Justin Tucker’s game-winning kick serves as lasting memory of Texas-Texas A&M rivalry

Justin Tucker doesn’t “believe in ranking systems.” Don’t ask him who the GOAT is — Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James — because he’s probably not going to single any of them out. He’d rather just appreciate great moments.

However, when it comes to all of his game-winning kicks — and there are plenty of them — the Baltimore Ravens kicker and future Pro Football Hall of Famer says the 40-yard field goal he nailed to seal Texas‘ 27-25 win over Texas A&M back in 2011 is, in fact, high on the list.

“I’d have to put it up near the top,” Tucker recently told a small group of reporters.

It was Nov. 24, 2011, Thanksgiving night in College Station, Texas. It was the final showdown between bitter in-state rivals Texas and Texas A&M — at least until further notice — because the Aggies were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. There were no conference championship or national title implications — neither team was particularly good that year.

More than anything, eternal bragging rights were on the line. And in a college football rivalry as heated and acrimonious as this one, winning would mean everything. “Nothing else mattered,” former Texas linebacker and current FOX Sports college football studio analyst Emmanuel Acho said.

Texas A&M led 25-24 with three seconds remaining when Tucker stepped up to kick. Players on both sidelines knelt on the ground, linked arms and held hands. Some prayed. Others shielded their eyes. Tucker was iced by A&M once, and then crossed his chest and let it rip. When the ball sailed through the uprights as time expired, Tucker’s teammates dog-piled on him on the Kyle Field turf.

And for the past 13 years, that’s been the lasting memory. 

The heated rivalry will be renewed on Saturday night when the No. 3-ranked Longhorns and No. 20-ranked Aggies finally play again (7:30 p.m. ET) in College Station. Texas A&M (8-3) is looking for redemption after being upset by Auburn a week ago, while Texas (10-1) is hoping Quinn Ewers and the offense can start fast.

Texas joined the SEC earlier this year, which rekindled the in-state rivalry, and this time, there’s arguably more at stake than ever before. The winner will clinch a spot in the SEC Championship Game against No. 7 Georgia. A College Football Playoff berth is in the cards, too, though the scenarios can be dizzying. 

“This is as big as it gets in college football,” Acho said.

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Tucker saved the Longhorns on that late-November night, 13 years ago, but what’s often forgotten is the drive that set up his game-winning kick.

It was a tough, tight game. Texas only had 12 first downs and fewer than 100 rushing yards. A&M, led by future top 10 NFL Draft pick Ryan Tannehill, took a 25-24 lead with 1:48 left to play.

That’s when Texas quarterback Case McCoy — Colt’s younger brother — gathered his offense together to prepare them to go the length of the field.

“Case gives this ‘Friday Night Lights’ type of speech,” former Longhorns running back Jeremy Hills said, laughing. “I don’t know if you’ve spent any time in Graham, Texas [where the McCoys are from], but it is ‘Friday Night Lights.’ You can barely hear Case because it’s so damn loud, but he comes into the huddle, and he’s like, ‘OK, boys! We’ve just gotta string it together one play at a time.'”

The Longhorns dinked and dunked down the field and found themselves near the 50-yard-line with about 40 seconds left. On first down, McCoy looked for his favorite target, wide receiver Jaxon Shipley, but he slipped coming out of his break. With the Aggies’ defense in Cover 2 man, McCoy had space to run so he took off and scrambled for 25 yards.

“I’m wide open,” Hills said with a chuckle. “And I’m thinking, Case has to throw me this ball, right? And he literally screams, ‘Go block!’ And he starts running. And Case is not fast at all.”

Hills jumped into action and started lead blocking, zig-zagging all over the field, trying to protect McCoy. The QB eventually went down with the ball at A&M’s 23-yard line, positioning Texas for a potential game-winning field goal.

“Case is on the bottom of this pile, and he’s got this little grin on his face like he just robbed a bank and got away with it,” Hills said. “He knew he might have just won us the game.”

Then it was Tucker time. Back then, he was a strong kicker — his 83% accuracy is still tied for second best in program history. But he wasn’t “Mr. Automatic,” Acho said, like he’s become in the NFL.

“I had no idea if he was going to make it or miss it,” Acho said. “I know [former coach Mack Brown] talked to him. I didn’t know what Tuck was going to do.”

As he prepared for the kick, Tucker had it in his mind how college kickers across the country — from Alabama to Boise State to Stanford to Virginia Tech — struggled in pivotal moments during that particular season. And so, while the atmosphere was as loud as it could be, Tucker focused on making sure his kick didn’t get blocked or go wide.

