College Station, Texas ? There are many bad and tradition-laden college football games during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Mississippi-Mississippi State.

TCU-Southern Methodist.

Colorado-Nebraska.

Texas-Texas A&M.

In its 110th edition Friday, Texas-Texas A&M passed away as a vital, attention-grabbing rivalry and turned into mere television filler. In what could have been just another early October game, Texas made a series of mistakes but still routed the overmatched Aggies, 46-15, at Kyle Field.

The Longhorns have won seven of the last nine games in this series. That includes a current four-game winning streak during which the closest game was a 14-point victory in 2001. The combined score in the four games is 160-59.

Kyle Field, once a feared spot, is just another spot in the late-fall sun.

The Longhorns have won their last two games at Kyle, and players spoke of enjoying the atmosphere. No one with Texas enjoyed the unique Kyle atmosphere when the Longhorns lost 10 times in 11 appearances through 1994.

“They were trying to make plays, but I don’t know,” said Texas running back Cedric Benson, who ran for 283 yards and four touchdowns. “They didn’t seem like the same A&M team.”

Perceptive student-athlete.

A rivalry needs two competitive teams and tradition.

This series has one good team, one team in tatters and tradition.

Texas has far surpassed the Aggies. There is no indication that the balance of power will change again soon.

Longhorns coach Mack Brown, tying to be diplomatic, said this remains a rivalry and insisted “our game next year in Austin will be just as tough.”

He should be so fortunate.

Taken literally, that means another easy date for Texas.

The only tough thing about this game for Texas was its own mistakes. A&M scored twice off turnovers deep in Texas territory and trailed 20-15 early in the third quarter.

The Longhorns responded to the challenge with a deafening blitz that included three touchdown runs by Benson.

“Streaks are made to be broken,” Brown said. “The thing that I’m proud of is this place has been so hard to win at, and our guys have won over here twice. That’s impressive.”

What does this say about the Longhorns?

About the same as Benson’s game against one of the worst rushing defenses at any level said about him being an elite back.

The Longhorns, and Benson, are somewhere well above the lower class but not among the elite.

In October, the Longhorns lost their fourth consecutive game against Oklahoma. How good is a team that is in a down cycle against Oklahoma but an up cycle against A&M? Texas is much closer to Oklahoma at the top of the Big 12 than the Aggies at the bottom. A&M finished with a better conference record (2-6) than only Baylor and Iowa State.

Texas cannot crack Oklahoma, but it has won other games. Regular-season wins against Kansas State and Nebraska will be enough to put the Longhorns in a BCS-level bowl if the Sooners handle Kansas State in next Saturday’s Big 12 title game.

A&M’s best win of the season was against Kansas.

Think about that.

The last time any team said it had a good win against Kansas, John Hadl played quarterback for the Jayhawks.