We have made it to the final Optimism Sunday of the season, this time coming off another win over the Texas A&M Aggies. The optimism coming out of this game is all over the place, despite some disappointment coming for the Longhorns CFP hopes yesterday. That being said, whenever you beat your rival, there is plenty of optimism to go around, so let’s get into it.
Let’s start with the offense, and in particular Arch Manning, who I thought played much better than the box score will show. Manning made some massive plays with his legs, navigated the pocket incredibly well and he avoided turnovers yet again. Manning continues to prove that he is a special talent and Longhorn fans should be incredibly excited that Manning is their QB heading into 2026.
Despite how good Manning was, the best offensive player on the field was Tre Wisner. Whatever happens to Wisner when he sees Oklahoma Crimson or Texas A&M Maroon needs to be bottled and sold around Texas. Wisner went for 155 on the ground, the first Longhorn to do it all year. It was clear how different this Texas offense could’ve been if they had that production from the run game all year, and it was special to see on Friday.
The playmakers on the outside did plenty in this game, but I would love to highlight Ryan Wingo and especially Jack Endries. Endries has had a frustrating year, but he exploded for 93 yards in this game. He became an incredible chess piece for Sarkisian to use against Texas A&M’s man coverage and took advantage. Ryan Wingo didn’t have his best day, but that TD catch was a massive momentum builder that could’ve easily gone the other way.
Finally, we have to give some love to the offensive line. The first half of this game was rather ugly, with Manning getting hit multiple times and having to create in dirty pockets, much like he’s had to do all year. That being said, in the second half, they won the LOS and opened run lanes consistently, Trevor Goosby totally bottled up the SEC sack leader in Cashius Howell and the much-maligned OL stepped up.
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Moving to the other side of the ball, I believe this was the single best defensive performance Texas put together all year. This Texas A&M offense is remarkably dangerous, but their long play of the day was just 28 yards. The Texas DL controlled the LOS from start to finish and outside of Reed scrambling, shut down a top-tier run game from Texas A&M.
On the backend, it’s incredible what that unit was able to do against this A&M receiving core. Jelani McDonald and Michael Taaffe played elite football at safety, Graceson Littleton was top-tier in coverage and Kobe Black became the hero after a frustrating season for the sophomore. A unit that had really struggled in the last month of the season stepped up against one of the most dangerous offenses in the country.
Now, Texas will not make the CFP. I don’t think that is much up for debate after the results from Saturday. This season was objectively a disappointment for a team that walked into the season as the #1 team in the country. All that being said, if there was a perfect way to finish an imperfect season, it’s ruining your rivals’ perfect season and keeping them from the ever-elusive SEC title appearance for the Aggies.
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There will be plenty of time to get into what went wrong this season. There’s plenty of time to talk about whether Sarkisian should hire an OC, what Texas needs to do in the portal and all the rest of the questions Texas needs to answer to get back to the CFP in 2026. For right now, the Longhorns get to enjoy the fact that the bragging rights in both the state of Texas and the Red River Rivalry.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Sunday Optimism: Texas A&M win a perfect finish to an imperfect season
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
