Commanding the storylines for No. 3 Texas football for the Lone Star Showdown on the road against the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies tonight in College Station is the health of starting quarterback Quinn Ewers.
Ewers is listed as "probable" on the SEC injury report updates throughout this week (at least since the first SEC injury report on Wednesday). He hurt his ankle last week in the Senior Day win at home over the Kentucky Wildcats.
Since he was a kid, Ewers has wanted to play in this game in the Lone Star Showdown against the Aggies. He's probably going to do everything he can to play in this game for head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas.
This is just the third ranked matchup in the Lone Star Showdown in the past three decades. It is also the first time these two teams have met on the gridiron for Texas-Texas A&M in College Station since the 2011 season.
Game predictions for Texas football vs. Texas A&M in Week 14
In the weekly Hook'em Horns Show, Andrew Miller and Shane Black predicted victories within a score or two for the Longhorns over Texas A&M.
There is an asterisk regarding the predictions for Texas-Texas A&M with the uncertainty surrounding the Longhorns' quarterback situation. If Ewers is able to effectively take the reigns for Texas's offense at QB tonight, that is a better situation for the Longhorns to come out of College Station with a W.
If backup Arch Manning has to lead Texas's offense in the hostile environment in College Station, it could add more hurdles for the Longhorns to punch their ticket to the SEC title game.
Andrew Miller: Texas-30, Texas A&M-24
Shane Black: Texas-33, Texas A&M-20
Tarik LaCour: Texas-30, Texas A&M-17
Tarik's prediction specifies that the 30-17 score for the Longhorns is with Ewers starting at quarterback.
Brian Sweet: Texas-34, Texas A&M-28