The Texas Longhorns once again fell agonizingly close to making their first appearance in the national championship in over a decade. It was the last time for many of those players on the field, who suffered another heartbreak, to put on the burnt orange and white.

One of those potential players is starting left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. Who, spoke about his immediate future following the loss to the Buckeyes.

“I have not made a decision, no,” Banks said of his impending NFL Draft.

While this answer may leave a sliver of hope for Longhorn fans that Banks could return for a senior season on the 40 Acres. It does still seem highly unlikely. Since arriving in Austin as a five-star recruit by way of Humble, Texas, and subsequently earning his spot as the starter, the expectation was that Banks wouldn’t be in Austin for long.

And after starting in 43 games as the Longhorns’ left tackle that doesn’t look likely to change. Banks has been a consensus first-round pick in this year’s draft class. Many of the mock drafts even predict him to be the first offensive tackle off the board.

Losing a 40-plus game starting left tackle will always hurt. But luckily for the Longhorns, they seem to already have his successor set in Trevor Goosby. The redshirt freshman has already logged two career starts this season, as he played in the absence of Kelvin Banks in the SEC Championship loss to Georgia, before starting in place of right tackle Cam Williams versus Arizona State.

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Texas A&M will be without its leading scorer for this weekend’s top-10 matchup against Alabama. The Aggies listed senior point guard Wade Taylor IV as out in its SEC-mandated availability report on Friday night.

Meanwhile, Alabama will be without backup guard Houston Mallette, who was listed as out for the matchup against Texas A&M. Earlier on Friday, Alabama head coach Nate Oats said Mallette is having his knees evaluated as the team decides whether or not to sit him for the rest of the season and apply for a medical redshirt.

Taylor leads Texas A&M in both scoring (15.7 points per game) and assists (4.8 per game. The 6-foot, 180-pound senior has scored in double digits in all of his 13 games this season. During Texas A&M’s 100-75 loss at Alabama last year, the Tide held Taylor to 10 points and five rebounds on 4 of 15 shooting, including 2 of 5 from beyond the arc.

According to a report from KWKT FOX 44, Taylor experienced knee tightness during Texas A&M’s 80-60 win over Texas on Jan. 4. The guard left for the locker room during the second half against the Longhorns but was able to return to action, finishing with 13 points on 25 minutes. Taylor did not play during the Aggies’ 80-78 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday. He was replaced by senior Manny Obaseki in the starting lineup.

With Taylor out, Texas A&M leaned on senior guard Zhuric Phelps, who scored a career-high 34 points against Oklahoma, making 11 of 25 shots from the floor, including 6 of 10 from beyond the arc.

Alabama (13-2, 2-0 in the SEC) is set to tip off against Texas A&M (13-2, 2-0) on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT inside Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. The game will be televised on ESPN.

On Friday night, two of college football’s iconic programs will meet with a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship game on the line.

The Ohio State Buckeyes and Texas Longhorns have their fingerprints all over the sport’s history yet somehow have squared off only three times.

A Fiesta Bowl meeting after the 2008 season. A home-and-home series in 2005 and 2006. That’s all the history the Buckeyes and Longhorns share on the gridiron — until they take the field in the CFP Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Friday.

Here’s how each of those three matchups played out.

Jan. 5, 2009: Texas 24, Ohio State 21

Although the 2009 Fiesta Bowl experienced a low-scoring first 30 minutes (the Buckeyes led 6-3 at halftime), the fourth quarter offered an ending to remember.

First, Ohio State roared back into the lead with 17 unanswered points after entering the final period trailing 17-6. With just two minutes to respond, Texas put together an impressive 11-play drive that culminated in quarterback Colt McCoy finding wide receiver Quan Cosby for the winning touchdown with 16 seconds remaining.

The McCoy and Cosby connection dominated all game, with the pair linking up 14 times for 171 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Sept. 9, 2006: Ohio State 24, Texas 7

McCoy’s first encounter with Ohio State wasn’t as pleasant as the Fiesta Bowl.

In a battle of the then-No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the land, it was the top-ranked Buckeyes who made an early-season statement against the defending national champion Longhorns on the road in Austin. Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy that season, threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns as the Buckeyes scored in all four quarters of the win.

Sept. 10, 2005: Texas 25, Ohio State 22

The first meeting between the Longhorns and Buckeyes came with nearly the same high billing as the 2006 contest, with the two squads squaring off as the No. 2 and No. 4 teams in the country, respectively.

As in 2006, it was the higher-ranked visiting side that came out on top, although the game itself proved to be much closer. Texas jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, but Ohio State battled back and eventually entered halftime, and then the fourth quarter, ahead.

Said final quarter, however, belonged to the Longhorns. Quarterback Vince Young’s 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Limas Sweed proved to be the winner, with Texas adding some insurance in the game’s final moments with a safety-inducing sack of Troy Smith in the end zone.

The top-five win was the Longhorns’ first major statement in a campaign that would end with a national championship.