Whether or not the Longhorns’ holiday work was enough to earn a ticket to the Big 12 Conference title game and keep them in the national championship hunt is up to the voters and those infamous Bowl Championship Series computers.
Colt McCoy made his latest bid for the Heisman Trophy and the Texas defense turned in an all-star performance Thursday night in front of a school-record crowd of 98,621 fans, who saw the Longhorns vent two year’s worth of frustration with a 49-9 dismantling of the Aggies at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Texas (11-1, 7-1 Big 12), ranked fourth in both major polls and second in the BCS standings, now must wait for Sunday’s new rankings to learn its conference fate.
“We can’t control any of that,” said McCoy, who was 23-of-28 passing for 311 yards and two touchdowns to go with two TDs rushing. “We just wanted to leave it all out on the field, and we did.”
The Longhorns snapped a two-year losing streak to their in-state rivals and capped the Aggies’ first campaign under Mike Sherman. After Dennis Franchione stepped down last November following a 7-6 season, A&M went 4-8 in its first year under Sherman.
The Longhorns dominated the first half but held just a 7-0 lead before scoring twice in the final 5:13 of the second quarter.
After Texas’ Aaron Williams got a piece of Justin Brantly’s punt to set up Longhorns at the Aggies 48, McCoy capped a nine-play drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Collins with 5:13 to go before halftime.
Five minutes later, McCoy closed the half in style.
Trying to answer Randy Bullock’s 37-yard field goal for A&M, the Horns needed just 1:39 to march 78 yards.
Two plays after McCoy was leveled and shaken by Von Miller, the junior quarterback kept the drive alive with a heads-up 18-yard toss to Chris Ogbonnaya at the Aggies 9. From there, McCoy slid to his right to avoid the rush before hitting Quan Cosby for a 21-3 halftime advantage.
That pass put the final touches on an 18-of-21, 177-yard first-half passing performance by the Heisman Trophy hopeful that included a 14-yard scoring run on the game’s opening possession.
“The voters have a tough decision to make,” said Longhorns coach Mack Brown, who notched career victory No. 200. “Oklahoma is a great team. Texas Tech is a great team. I don’t want to take anything away from them. This league is the best it’s ever been.”
Brown could have tried to pile it on but pulled many offensive starters – including McCoy – with about 11 minutes to go.
“If 56-9 and 49-9 is the difference (in us playing for the Big 12 title), then the system is more screwed up than I thought it was,” Brown said.
The Aggies’ offense was abysmal for much of the first 30 minutes before finally finding a small spark late in the half.
Sophomore starting quarterback Jerrod Johnson lasted only two drives, and A&M was outgained 182 yards to minus-1 through the first 25 minutes.
Senior Stephen McGee replaced Johnson on the Aggies’ first possession of the second quarter and finally got A&M moving following McCoy’s TD pass to Collins. Mike Goodson turned a McGee swing pass into a 54-yard gain to the Texas 41, and the Aggies made it to the Horns 19 before settling for Bullock’s field goal.
But A&M’s ground game was held to minus-6 yards in the first half and the Aggies finished with minus-24 yards on the ground, thanks in part to six Texas sacks for a losses that totaled 56 yards.
“Texas played a whale of a game, and we didn’t,” Sherman said. “I thought guys played hard, but obviously, playing hard doesn’t guarantee a victory. You have to play well, coach well and get it done. And we didn’t get it done.”
Johnson and McGee were harassed repeatedly, though the latter performed remarkably better. McGee, who engineered victories over Texas each of the last two years, went 16-of-24 for 207 yards but produced no points. A&M’s only other score came with 11:23 left on Johnson’s 33-yard pass to Jeff Fuller.
Two long passes by McCoy set up his 16-yard TD scamper on Texas’ first drive of the second half. He followed that on the next possession with a 68-yard completion to Jordan Shipley that led to Cody Johnson’s 1-yard TD plunge early in the fourth.
Two minutes later, Brian Orakpo forced an A&M fumble that Henry Melton recovered at the Aggies’ 32, and Johnson’s ensuing 23-yard TD made it 42-3 with 12:22 to go.
Texas reserve QB John Chiles capped the scoring with a 2-yard run with 2:13 remaining.
