The Reheat: Big Brother is Home. Texas pummels Texas A&M in a familiar scene.

Welcome to The Reheat, a weekly recap of the previous day’s game, just popped out of the microwave. Look for it every Sunday, rain or shine.

Let’s hug it out, Aggies. After all, it’s the holiday season, and your Big Brother is home for good.

The 13 years of simmering rivalry defined by hurt feelings, text arguments, Twitter wars, victories by transitive property, and arguments over who runs this state—it’s goodbye to all of that, because once again: it’s goodbye to A&M. Thankfully, this time it’s only till next year. That is, if the Aggies can pick themselves off the floor.

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17-7 in a game that should have been 34-0, but the final score ended up being more reflective of an old-school country ass-whipping that encapsulated the two schools’ 100 years of rivalry prior to 2011. A dominant defensive performance, a punishing running back, an overhyped Kyle Field atmosphere that was silenced—it was all too familiar. Even after 13 long years, the curvature of the universe bends back toward what’s always been true. But while 2011 was all about bragging rights, this one was about way more. It was the ultimate measuring stick for Texas A&M, whose growth in the SEC has been stunted since Johnny Manziel’s last walked bar tab of Irish Car Bombs on Northgate.

For Texas, it was about getting into the SEC Championship and playing for much more. Through all the nerves, all the prognostication about how much the crowd and the reunion of the rivalry would affect Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns, I just kept thinking about how he always says he wants his team to be “obsessed with us.” Obsession with a rival gets you nowhere. It’s how you become Michigan, losing to Ohio State eight years in a row, or how you become Ryan Day’s Buckeyes now. Obsession with a rival gets you $90 million in debt on a coaching buyout because you can’t stand the thought of your nemesis leading to your coach’s firing. Obsession with a rival leads to plates being dropped that create an opening for your all-timer baseball coach to leave. Obsession with a rival creates unrealistic expectations for a first-year head coach in Mike Elko, who has done an admirable job rebuilding a decaying culture. But obsession with yourself leads to building great programs that steal their rivals’ souls on the road. And after last night, it’s obvious who is who, once again.

Legend Status: Quinn Ewers. He’s not perfect, but in a way, that makes him more lovable as a fan. He’s the most even-keeled quarterback I’ve ever seen. When he missed Gunnar Helm early and Sark was chewing him out on the sideline, it was obvious through lip-reading that amidst a chorus of Aggie yells, Ewers just responded with a simple “sorry.” Sorry? That’s what you say to your dad when you get a speeding ticket or forget to mow the yard. But it’s also the attitude that allows you to be undefeated in true road games for over two years. He never gets too low, and despite the turnovers, he was in full command of the offense. The touchdown throw to Jaydon Blue was unbelievable. Ewers is also clearly a great teammate and was in full support of the ultimate stank-face champion, Arch Manning, who will be drawing plenty of Aggie fan hisses for a long time.

Fire The Cannon for: Quintrevion Wisner, for busting out an Aggie-pummeling performance on the ground with 186 yards rushing that would make Steve Worster, Roosevelt Leaks, Earl Campbell, Eric Metcalf, Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson, and Jamaal Charles all throw their double horns in the air.

Horns Up on Offense for: Trevor Goosby. The redshirt freshman left tackle from Melissa, Texas, filled in for stalwart Kelvin Banks admirably. He gave up no sacks and allowed little to no pressure against an Aggie defensive front that some were treating as if it were 2021 Georgia. Banks has started every game during his time in Austin and was arguably the most important recruit Sarkisian ever landed. Losing him hurt, but Goosby played excellently and paved the road—along with Hayden Conner and the rest of the offensive line—for Quintrevion Wisner to dominate the Wrecking Crew.

Horns Up on Defense for: An all-time performance by the Texas defense. But to single out a few: Barryn Sorrell, Vernon Broughton, Michael Taaffe, Ethan Burke. Sorrell showed the white towel-waving crowd what kind of game it would be when he stopped the Aggies’ early fourth-down attempt and cast doubt on their plans. Watching Broughton thrive has been so special. He’s the type of player that makes following recruiting on message boards—with the constant pressing of the F5 button and arguments with strangers—totally worth it. Big Vernon committed to Texas over the Aggies in a hard-fought recruiting battle in what feels like ages ago. He was in Shiro Davis’ class, right? It took him some time to get in shape and develop, but he has made strides the last few seasons. In his fifth year in Austin, he’s thriving. He was a straight-up hero last night in Kyle Field, recording two huge sacks and recovering the game-sealing fumble off Trey Moore’s strip sack. Taaffe changed the game’s complexion with his early interception of Marcel Reed, proving just how difficult it would be for the Aggies to have success in the air. Burke turned Amari Daniels into Thanksgiving stuffing on the late fourth-down stop.

Bevo’s Bucket for: The absolute liability that is the Longhorns’ special teams, who, like I’ve said, just need to have a permanent spot in this category. Bert Auburn might need to go for the reverse Samson effect and cut his hair to see if that allows him to start sniffing field goals outside of 45 yards or from the right hash. Sarkisian should just start having Arch Manning punt it out of the 16-Wheeler package on fourth down to keep the opponent guessing. The only saving grace is that every time Texas crosses the 50-yard line on offense now, Sark can start to treat it like four-down territory and open up more of the playbook.

Schadenfreude of the week: When the fake soldiers in the Corps failed to get the cannon to fire on College Gameday, it was pretty apparent it was going to be a day of Bad Bull for the Aggies. But I’m thinking back to former A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork’s attempt to squash the Longhorns and Sooners’ move to the SEC, and I can’t stop smiling. Pooooor Aggies. I grew up in a house divided between Red Raiders and Longhorns, and I was remembering the game where Mike Leach and Graham Harrell sucked the life out of Kyle Field at the last minute—the “pretend soldiers” game. My dad and I were celebrating in the living room during that final minute, and I still remember what he shouted because it made 16-year-old me blush. Directed at the heartbroken Aggies through the television, he shouted: “Do that f#cking sway now!”

This piping Hot Take burned the roof of my mouth: A lot of fans online praised Sarkisian and his staff for stopping a Longhorn flag plant on the Aggies’ logo. Go sportsmanship! Not really. Texas clearly didn’t want a repeat of the ugly scene from Michigan/Ohio State before the SEC Championship rematch against Georgia. However, I think Sark was just trying to stop his players from making the worst real estate deal of their lives. Claiming the cursed grass of Kyle Field as your own? That’s a piece of land nobody wants. HISSSSSSS.

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Hype Train Level: Well, I high-fived a guy in the restroom of a Rudy’s today. Don’t worry…we were both wearing Texas gear.