Facing economic uncertainty and the increasing costs of higher education, recent college graduates are getting some relief from the federal government.

Last month, the Department of Education introduced a new Pay As You Earn student loan repayment plan, which will cap monthly payments for Federal Direct Student Loans at 10 percent of discretionary income. In addition to reducing monthly loan payments, the program allows graduates to pay off their loan over a 20-year period, rather than the standard 10 years.

“We know many recent graduates are worried about repaying their student loans as our economy continues to recover, and now it’s easier than ever for student borrowers to lower monthly payments and stay on track,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement.

Changes in student loan policy are sure to affect much of the undergraduate population at U. Michigan. According to the University’s Office of Financial Aid, about 85 percent of resident undergraduates and 55 percent of non-resident undergraduates receive need-based and/or non-need-based financial aid.

Pam Fowler, executive director of the Office of Financial Aid, said this new plan is a step in the right direction but still foresees graduates running into some difficulties. Because the government offers multiple repayment plans, Fowler said some students may find it difficult to determine which repayment plan is best for their financial situation.

On the other hand, many students are unaware of the abundance of loan options available, Fowler said. In some cases, graduates are not getting good information about alternative loan repayment options from the federal servicer who handles their case. As a result students may have issues making their payments in full and on time.

If graduates are not receiving sufficient information from their federal servicers, Fowler suggested they contact the Office of Financial Aid for advice.

Pay As You Earn, which went into effect at the end of last month, will not have any effect on the limit a student can borrow from the federal government. The Office of Financial Aid is responsible for reporting costs of attendance and the maximum amount a student can borrow each year for accuracy in government loan collection.

The new plan will also not affect how the Financial Aid Office operates, Fowler said. The Department of Education will continue to send the office a list of graduates who are late on loan payments, and the Financial Aid Office will try to contact them in order to get them back on track.

Fowler warns that students need to borrow responsibly and ensure that they are able to repay the loan entirely.

“We still have to do a very good job of cautioning students to borrow for needs, not for wants,” Fowler said.

Still, she said Pay As You Earn is a great way to give graduates more relief in paying off their debts.

“Any plan that will keep a student out of default is a good thing, and that is what these plans are designed to do.”

When the dust settles and the smoke clears from the six-month barrage that is the college football season, only one team can truly celebrate.

Monday night, that team was once again the Alabama Crimson Tide as the Tide crushed Notre Dame, 42-14, to win back-to-back BCS National Championships, their third in the last four years.

The Tide seemed to take the fight out of the Irish early and never let up.

The ending was fitting for this particular Alabama team. This bunch was chosen as the second-best team in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division behind LSU at the beginning of the season. The loss of talent on the defensive side of the ball and the early departure of a Heisman finalist running-back left major holes and major questions.

Even head coach Nick Saban admitted this was his least talented team of the Tide’s recent national championship runs.

But once the lights were on, it was clear the Tide was in a class of its own.

“We came with the mindset of trying to be legendary,” freshman receiver Amari Cooper said.

Alabama is now in that rare air of winning three national championships in four years. Not since Nebraska’s run in the 1990s has this been accomplished. Some teams struggle to make the game, others win a championship and regress, but Alabama continues to churn out championships – turning Tuscaloosa into Title Town.

“For a program that has been criticized for clinging too tightly to the good old days, I’m sure those days were good, but Alabama people should recognize that these days for them are better,” ESPN studio host and Alabama graduate Rece Davis said.

That’s not a shot at the great Paul “Bear” Bryant and his legacy, it’s only the truth— In this day of college football, Alabama’s run is nothing short of spectacular. 2009 and 2011 were expected, but this wasn’t. No one thought Alabama was four touchdowns better than Notre Dame.

Alabama’s offense epitomized balance. The Tide’s attack racked up 529 yards of total offense, 265 rushing and 264 passing. Running backs Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon took turns battering what was supposed to be a vaunted Notre Dame front seven. Quarterback AJ McCarron shredded the Irish secondary for four touchdowns. It could have been six if not for a few missed opportunities to Cooper.

Notre Dame’s defense forgot the No. 1 fundamental of tackle football: tackle. Heisman candidate Manti Te’o whiffed on a few attempts to bring down the Tide’s dominant duo of backs. With Te’o struggling, the rest of the Irish stood no chance.

“We’ve got to get physically stronger, continue to close the gap there and just overall you need to see what it looks like,” said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly of the difference between the Irish and the Tide.

The Irish got a look at it all night. In a scene similar to the SEC Championship Game, Alabama lined up and ran right at the Irish defense, welcoming contact. Only this time, there was no back and forth action necessary.

Defensively, Alabama stifled Notre Dame all game. The Irish abandoned the running game early, finishing with 32 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Everett Golson never found his rhythm throwing the ball and was constantly under pressure. Everywhere Golson turned there was a Tide defender. Linebackers and defensive lineman made open field tackles on Golson and the Irish’s skill players, showing the speed difference between the SEC and the rest of college football.

