AUSTIN, Texas — Texas A&M isn’t going to the Southeastern Conference championship game, with the Aggies’ bid for a first trip to the league title showdown denied for the 14th straight football season.
Neither is rival Texas, but coach Steve Sarkisian believes his Longhorns should be headed to the College Football Playoff as part of a 12-team bracket that will almost certainly include the Aggies when it’s finally revealed on Dec. 7.
Arch Manning threw a touchdown pass and ran for the clinching score late in the fourth quarter as 16th-ranked Texas beat No. 3 Texas A&M 27-17 on Friday night at Memorial Stadium to spoil the visiting Aggies’ undefeated season and knock them out of contention for a spot in the SEC title game, which is set for Dec. 6 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We’re just thinking about not getting the job done tonight,” Texas A&M second-year head coach Mike Elko said. “Maybe coming out of this weekend, maybe we’ll regroup and figure out moving forward what the positives are of 11-1. Right now it just hurts that we lost to our rival.”
The loss by the Aggies, who finished their SEC schedule 7-1, did lock up a spot in the league title game for No. 4 Georgia (11-1, 7-1), which will play in the matchup for the eighth time in nine years and beat Texas in overtime last year to win their second SEC title in three seasons.