Playoff loss to Miami shows Texas A&M has a major issue at QB that Texas exposed
Texas A&M’s first priority is to find a quarterback, or find a quarterback coach who can coach quarterbacks.
What both the University of Texas and University of Miami did to Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed was nothing more than to politely ask him to beat their respective defenses with his arm. He couldn’t.
Because Marcel Reed is currently both good, and not good enough.
On Saturday at Kyle Field, No. 7 Texas A&M delivered disappointment as only the Aggies can by losing 10-3 against No. 10 Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoff. When a defense holds an opponent to 10 points at home, it should never lose.
The playoff bracket was set up for A&M to play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve at what would have been Kyle Field North; instead the Aggies head to the offseason after losing their final two games after their star quarterback threw an interception in the end zone on what would have been a potential game-tying score with 24 seconds remaining.
“It didn’t feel real,” Reed said after the game. “I didn’t want it to end. It sucked.”
More Texas A&M pain
For the more than 102,000 inside Kyle Field, the ending was both all too real, and all too familiar.
In Texas A&M’s first ever playoff game, at Kyle Field no less, Reed and his offense were nearly shut out. The last time the Aggies scored three points or fewer was 2004, when they were shut out by Oklahoma.
For a school, and its loyal fan base, that has proven no coaching buyout figure is too high, and would sell kidneys to achieve big success in football, this season-ending two-game losing streak doesn’t wipe out what was a great year, but it’s close.
A&M will finish ranked in the final poll for the first time since 2021, and the Aggies’ 11 wins are the most since 2012.
“I don’t hope that it’s trending, it is trending [in the right direction],” Aggies coach Mike Elko said after the game.
But ...
Of their 11 wins, six came against teams that finished with losing records, and two were against teams that are .500. Four of the coaches the Aggies defeated this season were fired.
This all started to go wrong not when A&M played Miami, but when the Aggies traveled to Austin. A&M’s 27-17 loss at Texas on Nov. 28 was the map the Hurricanes followed.
A&M’s quarterback issues
Marcel Reed’s final two games of the season were his worst. Miami and Texas, both of which have solid defensive front sevens, essentially sold out to stop the Aggies’ running backs and force Reed to sit still and throw the ball.
It works.
In the two losses combined, Reed averaged 208 yards passing, threw no touchdown passes but did toss four picks, two on Saturday. He was the team’s leading rusher in both games, and he was not exactly running wild. He didn’t eclipse 100 yards in either game, nor did he score.
“We lost the line of scrimmage, and it got worse in the second half,” Elko said. “We became one-dimensional. [Reed] can’t be our leading rusher.”
Everything that Reed did well in Texas A&M’s 11-0 start almost immediately stopped when the Aggies played the Longhorns.
The defensive lines of the Hurricanes and Longhorns got after Reed’s running backs, and everything else the Aggies did on offense dried up. Against Miami, Reed was sacked seven times.
Other than Reed’s 59-yard pass to receiver Mario Craver in the second quarter, which set up a short field goal attempt the Aggies missed, the offense did nothing. The run game averaged 2.5 yards per carry; they never did find a way to unleash talented receiver KC Concepcion.
After Miami scored the game’s only touchdown on an 11-yard swing pass with 1:44 remaining in the game, Reed moved the offense all the way down to the Miami 5-yard line. His pass with 28 seconds remaining into the end zone was defended well, and the ball he threw cleared one defender, but not the next, and that was it.
The Aggies are not apt to move on from Reed, who immediately after the game sounded like he plans to return to College Station for what would be his fourth season.
“It was a pretty decent season,” Reed said. “I’ve gotta keep grinding. Keep improving, try to make throws in tight windows.”
He has progressed, and you don’t discard a talented quarterback who has extensive experience unless you are absolutely sure the guy behind him is an upgrade. The Aggies’ current backups are not likely to be better than Marcel Reed.
“There is a lot of room for growth and development for him,” Elko said. “You saw major strides this year, but I think there is a ceiling there that he’s not close to hitting.”
For the sake of the Aggies, the coach needs to be right on this evaluation.
Because what they saw in their final two games of the season is a quarterback who when asked by a defense to beat them, could not.
This story was originally published December 20, 2025 at 5:24 PM.
