Texas vs. Texas A&M Replay: Major takeaways from a rewatch

Over on @NashTalksTexas on X or at @TexasClips on YouTube, you’ll find full replays of every game this season. The latest replay is live on the channel. While going through the game, here are some rapid-fire thoughts I had.

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1st Quarter

• It feels like such a rarity to see Jahdae Barron give up 20+ yard completions, he wouldn’t give up much yardage after that first drive.
• Michael Taaffe continues to play at a level that makes me doubt he will be returning to the 2025 Texas squad
• Barryn Sorrell made a crucial mistake jumping offsides on 3rd and 4 to give A&M the first, it didn’t take long for him to make up for the error stopping Amari Daniels short on 4th and 1
• Big miss targeting Isaiah Bond, it happens again later on… one wonders how bad Bond’s injury is still bothering him
• Helm didn’t have his head turned around, not blaming him for that but not blaming Quinn Ewers either… had Helm turned his head early enough he could have adjusted the route to catch the ball
• Ewers has what seemed like a saunter more than a run initially, but after looking into it more he had reached a speed of 17 mph (might have a cool edit on his MPH soon)
• Kelvin Banks is injured on that play and the severity of the injury is unknown
• Tre Wisner with two explosive runs, more of this to come but the OL deserves some credit here finally. They have really been looking better in the run game and Wisner has not let them down.
• Ewers threw a ball into triple coverage and was lucky this one didn’t get picked
• Arch Manning is going to be an absolute weapon for Steve Sarkisian in the coming year(s), love Juan Davis to death… but he missed two opportunities to block that would have made the run much easier
• Taaffe is hitting so hard that is is bringing back memories of Christian Scott’s pads popping

2nd Quarter

• Let’s call this the Vernon Broughton drive, what an impact he has made this season and in this game
• Ewers threw a nearly perfect ball into one of the smallest windows you’ll ever see, amazing catch from Helm… clearly Ewers has his full confidence back despite his ankle issue
• Ewers drops the ball into a bucket hitting Golden in stride for a deep completion, if Ewers can build confidence off of this throw and do this consistently the odds of a national championship go up
• Jaydon Blue continues to mystify, he will make the most absurd plays and catches but will fumble in open field or drop the easy catches. This dude is as talented as they come and that showed here.
• Andrew Mukuba laid out the A&M receiver, initially called for targeting and the penalty was dismissed, this Texas team will hit HARD
• Wisner after two physical runs was being checked out on the sideline by the Texas staff, we cannot lose him or Blue at this point
• Ewers throws another near perfect ball, this time to Ryan Wingo for a big gain
• Trevor Goosby has looked great in place of our top offensive lineman, he instilled a lot of confidence in his play with fans
• A scuffle starts to breakout on the sideline, the worries of the rivalry being flat between the players was greatly oversold
• Ewers thinking quick on his feet throws a dart to Helm, who then hurdles another defender to add to his collection this season. What a stud.
• Sark settles for a field goal to put Texas up 17, it’s wild that was the last time we scored
• Texas, thanks to an amazing defensive effort and pure stupidity on Mike Elko’s behalf, gets the ball back with a chance to get 3 on the board but Bert Auburn misses the attempt

3rd Quarter

• Marcel Reed has his best and only true highlight reel moment running for 20+ yards here
• Barryn Sorrell drops a batted ball INT, man, he probably wishes he had that one back
• Wisner gets an explosive run off of a beautiful cutback, he then proceeds to hit the A&M defender so hard the defender fell to the turf
• Ewers is giving this game everything he has, he probably dreamt of this moment for years
• Another beautiful throw from Ewers, Golden makes some nice yardage after the catch
• Ewers has another ball deflected at the line of scrimmage leading to a pick-six and the Aggies only points
• Texas then drives all the way down to nearly the same exact spot (thank you Mr. Wisner), only for a fumble to be lost this time… the game could’ve EASILY been a 35-0 dagger here

4th Quarter

• Liona Lefau had a really quiet but great game and forces a fumble that gets recovered by A&M, he led the team in tackles and had a great PFF grade
• Hello again Broughton and Trey Moore, absolutely blowing a play to shreds
• Colin Simmons’ get off is the fastest we will probably ever see, often it is literally accurate to the frame on film (milliseconds)
• Wisner again with back to back explosive runs, displaying real physicality
• The Texas punting unit has been the weak link in the chain and Texas A&M took advantage of that blocking a punt and recovering it near the 20 yard line
• Texas then bends but refuses to break on the one yard line, sealing the game with a 4th down stop
• And if that didn’t seal it, not long after does Moore strip sack Reed with the ball being recovered by none other than Broughton.

Overall Thoughts

• This Texas defense is truly special and can certainly win a national championship
• Wisner has put the team on his back and he deserves all the flowers in the world
• Mookie Taaffe has been absolutely balling out, maybe to the point he may be gone
• Goosby had some MASSIVE shoes to fill and boy did he fill them
• Ewers is looking as confident as ever and is making some very nice throws
• Broughton had one heck of a game along with many other defenders
• We are just now getting to see the start of Simmons
• Helm is special
• Goodbye to A&M