Inside the Numbers: No. 16 Texas reminds No. 3 Texas A&M who runs things

The No. 16 Texas Longhorns fell below their preseason expectations after starting the season as the favorites to win the national championship. However, capping the regular season with a decisive win over the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies, denying your rival their first trip to a conference championship this century is a good way to end things. The recipe for the win was simple as the Longhorns outscored the Aggies 24-7 in the second half — dominate on the ground and let your quarterback get into a rhythm.

Quintrevion Wisner: 19 carries, 156 yards 

The Texas ground game has been abysmal this year, but when they needed it against the Aggies, Wisner once again put the game on his back and turned in Texas’s first 100-yard rushing game of the year. It was actually how Texas managed to build its lead in the game, with 14 of Wisner’s 19 carries coming in the second half. He was responsible for six of the Longhorns’ 13 explosive plays on the day, including the game-sealing 30-yard rush that allowed Texas to line up in victory formation.

Wisner seemingly saves his best games for the Longhorns’ biggest rivals, with three of his five 100-yard rushing performances coming against Oklahoma and Texas A&M. In those four contests, the former three-star back from DeSoto has averaged 138.5 yards on a 6.37 yards per carry pace. He is just the third player this side of the year 2000 to have multiple 100-yard games against Texas A&M, joining Cedric Benson and Cody Johnson.

Arch Manning: 14-29, 179 yards, TD. 7 car, 53 yards, TD.

While the start was a bit slow for Texas, Arch Manning once again proved why he is the engine that propels this offense. The start was slow for Manning in part due to gusting wind and, frankly, the tenacity of the A&M secondary. But in the second half, when the Longhorns needed him the most, he put on a show. In the final 30 minutes, Manning was 6-of-8 passing for 128 yards and a touchdown, a whopping 16 yards per attempt pace to get the offense going. Even if you remove the 58-yard completion to Endries, which featured a long run after the catch, he passed for 70 yards on seven attempts, including the 29-yard touchdown to Ryan Wingo, a play that showed off how dangerous Manning’s legs make the offense.

While Manning struggled to start the year, leading many to call him a flop or a bust, he closed the season on a tear, looking like the elite talent we expected him to be. Over the last month of the season, Manning passed for 1,147 yards and nine touchdowns, completing 62 percent of his passes at 8.5 yards per attempt. Manning has already put himself in the Texas record books; his four 300-yard games tie him for the fifth-best season in school history and the sixth-best career mark, half of which came in the final month of the season. 

Texas Defdnse: 337 total yards (157 rushing, 180 passing)

While the offense gets most of the shine, the Texas defense did something that few had done this year — keep the Texas A&M offense in check. Entering Friday, the Aggies were averaging 38 points per game and had scored fewer than 30 points only once before, the 16-10 win over Auburn in Week 5. Texas shut down the A&M run game, marking just the second time in conference play that Texas A&M rushed for less than 200 yards. A&M averaged 5.02 yards per rush heading into the game, hitting just 4.6 against the Longhorns after being stuffed on five of their attempts in the game. 

If you discount the Samford game, in which Texas A&M led 21-0 by the end of the first quarter, this was the worst outing by quarterback Marcel Reed since the last time he played Texas. Reed’s 5.6 yards per attempt is the lowest in his career, and his two interceptions, which came on back-to-back plays, marked just the fourth multi-interception game of his career.