburn kicked a 28-yard field goal with 1:50 left in the second quarter. That field goal was the 60th of Auburn’s career, which tied Cameron Dicker’s school record.
A 93-yard interception return by Will Lee III cut into UT’s lead in the third quarter, and a blocked punt set Texas A&M up for another scoring opportunity in the final frame. But with 4:35 left, Texas stopped Texas A&M on a fourth-down attempt from the UT 1. Texas maintained its 10-point lead for the rest of the game.
In addition to those two aforementioned fourth-down stops, Texas forced two turnovers on Saturday. Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3) was held to 244 yards of offense.
Texas will travel next week to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium where Georgia (10-2, 6-2) awaits in the SEC championship game. This will be a rematch for Texas and Georgia after the Bulldogs recorded a 30-15 win in Austin on Oct. 19.
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