 "Photo: Paul Chouy, Daily Texan Staff")
 "Photo: Emily Kinsolving, Daily Texan Staff")
The seniors on the Texas football team won’t forget their final home game, as it was a night of milestones on Thanksgiving at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Colt McCoy became the winningest quarterback of all-time at Texas, coach Mack Brown got his 200th win, and the Longhorns held Texas A&M to a series record low of 24 yards rushing.
McCoy got his first win against the Aggies, and it wasn’t even close. Texas (11-1) dominated from start to finish, crushing A&M (4-8) 49-9 — the second largest margin of victory in series history.
“It was a great night for Texas football,” Brown said. “There was a tremendous amount of pressure on our guys tonight because A&M had nothing to lose, and we have everything in the world to lose. I felt like they made the statement that they needed to make.”
McCoy made his case for the Heisman, completing 23 of 28 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 68 yards and two more touchdowns.
“I’ve said it repeatedly, and I’ll say it again tonight — we would not be where we are without him,” Brown said. “I do think he’s the most valuable player on one of the best teams in the country.”
With Texas up 42-9 with 11:23 left to play in the fourth quarter, McCoy wanted to stay in the game to further widen the lead. Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis had to tell him no.
“I’m not so sure that Greg didn’t want him to go back in either,” Brown said. “We wanted our second-team guys to get a chance to play some. We’re not one of those teams that is going to throw the ball until the final seconds of the game, because that’s not good sportsmanship.”
The Aggie defense tried to take leading receiver Jordan Shipley away, so McCoy got the ball out to sophomore receiver Brandon Collins. Collins had six catches for 103 yards. McCoy burned an A&M all-out blitz to find Collins for a 20-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to put Texas up 14-0.
“[Colt helps me out by telling] me the little things about separation and how the [defensive backs] are going to play me,” Collins said. “He reads coverages and helps me get open just by knowing what they’re in before the snap.”
McCoy put the game out of reach when he scored the first touchdown of the second half with 8 minutes, 11 seconds remaining to put Texas up 28-3. McCoy faked the handoff to Vondrell McGee on the zone read and ran untouched up the middle into the end zone. He then hurdled into two defenders waiting for him at the goal line after he had already crossed it.
Davis tried to establish the running game in the first half but couldn’t get much going there, which led to a slow start. The Longhorns led 21-3 at halftime. Texas finally got that ground game going in the second half when Cody Johnson had two touchdowns and eight carries for 102 yards.
Texas’ defense dominated, harassing quarterbacks Stephen McGee and Jerrod Johnson for six sacks. Senior defensive end Brian Orakpo led the way with one and a half sacks in his final home game. He had a forced fumble in the fourth quarter when he hammered A&M receiver Ryan Tannehill on a reverse and defensive end Henry Melton recovered at the Aggie 32-yard line.
“Roy [Miller] and company did a great job up the middle ... pushing the pocket and making our job easier off the ends,” Orakpo said.
Linebacker Sergio Kindle had two and a half tackles for a loss and sacked McGee for a 9-yard loss in the opening drive of the second half as the Aggies were driving down the field. That knocked A&M out of field-goal range, and McGee walked toward Kindle and uttered what seemed to be a few unfriendly words after the hit.
“I don’t know what he was saying, but Sergio didn’t do anything back,” linebacker Rashad Bobino said.
If the first-team defense showed any weakness, it was when running back Michael Goodson gained 54 yards on a screen pass in the second quarter to set A&M up for its first field goal.
“Besides the missed field goal, that was the only thing I was unhappy about in the first half,” Brown said.
Texas’ knockout performance came in front of 98,621 fans — another record on a night of many.
“How awesome were the fans tonight,” McCoy said. “It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard it.”
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