“I had kind of already made the decision that no matter what, I’m just going to make sure I kick it clean off the ground, strike the ball in the sweet spot, but mostly, get the ball up and out and give it a chance,” Tucker said, adding that this thought process has sustained him as a professional.

As soon as the ball left his foot, Tucker saw it was going straight. Then there was an “explosion of emotion,” he said.

“The stadium is going crazy at this point and when he kicks that ball, I mean, you can hear it come off his foot,” Hills said. “And then as you see it go through the uprights, it’s like somebody hit the mute button. That whole stadium went dead quiet. It was one of the more euphoric feelings I had playing college football.”

The entire team ran after Tucker, tackled him to the ground and then hoisted him up on their shoulders in pure jubilation. 

But it wasn’t until they got back into the locker room that Tucker realized the magnitude of the moment.

“We really just hit the dagger in this rivalry for many years to come,” Tucker said. 

“I can look back and honestly say that if I did not make that kick, I don’t know if I have any chance at getting my foot in the door with any NFL team to compete for a job,” Tucker, who is a seven-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion, added. “I think I had to make that kick to give myself a chance to play at the next level.”

When Tucker got back on campus, it wasn’t like a scene from a movie where hundreds of students gave him a standing ovation when he walked into an auditorium. Tucker said he saw that sometimes, like if Vince Young or Kevin Durant were back on campus taking classes. But he was a senior majoring in recording technology in the music school and was taking smaller upper-division courses with 8-10 other students who weren’t always paying attention to sports.

“It was still pretty cool to have that feeling walking through campus like, ‘Man, I’m part of what makes this university what it is,” Tucker said.

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This generation of Texas and Texas A&M players have only heard stories about what this game is like. It’s been more than a decade since the schools have met, and while the Longhorns have played in some wild atmospheres — they won at Alabama in 2023 and at Michigan and Arkansas this year — nothing will compare to what they’ll experience at Kyle Field on Saturday night.

“This is an environment where words can’t do it justice,” Acho said. “You hear about Midnight Yell Practice, but it’s not until you get there, and it’s nighttime, and you look up, and the whole stadium is swaying. It’s like there’s an earthquake. And then [they’re waving] towels and you swear it’s a white-out, but it wasn’t all white a second ago.

“It’s crazy, man.”

While the programs have not played in 13 years, it will be the 119th meeting, dating back to 1894. Texas leads the all-time series, 76-37-5. And this edition might be the most expensive ticket ever, with average prices hovering around $1,000, according to ticket vendor TickPick.

“It’s going to be an electric factory,” Tucker said.

Numbers aside, Texas players from that 2011 team welcome the revival of the rivalry, even if it means they won’t always have the last word.

“I think Texas and Texas A&M is just so special for college football,” Tucker said. “For this game to come back, and for the implications to be what they are, I think that makes for great TV. It makes for great entertainment.”

Hills shared that sentiment, adding that this is the type of game that defines college football’s rivalry week.

“There’s not a more poetic way for this regular season to come to a conclusion,” Hills said. “Ultimately, they want to beat us so bad. It’s a no-love-lost kind of thing. It’s going to be a very physical game. A lot of these kids know a lot of people on the other side of the field [from growing up]. You see friends back home and can say, ‘Hey, I told you we were going to beat y’alls ass.’ It doesn’t get more personal than this. This is it.”

Tucker said he’ll probably watch the game on his couch in his basement with his wife and his son. They’ll be decked out in Texas gear and make their Christmas tree light up in burnt orange. He won’t be placing any bets – especially not with Ravens teammate and Aggie alum Nnamdi Madubuike.

“I don’t want to subject myself to the disgrace of even remotely thinking about wearing anything with that Texas A&M logo on it,” Tucker said in jest. 

He does, however, have some advice for Longhorns kicker Bert Auburn in case he finds himself in a similar situation.

“Some of the best advice I ever got was from my grandfather, who passed away last year,” Tucker said. “I was trying out for the varsity football team at Westlake my sophomore year of high school, and he was walking around the track that day and he kind of just happened to catch me as I was in between drills or going to grab a sip of water. 

“He just said to me with his big Texas drawl and his big voice, he goes, ‘Justin, just kick the damn ball.’ And ever since then, I’ve taken it to heart and kind of made it my own: See the ball, strike the ball, just kick the damn ball. And everything will work out just like it’s supposed to.”

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.

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