5 days faraway from the 13-year anniversary of Johnny Manziel delivering essentially the most iconic efficiency in Texas A&M soccer historical past, Marcel Reed gave Mr. Soccer a run for his cash.
Actually, Manziel’s legendary 253-yard passing, 92-yard speeding, and two-touchdown day on Nov. 10, 2012, got here towards a extra noteworthy opponent. In any case, Manziel ran circles towards a Nick Saban-coached Alabama crew on the top of its dynasty — not a sub-.500 South Carolina squad underperforming preseason expectations.
Texas A&M additionally needed to endure 30-plus minutes of dangerous soccer to arrange its crescendo to the most important comeback in program historical past from down 27 factors. Included in that stretch was Reed throwing two interceptions, each of which the Gamecocks transformed into factors.
Nonetheless, Reed’s 439 passing yards and three second-half touchdowns in Saturday’s 31–30 win could carry extra long-term significance than even Manziel’s efficiency in 2012. With this rally towards South Carolina, Texas A&M all however secured a spot within the School Soccer Playoff for the primary time in program historical past.
Sure, the Aggies nonetheless must beat Samford in subsequent week’s customary SEC pre-Thanksgiving cupcake matchup. Six SEC groups face opponents from both the Group of 5 or FCS, and Texas A&M attracts essentially the most overmatched of the bunch within the SoCon’s one-win Bulldogs.
Meaning reaching 11 wins — a digital golden ticket to the Playoff — is actually a formality. Texas A&M will head into the postseason with some distinctive perception into its mettle and character as a crew.
“We’ve an id of who we’re,” Aggies coach Mike Elko stated in his postgame press convention. “If we play to our id, we’re a great soccer crew. …If we begin attempting to play a unique method, that’s not us. That’s not who we’re.”
So who’s Texas A&M? That’s a query that has lengthy loomed over a program with out a nationwide championship since 1939.
Manziel’s tenure gave Texas A&M an id constructed on swagger — an exceedingly tough trait to pretend. Simply ask the Miami Hurricanes of their many failed efforts to recapture the glory days of the Eighties and early 2000s.
As a result of swagger is hard to fabricate, Texas A&M groups within the final decade have usually lacked an actual id. That isn’t to say the Aggies didn’t discover success beneath Jimbo Fisher, however they steadily embodied the label “also-ran.”
Even with the bravado that captured public creativeness, the Manziel years by no means produced an SEC Championship Recreation look.
The 2025 Aggies’ place in this system’s first SEC title recreation isn’t but assured, however shifting to 7–0 on the identical day Alabama suffered its first convention loss and rival Texas was all however eradicated positions them favorably.
On the precipice of a first-ever SEC Championship alternative, Texas A&M can now say it has an id — one Elko defines as “blue collar.”
That stands in stark distinction to the Manziel days. It’s additionally a label that appears at odds with a crew averaging 37.8 factors per recreation (twelfth within the nation) behind a dual-threat quarterback.
Nonetheless, Elko emphasizes that physicality and controlling the road of scrimmage outline these Aggies. In 2025, Texas A&M could also be a mixture of early-2010s Johnny Soccer aptitude and Nineteen Fifties Bear Bryant-era grit.
If the 2025 Aggies can declare a program-first SEC championship and a nationwide title 86 years within the making, Marcel Reed’s efficiency Saturday shall be remembered in Texas A&M lore alongside the names that constructed this system’s legacy.