But Notre Dame fans shouldn’t be discouraged. The SEC does this to everyone. The league beats up one another each week, making one another look vulnerable and exposing weaknesses. That’s fool’s gold.

Anyone who watches the SEC knows there could be at least one team in the title game every year, even with the play-off.

Alabama shows no signs of slowing down and are, in fact, getting stronger. With the return of key veterans such as AJ McCarron and C.J. Mosley, Alabama will be in the mix at the end of next season. The return of such players only gives Alabama time to look ahead and recruit or nurture the next crop of champions.

“We have such a great culture here from top to bottom,” offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said. “Everybody buys in from day one, and that is why we are successful.”

Humans across cultures can express various emotions through music and motion, according to a recent study by Dartmouth College psychology professor Thalia Wheatley, psychology and brain sciences PhD candidate Beau Sievers and music professor Michael Casey.

The study, titled “Music and movement share a dynamic structure that supports universal expressions of emotion,” was published in the Jan. 2 edition of “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

To gather data, researchers asked participants to design either a melody or animation for specific emotions using a computer program that Sievers designed.

Participants used five slider bars in both portions of the experiment to change musical tones or an animation of a bouncing egg.

After collecting data from 50 Dartmouth students — 25 for each portion of the study — Sievers and Wheatley travelled to the L’Ak village of Cambodia to test 80 more participants.

Because the villagers of L’Ak could not read or use computers, Sievers and Wheatley adjusted parts of their computer program by adding pictorial representations of melodic rates and changing other parameters.

Both Dartmouth students and L’Ak villagers created similar responses in both mediums to the same emotional triggers, suggesting that musical and movement-based responses to these emotions are innate.

The melodies and animations shared several movements, illustrating a close association between music and movement in the human brain, Wheatley said.

The study results suggest that dynamic profiles for music and motion are universaluncovered a “signature for emotion that is expressed both in music and movement,” Wheatley said.

Both Sievers and Wheatley said they were surprised by the strength of the results. Sievers said he expected differences in heritage to affect the created melodies or movements, but the study shows “very little intercession of culture,” he said.

Although Sievers said that the study built upon existing research on emotional responses to music and studies of motion, he emphasized the uniqueness of the “cross-modal” approach to the study.

“I don’t know of any study that has done something quite like this with the music and movement,” he said.

The relationship between music and movement may stem from neuronal recycling, a process in which the brain’s innate capacities are “recycled” for new functions, Sievers said.

“Basic evolutionary systems like needing to track movement in the environment have been re-purposed for different tasks,” he said. “Music is one of those.”

Sievers and Wheatley came up with the idea for the experiment in 2008, after Wheatley gave a guest lecture to Sievers’ graduate seminar on evolution and music.

Music professor Larry Polansky, who taught the class, advised them on the theory behind their research.

Daniel Leopold, who collected data for the study while he was a senior at the College, said Wheatley’s enthusiasm for the topic inspired him to pursue clinical psychology.

“[Wheatley] was really excited about the work and the research, not afraid to tackle things like morality, or expression of emotions or intimacy perception,” Leopold said.

The researchers’ trip to Cambodia in December 2010 was sponsored by grants received from the Rockefeller Center and the Dickey Center for International Understanding.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — At the conclusion of Alabama’s 42-14 victory over Notre Dame on Monday night in the BCS National Championship Game, the two starting quarterbacks went in separate directions. As Alabama’s experienced redshirt junior A.J. McCarron won his second national title as a starter, Notre Dame’s sophomore Everett Golson walked off the field quietly.

Notre Dame had fallen short, but the first-year starter focused after the game on the opportunity to grow, in the hopes of one day standing where McCarron was.

“I’m kind of just taking this game under my belt,” Golson said. “Like I said, I’ll just gain the experience from it, and really looking forward to next year, knowing that I’ve got to be more of a leader, and just being more of a leader to this team and trying to make this team better.”

In the biggest game of his life, Golson had a mixed performance statistically but was one of Notre Dame’s best performers on either side of the ball. The sophomore was 21-of-36 through the air for 270 yards and one touchdown with an interception. He added a rushing touchdown to put Notre Dame on the scoreboard in the third quarter.

But Notre Dame’s offense failed to convert consistently on third-down conversions as Golson could not establish the rhythm needed to put up points with Alabama.

“We just had to go out and affect [Golson],” Alabama linebacker Nico Johnson said. “We felt he was their true leader and if he was rolling, the team was rolling. We wanted to go out and affect him the best we could and stop them.”

