Texas Longhorns top Texas A&M Aggies to play for SEC title

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Quintrevion Wisner ran for a career-high 186 yards and Quinn Ewers threw a touchdown pass to lead No. 3 Texas to a 17-7 victory over archrival Texas A&M at No. 20 on Saturday night, sending the Longhorns to the Southeastern Conference championship game.

Texas (11-1, 7-1 SEC, No. 3 CFP) will face No. 7 at Georgia next Saturday in Atlanta for the SEC title, with the winner getting a first-round bye in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The highly anticipated return of this rivalry, which dates back to the 1890s, had all the hype of a heavyweight title fight. It appeared headed for a blowout after Texas raced out to a 17-0 halftime lead.

“Defensively tonight, it was just an absolutely dominant performance,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said in his post-game media availability. “We won the game in a physical way, which is what we know we had to do in the Southeastern Conference.”

But Ewers turned the ball over in the red zone on consecutive possessions to keep the Aggies in the game, the first giveaway an interception that Will Lee III returned 93 yards for a touchdown. The Longhorns also had a punt blocked in the second half.

Sarkisian acknowledged the mistakes, but — aside from Ewers’ turnover and the blocked punt — “I really thought we controlled the game and dominated the game.”

Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3, No. 20 CFP) had a shot to cut the lead to three with about 4 1/2 minutes left, but Ethan Burke dropped Amari Daniels for a 3-yard loss on fourth-and-four . -goal from the 1. The Longhorns stopped the Aggies on three fourth downs on the night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.