Analysis
The game was the poorest performance of the season by the Longhorns, both offensively and defensively. On offense, Vince Young had only 162 yards of offense, his lowest output of the season. The Associated Press remarked on the poor performance and said that Young, considered one of the nation's best quarterbacks and a Heisman trophy candidate coming into the game, was not even the best quarterback on the field that day. The Daily Texan predicted that the game could hurt Young's chances for the Heisman, but they also quoted UT head coach Mack Brown as saying "Looking at the numbers from what Reggie Bush did last week and Vince did today, Reggie probably leads, but next week, Vince plays at noon, and Reggie at 3, so I think voters will wait and watch to see what happens."
UT running backs Henry Melton and Ramonce Taylor also came in for criticism. Taylor was criticized for running backwards and sideways in an effort to gain yards, instead of moving ahead and breaking tackles. The Daily Texan observed "Five of Taylor's 15 carries resulted in a loss or no gain for a total of minus-17 yards. However, the other 10 carries totaled 119 yards for an average of 11.9 yards per positive running play. The sophomore didn't have a positive gain of fewer than 5 yards and accumulated three runs of 20 yards or longer." Greg Davis, UT's offensive coordinator, said ""Ramonce is a darter. The only time that really concerned me was a third-and-two situation. We talked to him on the sideline about a little bit more down and distance awareness." Melton was criticized for "tiptoeing indecisively" and letting himself get tackled near the line of scrimmage.
On defense, the Longhorns held A&M to only 118 yards passing but gave up 277 yards rushing, which was the highest total given up by the Longhorns during the season. Despite the poor outing, Texas won by a final score of 40–29 to finish the regular season undefeated. The eleven point win was their second smallest margin of victory of the regular season and they lost points in all three major polls but still remained solidly in second place nationally. Gene Chizik, UT's defensive coordinator, said "This really is an eye-opening experience. Obviously, we've got to get better. But I'll tell you what, we're all going to drive home 11–0."
The game's attendance was 86,616, 4,016 more people than the official capacity of Kyle Field.
Read more about this topic: 2005 Texas Vs. Texas A&M Football Game
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