Texas A&M vs. Villains: This Time, The 'Good Guys' Didn't Come Out On Top

The Texas A&M Aggies were painted as the heroes of the Lone Star Showdown, while the top-ranked Texas Longhorns were the villains coming to town, and this time, it wasn't the former who emerged victorious.

Nov 30, 2024, College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies defensive back Dalton Brooks (25) celebrates with defensive lineman Rylan Kennedy (15) after blocking a punt against the Texas Longhorns at Kyle Field during the Lone Star Showdown. / Matt Guzman-Texas A&M Aggies On SI

COLLEGE STATION — They had multiple opportunities.

They also had multiple failures.

Facing the Texas Longhorns for the first time in 13 seasons, the Texas A&M Aggies hyped up their long-awaited rivalry matchup with hopes that they'd be the ones hoisting the new Lone Star Showdown trophy on their home turf at Kyle Field. And for good reason.

They were the heroes in their own story. The Longhorns were the villains — something even Texas coach Steve Sarkisian admitted Saturday morning hours prior to the matchup.

So, for a storybook storyline; a long hiatus (perhaps like a villain's retreat) broken up by the return of chaos, there had to be a storybook ending, right?

Not this time.

"It sucks," Aggies coach Mike Elko said after his team's 17-7 loss Saturday evening. "There's no sugarcoating it. There's no soft words around it. We had our opportunities, and we didn't get it done."

If football was a game solely played by defense and special teams, then maybe things would have been different. The Aggies would have a blocked punt, a pick six, a recovered fumble and a second-half shutout to their name, while the Longhorns would have an interception and a late fumble when the contest was already iced to go along with a pair of fourth-down stops.

But that's before offense is factored in. And the Aggies failed to score in that way all game.

"We really just didn't execute," Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed said. "We didn't capitalize on opportunities that we were given. I feel like the defense played a great game."

The latter went both ways, which Sarkisian commented on as well. But simply put, "the heroes" were outmatched. Texas, marching into a stadium that was waiting for it all-season long, gained more yards, scored more points and finished the season with more wins than its hosts.

The bonus? It also punched its ticket to the SEC Championship and likely the College Football Playoff.

That was easily the worst part for both Aggie coaches and players.

"We had an opportunity to do something really special this year, and we couldn't close on it," Elko said. "That will haunt me, that will haunt us (and) that will haunt the players."

Nov 30, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko reacts during the second half against the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns defeated the Aggies 17-7. at Kyle Field. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

On the season, the Aggies had chances to clinch a trip to the SEC Championship long before the Longhorns came to town. Boasting a perfect conference record, Elko's squad marched over to Columbia, S.C. hoping to keep it that way.

Instead, they received a beatdown from a LaNorris Sellers-Rocket Sanders backfield.

Two weeks later, the Aggies had a chance to gain some positive momentum against Auburn — a team they'd historically struggled with, especially late in the season — and again ended up with the short end of the stick. Where they'd much rather have tallied a win, they were handed a four-overtime loss.

Even against Texas, the Aggies were given chances. Early in the first quarter, the Longhorns' defense stuffed Reed and Co. in opposing territory on fourth down, keeping Texas A&M at zero points with no momentum; a score that would hang over its head heading to the locker room at halftime.

Later in the contest, after a blocked punt gifted the Aggies' offense with favorable field position, they couldn't score from the 5-yard line with four chances.

And on fourth down, it was the same play that yielded the same result.

"The play we called didn't work at all," Elko said. "It wasn't good enough. ... 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."

Perhaps the only bit of silver lining within the "Heroes vs. Villains" narrative that took over all 109,000 fans at Kyle Field was that of the postgame antics.

Rivalry Week around college football had spurred all-out brawls on five other occasions before the Lone Star Showdown, but not in College Station. While Texas players began to swarm midfield in celebration, ready to hoist the trophy themselves, Sarkisian called them off with hopes of preventing any postgame scuffles.

It worked. The Longhorns retreated to their locker room while the Aggies did the same. And with no brawl or outward expression of the disdain that shrouded both teams, it seemed to leave a different sentiment.

Instead of anger, the Aggies were left "haunted." Forced to forced to accept they'd relinquished bragging rights for another year.

That they were irrelevant, as far as contention was concerned.

Somehow, a team that was once the lone undefeated giant in the SEC was now likely to play in a relatively unimpressive bowl game after sporting yet another 8-4 record.

"It hurts a ton," Aggies linebacker Taurean York said. "I told the team (that) there's a big difference between the SEC Championship and the Music City Bowl, or 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, that people are not watching ... it definitely hurts."

Still, the captain urged his team to pocket the memory of their first loss to the Longhorns in the first year of the Mike Elko era.

"Remember how this feels," he said. "It's that simple. Remember how we felt in Carolina. Remember how it felt in Auburn. Remember how it felt (against) Texas. Especially this game. This was the biggest game of the year."

Nov 30, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies coach Mike Elko, left, shakes hands with Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian after the Lone Star Showdown at Kyle Field. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Rest assured, the Aggies had their good moments this season.

As the heroes, they knocked out LSU in come-from-behind fashion to maintain a perfect SEC record. They found a way to bounce back from an early loss at the hands of Notre Dame, and they pulled off a win in the final iteration of The Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium.

But as all things come to an end, so, too, will the heroic run that almost told the story of the season, and Elko couldn't have said it more than he did. The Aggies just didn't capitalize. They weren't good enough.

This time, the "good guys" didn't get the girl.

"I think it's great that this game is back," Elko admitted of the renewed rivalry with Texas. "I think it's great that these two teams are going to play each other every year, but ... I'm not going to say it was a great iteration of it tonight."

Even still, the Aggies will move forward, under the same guise they've had for a decade: there's always next year. And the hope is that this time, it's true.

"Going into next season, we're going to have some teams on our radar that we need to get back," Reed concluded. "It sucks, especially being this late in the season and losing these last couple of games. Those are important, and we needed them.

"Next year, we're going to bounce back for sure and definitely take care of business."

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