'The Final Play of the Rivalry': Reliving Craig Way's call of Justin Tucker's kick

“A 40-yard field goal out of the hold of Cade McCrary. The final play of the rivalry. Good snap and hold. Tucker’s kick is up. Justin’s kick is gooooooooooooooood! It’s good! And the Texas Longhorns have won the final rivalry matchup with Texas A&M! Justin Tucker drives it home, and one last time, the Texas Longhorns break the hearts of the Aggies of Texas A&M!”

Thirteen years ago, that was how Craig Way, the voice of the Texas Longhorns, described Justin Tucker‘s 40-yard field goal to help Texas say “goodbye to A&M” one final scheduled time in a 27-25 win. It’s one of Way’s iconic calls, one seared into Texas fans’ memories alongside “He did it again!” describing Vince Young at the Rose Bowl and “Hunter Lawrence has sent the Longhorns to Pasadena,” among countless others.

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The description, at the time, was the culmination of a multi-year realignment process that saw Texas A&M elect to exit the Big 12 and head east for the confines of the Southeastern Conference. So, the 2011 Lone Star Showdown itself took on additional meaning for both sides considering it was, as Way said on his call, the final play of the rivalry.

Looking back on that historic description, not every aspect of that additional meaning was a positive for Way.

“The first thing is, I had this general feeling of melancholy driving over,” Way said in an interview with Inside Texas. “It’s 95 miles driving over, and I was thinking about on the drive that this is my last time over here. I knew there would be basketball and baseball to come, but it was kind of sad thinking about it. It was easy enough to come over, easy enough to do the games, and all that sort of stuff. But I always thought about the intensity of the rivalries.

“I had my own memories over the years. The things that just kept going through my mind is make sure you’ve got all your points ready to go, that you hit your marks on the history of this thing because it is going away.”

Luckily for Way and the national audience that tuned in, they got a game worth remembering even if the two teams were forgettable. The 2011 Longhorns entered that game, the penultimate contest of their regular season, 6-4 with a mediocre 3-4 Big 12 record. Texas A&M entered 6-5 and 4-4 in conference, disappointing greatly after beginning the year ranked No. 8 and moving up as high as No. 7.

With bragging rights truly the only thing on the line, each team gave a game effort.

Texas A&M jumped out to a 13-0 lead thanks to a Ben Malena scoring reception and two Randy Bullock field goals. Blaine Irby responded for the Longhorns with a 41-yard scoring reception on a trick play pass from Jaxon Shipley.

Texas trailed 16-7 at half, but eventually charged ahead 24-16 thanks to a Carrington Byndom pick-six, a Tucker field goal, and a Cody Johnson touchdown run set up by an epic Quandre Diggs punt return.

But yet again, A&M responded and scored nine unanswered points to take a 25-24 lead with 1:48 left in the game thanks to another Bullock field goal and a Ryan Tannehill to Jeff Fuller touchdown pass.

Texas would get one final opportunity with the football and would start from its own 29.

An illegal formation penalty on the first play called against the Longhorns would make it 1st and 15. Then, a personal foul on Trent Hunter for a helmet-to-helmet hit on a pass intended for Mike Davis gave Texas additional life.

“You know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of the fourth down play on the final drive of the Rose Bowl against USC when Quan (Cosby) caught the pass and the face mask,” Way said. “I thought about how those things happen sometimes in the heat of the moment.”

Case McCoy orchestrated a drive that put Texas at midfield with 45 seconds left. Then, in one of the most improbable plays in the history of the rivalry, McCoy took off running.

Way remembers how it had poured in the Brazos Valley in the days prior to the game. Whether it was maroon paint from the field or mud from the Kyle Field playing surface, McCoy’s jersey was nothing close to its pristine white.

For Longhorn fans, it may have been the most perfect run since January 4, 2006. McCoy ran 25 yards to the A&M 23 yard line, putting Texas within Tucker’s range.

“Everybody has their own enduring images of it, and obviously the Tucker field goal is part of that,” Way said. “But I also remember, it’s just so crystal clear, seeing Case McCoy pinballing his way down there. Mack Brown has always said that the coaches were screaming at him ‘get down, get down’ because they had enough confidence that Tucker was going to hit it from no matter how far it was back. Case kept bouncing forward, and that’s one of those indelible memories that goes through your mine.”

Up to that point in the season, Tucker was 15-for-17 on field goals with a long of 52. He had previously hit a 23-yarder in the third quarter that made it 17-16 Longhorns.

Texas ran a few plays after the rush to burn through A&M’s timeouts before sending the field goal unit on. This gave Way a chance to formulate how to describe a kick that would send almost 90,000 people into a frenzy or into shocked silence.

“Even in the setup on the final call, I tried to stay true to my own way of doing things and that is to let anything that is coming out of me be organic once you’ve done the preparation,” Way said. “I got asked a lot of times, ‘the final play of the rivalry.’ When I said that? It just popped in my head. This is going to be it. This is the final play of the rivalry.”

Finally, it was time. Alex Zumberge snapped it. McCrary held it. Tucker kicked it. The Longhorns won 27-25, and, as Way said, broke “the hearts of the Aggies of Texas A&M!”

The game went on hiatus after that point, which also means Way’s opportunities to go back to Kyle Field have been limited to an assignment in 2020 with Babe Laufenberg for Westwood One’s call of A&M’s 20-7 win over LSU.

Kyle Field is different now, as is Way’s vantage. His radio booth is on the opposite side of the renovated stadium from where it was in 2011.

The rivalry is also different now, as both teams are now in the SEC after Texas made the switch for this season. It’s also high stakes, especially when compared to 2011. This upcoming contest has a spot in Atlanta, Ga. for the SEC Championship game on the line, and functions as the first matchup between two top-20 teams in the Lone Star Showdown since 1995.

Those details, important though they may be, do little to undo the historic nature of Way’s call in 2011. But in 2024, his words now have a little bit more context ahead of the renewal of the Texas vs. Texas A&M rivalry.

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“Fortunately, it was only the final play of the Big 12 rivalry,” Way said. “At the time, it was the final play of the rivalry. Like I said, it was obviously a memorable moment.”