Salient Stats: Aggies ambushed in Austin

After a beyond disappointing second half, Texas A&M fell to Texas 27-17 in DKR on Friday night. If you watched, then you don’t really need stats to tell you what a letdown those third and fourth quarters were, but we’re gonna give you some anyway.

• -125: Yardage disparity in the second half. Put simply, Texas moved the ball at will in the second half, especially on the ground. It was an exceptionally frustrating watch after the Aggies put the clamps on them for the vast majority of the first half.

• –17: A&M’s scoring margin in the second half. After a season of putting teams in a stranglehold down the stretch, the Aggies had it done to them. Pretty hard to overcome a margin that drastic.

• -2: Second half turnover margin. Sadly, those turnovers came on A&M’s final two drives as they were desperately attempting to mount a comeback, both coming in the form of a Marcel Reed interception.

• 6: Plays of 20+ yards for Texas in the second half. From 30,000 feet, the defensive numbers don’t look that bad. But big plays doomed the Aggies, coming via the run and the pass. A&M had one such play the entire game.

• 2-for-75: Second half receiving stats for Texas TE Jack Endries. He ended up leading the Horns in receiving after a combination of busted coverages and poor tackling. His 54-yard catch at the end of the third quarter ultimately set up the game-winning score for the Horns.

• 5.6: Yards per attempt for Marcel Reed. That is his season low by two whole yards. Against a Texas secondary that had looked extremely vulnerable, and a pass rush that only notched one sack on the day, the lack of downfield passing is a head-scratcher.

• 47: Second half rushing yards by A&M running backs. The Aggies run game had very few tackles for loss, but also failed to generate any explosive plays beyond a run or two from Marcel Reed. That made maintaining drives especially difficult, especially on a day when the downfield passing game was nonexistent.

• 126: Second half yards for Quintrevion Wisner, this coming after the Longhorns had not had a 100-yard rusher in a single game all season. Simply unacceptable.

No way around it, the loss stings mightily. Now it’s up to Mike Elko and his staff to get this team regrouped for whomever they’ll face in the Playoff in three weeks.