The warm-up phase: Big Brother is Home. Texas beats Texas A&M in a familiar scene.

Welcome to The Reheat, a weekly recap of the day before’s game straight out of the microwave. Look for it every Sunday, rain or shine.

Let’s embrace it, Aggies. After all, it’s the holiday season and your big brother is home forever.

The 13 years of simmering rivalry marked by hurt feelings, text disputes, Twitter wars, victories through transitive ownership and arguments over who runs this state – it’s all a goodbye because, again, it’s a goodbye to A&M. Luckily this time it’s only until next year. That is, if the Aggies can pick themselves up off the floor.

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17-7 in a game that should have been 34-0, but the final score was more reflective of an old-fashioned country ass-whipping that summed up the two schools’ 100-year rivalry before 2011. A dominant defensive performance, a punishing running back, an overrated Kyle Field atmosphere that was silenced – it was all too familiar. Even after 13 long years, the curvature of the universe returns to what was always true. But while 2011 was all about showing off, this year was about much more. It was the ultimate benchmark for Texas A&M, whose growth in the SEC has been stunted since Johnny Manziel’s last bar-tab of the Irish Car Bombs on Northgate.

For Texas, it was about getting into the SEC Championship and playing for a lot more. For all the nervousness, for all the predictions about how much of an impact the audience and the reunion would have on the rivalry Steve Sarkisian‘s Longhorns, I kept thinking about how he always says he wants his team to be “obsessed with us.” Obsessing over a rival won’t get you anywhere. This is how you become Michigan when you lose to Ohio State eight years in a row, or this is how you become Ryan Day’s Buckeyes now. Obsessing over a rival will put you $90 million in debt in a coaching takeover because you can’t bear the thought of your nemesis leading to your coach’s firing. Obsession with a rival leads to plates being dropped, giving your all-time baseball coach the opportunity to leave. Obsessing over a rival creates unrealistic expectations for a first-year head coach Mike Elkowho has done an admirable job of rebuilding a decaying culture. But self-obsession leads to creating great programs that steal the souls of rivals along the way. And after last night it is once again clear who is who.

Legend status: Quinn Ewers. He’s not perfect, but in a way that makes him more endearing as a fan. He’s the most balanced quarterback I’ve ever seen. When he missed it Gunnar Helm When Sark hit him early on the sideline, you could tell from lip reading that Ewers responded with just one simple word amid a chorus of Aggie shouting “Excuse me.” Excuse me? This is what you tell your dad when you get a traffic ticket or forget to mow the yard. But it’s also the attitude that allows you to stay unbeaten in real away games for over two years. He never gets too deep and despite the turnovers he had full control of the offense. The touchdown throw to Jaydon Blue was incredible. Ewers is clearly a great teammate too and fully supported the ultimate Stank Face champion. Arch Manningwhich will provide plenty of Aggie fanzish for a long time to come.

Fire the cannon for: Quintrevion Wisnerbecause he put together an Aggie-strength performance on the ground with 186 yards rushing that would make Steve Worster, Roosevelt Leaks, Earl Campbell, Eric Metcalf, Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson and Jamaal Charles all throw their double horns in the air.

Offensively strong for: Trevor Goosby. The redshirt freshman left tackle from Melissa, Texas, and filled in for Stalwart Kelvin Banks admirable. He gave up no sacks and allowed little to no pressure against an Aggie defensive front that some treated like it was Georgia in 2021. During his time in Austin, Banks started every game and was arguably the most important one Newest signing Sarkisian has ever brought in. Losing him hurt, but Goosby played brilliantly and paved the way – with Hayden Conner and the rest of the offensive line – for Quintrevion Wisner to dominate the Wrecking Crew.

Defend yourself for: An all-time performance by the Texas defense. But to pick a few: Barryn Sorrell, Vernon Broughton, Michael Taaffe, Ethan Burke. Sorrell showed the white towel-waving crowd what kind of game it would be when he stopped the Aggies’ early attempt at a fourth-and-goal, casting doubt on their plans. It was very special to watch Broughton blossom. He’s the type of player who’s totally worth pursuing recruiting on message boards – with all the constant F5 key pressing and arguments with strangers. Big Vernon chose Texas in what felt like ages ago in a hard-fought recruiting battle against the Aggies. He was in Shiro Davis’ class, right? It took him some time to get into shape and develop, but he has made progress in recent seasons. He’s doing well in his fifth year in Austin. He was a true hero last night at Kyle Field, scoring two big sacks and recovering the game-winning fumble Trey Moore‘s strip sack. Taaffe changed the face of the game with his early interception Marcel Reedproving how difficult it would be for the Aggies to be successful through the air. Burke turned around Amari Daniels in Thanksgiving stuffing at the late fourth stop.

Bevos bucket for: The absolute liability for this is the Longhorns’ special teams, which, as I said before, simply must have a permanent place in this category. Bert Auburn He may need to use the reverse Samson effect and cut his hair to see if he can start sniffing out field goals outside 45 yards or from right field. Sarkisian should simply start having Arch Manning hit from the 16-wheeler package on fourth down to keep the opponent guessing. The only saving grace is that every time Texas crosses the 50-yard line on offense now, Sark can start treating it like fourth-down territory and allow more wiggle room.

Schadenfreude of the week: When the Corps’ fake soldiers failed to get the cannon to fire on college game day, it was pretty clear it was going to be a bad bull day for the Aggies. But I think back to former A&M athletic director Ross Bjork’s attempt to stop the Longhorns and Sooners from moving to the SEC and I can’t stop smiling. Phew, Aggies. I grew up in a house divided between the Red Raiders and Longhorns, and I remembered the game where Mike Leach and Graham Harrell sucked the life out of Kyle Field in the last minute – the “Pretend Soldiers” game. My dad and I were celebrating in the living room during that final minute, and I still remember what he shouted because it made me blush as a 16-year-old. Addressing heartbroken Aggies over the television, he shouted: “Now do that damn swing!”

This hot take burned the roof of my mouth: Many fans online praised Sarkisian and his staff for preventing the addition of a Longhorn flag to the Aggies’ logo. Be sporty! Not really. Texas clearly didn’t want a repeat of the ugly Michigan/Ohio State scene before its SEC Championship rematch against Georgia. However, I believe Sark were just trying to stop their players from making the worst property deal of their lives. Claim the cursed grass of Kyle Field? This is a piece of land that no one wants. HISSSSSSSS.

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Hype train level: Well, I high-fived a guy in the bathroom at Rudy’s today. Don’t worry…we were both wearing Texas clothes.