In a windy, ugly playoff grind, Texas A&M's offense stalled, Marcel Reed faltered late and the Aggies' dream season ended in heartbreak vs. Miami.
There was no explosion, no shootout, no cathartic moment for the 12th Man. Instead, Texas A&M's first home College Football Playoff game faded out in slow motion, ending in a 10-3 loss to Miami that felt more like a prolonged gut punch than a classic.
For most of the afternoon at Kyle Field, the game barely resembled the high-powered modern sport Aggies fans have grown used to.
Wind whipped through the stadium and turned the ball into a live grenade. The two teams combined to miss four field goals, including three by the same kicker, as kicks knuckled and drifted like they had minds of their own.
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The first half ended scoreless, a first in CFP history, and it never truly stopped feeling strange after that.
When No. 10 Miami finally broke through late, it came on the kind of play that will haunt the Aggies' memories. Freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney took a sweep around the edge and slipped through for an 11-yard touchdown with just 1:44 remaining for a 10-3 lead, capping a drive sparked by Mark Fletcher's backbreaking 56-yard run right through the heart of the A&M defense.
Fletcher, benched for stretches by offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, finished with 17 carries for 172 yards, the one offensive star in a game otherwise dominated by mistakes and misery.
Even then, Texas A&M had a chance to extend its dream season.
Marcel Reed led a desperate, furious march down the field, pushing the Aggies all the way inside the Miami 5-yard line. The ending, though, was all too familiar.
Pressured, trying to force a throw that simply wasn't there, Reed fired into the end zone and was picked off for the second time by true freshman Bryce Fitzgerald.
Just like that, the season was over.
Reed's rough night - two interceptions and a costly strip-sack earlier in the game - was a painful microcosm of his late-season slide.
Between South Carolina, Texas and Miami, he threw six interceptions in his final three games after being one of the SEC's most productive passers for much of the year. The talent is undeniable, but so are the mistakes that cut short the Aggies' playoff run.
Miami's defensive line only deepened the frustration.
All-American edge rusher Rueben Bain turned back into a nightmare, racking up three sacks and four tackles for loss as the Hurricanes brought Reed down seven times. In a game where every yard felt like a fistfight, the Aggies' protection simply couldn't hold.
In the end, the record will say 11-2 and a trip to the College Football Playoff, progress by any rational measure.
But as the lights dim on a cold, windy night at Kyle Field, it's hard for Aggies fans to feel anything but sadness at how close this team came, and how quietly their best season in years slipped away.