No matter the accomplishments and accolades collected through the year, all seasons must come to end in some form or fashion. Unfortunately for Texas A&M football, the form of its first defeat in the College Football Playoff was in a tight 10-3 matchup with the Miami Hurricanes.

Despite of their best defensive outing of the 2025 campaign, the Aggies inability to get the offense churning until the very end of the game was among the factors that doomed their chances of advancing deeper into the national title race.

All things considered, it was a terrific season for the Maroon and White, who rattled off 11 straight wins to start the season as well as reaching the CFP for the first time in school history, which is a huge leap seeing that it was only head coach Mike Elko’s second season at the helm of the program. With that said, let’s take a look at the good, bad and ugly of the final A&M game of the year.

The Good: A precedent was set

Though the sting of a loss, especially a season-ending one, is a hard feeling to turn the page over with, an 11-2 run in Elko’s second year is a quite the feat. A&M, which hadn’t achieved 10 wins in a season in over a decade, is poised to build a long-standing prescence in the national title race.

Though a small sample size, Elko has progressed his time in each of the last two years, which can lead folks to assume that next year will have a similar outcome as far as overall success. While difficult to grasp in the moment, championship programs are not so quickly built in today’s Southeastern Conference.

The Bad: Offensive struggles spoil courageous defensive effort

In most normal circumstances, holding a team to just 10 points typically results in a victory. But that was not the case for the Aggies on Saturday. Through the better part of a three-and-a-half quarters, the A&M defense held Miami to just three points until in the final two minutes when a touchdown was conceded.

The Aggies had no answer to their defense’s heroics and came up short in the final seconds of the game when there was a chance in the end zone to tie the ballgame. A new offensive coordinator in Holmon Wiggins is due up next season, so the jury is still out on how next year will pan out.

The Ugly: Kicking the ball

Sometimes, things can be so bad that they are simply comical. That would certainly be the case in College Station on Saturday afternoon, where a windy day helped a total of four field goal attempts to be missed across both squads.

However, the Aggie faithful would be the first to say that even without wind, field goal kicking seemed virtually impossible this season. Kicker Jared Zirkel seemingly kicked the ball straight in the Hurricanes line within the 30-yard line and the Aggies only scored off a short boot from kicker Randy Bond.

From the 64 teams selected to compete in the NCAA DI women’s volleyball tournament, just No. 1 Kentucky and No. 3 Texas A&M remain. Reaching the national championship is no small feat, from Dec. 4 all the way to Dec. 18, these two programs have battled to etch their names into history. 

Let’s take a look on how the Wildcats and the Aggies punched their tickets to the national final. 

👉 Check out the full schedule, scores from the 2025 women’s volleyball tournament

No. 1 Kentucky (30-2)

Big Blue fought for a dramatic five-setter victory over No. 3 Wisconsin to earn its second ever national championship appearance and first since their 2021 national title. The Badgers seemed to have all control after a Set 1 25-12 victory, but Kentucky wouldn’t be denied. Eva Hudson was on fire, accruing 29 kills on .455 hitting, while Molly Tuozzo’s back-court defense—with 17 critical digs—fought off a career night from Mimi Colyer. 

No. 3 Texas A&M (28-4)

The Aggies knocked off No. 1 Pitt in three straight sets, continuing their historic season by earning the program’s first-ever national championship appearance. Kyndal Stowers powered the Maroon and White with 16 kills on .433 hitting while setter Maddie Waak orchestrated her balanced offense to an impressive .382 clip, with four different Aggies earning at least eight put-aways. 

Both programs are heating up at just the right time, priming Sunday’s matchup to be an intense face-off between SEC foes. Make sure to  follow the action here on NCAA.com at 3:30 p.m. ET.