Predictability leads to disappointment in A&M's 17-7 loss to Texas

Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s postgame press conference.

This year, Texas A&M renewed a rivalry with an arch-enemy.

Hopefully, by next year, the Aggies will have a renewed offensive strategy with creativity and imagination.

Maybe by then, coach Mike Elko and offensive coordinator Collin Klein can devise a plan to convert on fourth-and-1. That may require the entire offseason because a three-minute time-out certainly wasn’t sufficient on Saturday night.

Twice, Elko called a timeout when facing fourth-and-1 deep in enemy territory. Both times, an inside run to Amari Daniels was called. Both times, he was stopped cold.

Those plays— at the Texas 10-yard line in the first quarter and inside the one in the fourth quarter — were the most glaring failures as the No. 20 Aggies (8-4 5-3) suffered a 17-7 loss to No. 3 Texas (11-1, 7-1) which left a Kyle Field crowd of 109,028 bitterly disappointed and incredibly frustrated.

“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,” Elko said in a solemn postgame press conference. “You have to. 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. 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.”

Maybe the Aggies didn’t get it done because they repeated the same basic, no-frills play that had little-to-no chance of success.

Daniels averaged only 1.6 yards on 13 carries. Three games ago, Daniels was also denied on a similar play when Elko opted to go for it at his own 34-yard line vs. South Carolina.

Adding to the frustration, A&M ran a jet sweep to receiver Jahdae Walker to convert third-and-1. There was also a direct snap to Terry Bussey. Maybe Rueben Owens, who came back from injury, could’ve added a change of pace.

But when a yard was needed most, Elko and Klein were painfully predictable. They showed all the creativity of a white wall. Daniels ran straight into it.

“Offensively, we lost the line of scrimmage all night,” Elko said. “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.”

In the early going, it appeared the Aggies would have a successful evening. They took the opening kickoff and advanced to the Texas 10-yard line before the first fourth-down failure.

Their second series reached Texas’ 40-yard line, but an ill-advised deep throw by quarterback Marcel Reed was intercepted.

Afterward, the Aggies had very little success — offensively or defensively.

Clearly superior, Texas scored two touchdowns and a field goal on its next three series to take a 17-0 halftime lead.

The Longhorns toyed with the Aggie defense, seemingly capable of picking up any necessary yardage.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Meeting for the first time in 13 years, Texas A&M trails Texas in the all-time series, 77-37-5.

Texas rolled up 458 yards of total offense, including 240 on the ground. Running back Quintrevion Wisner rushed for a season-high 186 yards.

“We just got way too many misfits, way too many lack of leverage, way too many just simple execution errors,” Elko said. “They’re good. They’re talented. Hats off to them because they physically annihilated us.”

The Longhorns were on the verge of breaking the game open when they reached the A&M 7-yard line and 10-yard line on consecutive drives in the third quarter.

But A&M cornerback Will Lee III returned an interception 93 yards for a touchdown. Then, Taurean York recovered a fumble by Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers that denied the Longhorns a scoring opportunity.

The Aggies remained in contention. A few minutes later, a come-from-behind victory seemed possible.

Walker blocked a Texas punt. Dalton Brooks recovered. A&M was 19 yards away from pulling within a field goal. Almost eight minutes remained to play.

Four plays later, the Aggies had second-and-goal at the Texas 2-yard line. Daniels then ran inside for a yard. Next, he ran inside for no gain.

After a time-out, Daniels was stopped for a 3-yard loss that ended any chance of an A&M comeback.

“The plays we ran, we practice all the time,” Reed said. “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 signaling 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.”

The bottom line is that A&M had a horrific November collapse.

Four weeks ago, the Aggies were the only SEC team unbeaten in conference play. They had an inside track for the conference championship game in Atlanta. They seemed destined for the College Football Playoff.

After losses to South Carolina, Auburn and Texas, the Aggies are now destined for some obscure bowl game they may not even want to play in.

“Losing our last three conference games and not being able to close the deal and going to Atlanta … yeah. I mean, it sucks,” Elko said. “There’s no sugarcoating it. There’s no soft words around it.

“We had our opportunities, and we didn’t get it done. And so it’s disappointing.”

As disappointing as the play selection on fourth-and-1.