Golson gave Notre Dame fans a bright spot with his second-half performance, bringing the Irish from a 28-0 hole at halftime and putting 14 points on the board in the second half. After a first half in which the young signal-caller made some questionable throws on short-distance conversions, Golson settled in with 182 passing yards after throwing for just 88 in the first half.

Much of that production owed to downfield connections with sophomore wide receiver DaVaris Daniels and junior wide receiver T.J. Jones, who both produced big numbers in the loss.

“It took us a while to get a feel for their defense,” Jones said. “They played more press-man than we thought they would, which changed their look in the box. We tried to carve out a run game while having an effective pass game, but it took us a while to get used to it.

“I just had to find a way to keep the play open when Everett [Golson] got into space. I played more physical with the DBs rather than finessing them, which helped me out.”

After the game, Irish coach Brian Kelly was asked to reflect on the future of his offense with the trio of Golson, Daniels and Jones returning in the passing game. Kelly asked his young quarterback a question instead.

“Well, if Everett would come back for another year — are you coming back?” he said.

The quarterback who came up short against a counterpart with multiple national championships responded with a laugh that he would return.

“We worry about whether he wants to play basketball,” Kelly said jokingly. “These guys have played great competition across the board from the start of the season to the end, and obviously it’s only going to help them going forward.”

For Golson and his emerging offensive weapons, going forward will mean returning to the same stage again and achieving a far different result.

With the trauma of the Newtown, Conn., massacre still lingering, the Association of American Universities has called upon President Barack Obama and members of Congress to address gun violence.

In the statement issued Thursday, the association, comprised of 62 universities including U. Florida, is pushing for the federal government to reform gun laws.

While UF is in the association, Director of Public Affairs Janine Sikes said it is not a UF-related initiative and was unaware if UF has taken any stance.

Jodine Castin, a 22-year-old health education and behavior senior, said she was glad the association was calling for action.

“Part of my fear was that it would be forgotten,” she said. “There needs to be at least one law made.”

Stating that schools have become “centers for national mourning,” the statement issued by the executive committee has asked that action occur on three domains: gun control, care of the mentally ill and the culture of the contemporary media.

The Association of American Universities has joined more than 300 college presidents who have signed College Presidents for Gun Safety, an open letter demanding Congress pass stricter gun control laws.

UF has not signed the list, which is made up of mostly private colleges.

Criminology and sociology professor Ronald Akers said he thought the association’s requests were reasonable and supported the call.

“The passage and outcome of any policy changes will be more symbolic than actually effective in dealing with or preventing events such as at Sandy Hook elementary,” Akers wrote in an email.

Stating that mental illness has played a role in mass violence in America, the association has requested more thorough examinations of the treatment of the mentally ill in the search for ways to extinguish mass violence.

The Association of American Universities has also called for a ban of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

Yet, Akers said higher levels of gun violence are often found in stronger gun control jurisdictions.

“Whatever failures of gun control that can be identified in such instances predict too much,” Akers wrote. “The same failures are found all over the place without the same outcomes.”

Linda Nhon’s approval of tighter gun control by the federal government was heightened after she left a Largo, Fla., music venue, and two gunshots were fired when a fight broke out.

“There were kids there,” said the 21-year-old UF junior. “It makes me feel unsafe to go to public places, especially around my own peers.”

Sydney Madrigal, a 19-year-old UF freshman, is also in support of more regulations when it comes to buying a weapon.

While the association is focused on gun control and mental illness, the statement also points blame to the media, which they said is fueling crime with their “addiction to violence.”

“The exposure to media portrayals of violence in American society is very widespread, so there should be very large, even massive numbers of such incidents,” Akers said. “Yet there are relatively few, so few that when they occur they attract enormous attention.”

Akers said the policy changes that stem from traumatic events can reach a level of moral panic that produces strong public fear.

“Once the policy changes are made we tend to think we have fixed the problem, but the evidence and the probability that any of the recommended actions will have real, meaningful and consequential outcomes is pretty low,” he said.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Nick Saban wouldn’t let his players use the R or D words in the buildup to Monday’s BCS National Championship Game. He didn’t want his players thinking about repeating or possibly becoming a dynasty, afraid it would affect the focus of his team ahead of yet another big game.

Afterward, the word was on everyone’s mouth.

No. 2 Alabama pounded, pushed and finessed its way to a 42-14 win over No. 1 Notre Dame to clinch its second straight BCS National Championship and third in four years.

“Yes, sir. No doubt about it,” senior defensive end Damion Square said when asked if the Crimson Tide could finally be called a dynasty. “I’m through here at this University and I was part of a dynasty.”

Eddie Lacy, who earned named the Most Outstanding Offensive Player, rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown and added another through the air as Alabama’s offensive line dominated the vaunted front seven of Notre Dame.

From the very first drive, Alabama controlled the line of scrimmage and dictated the game throughout.

“We knew we had to be physical up front and we did,” guard Chance Warmack said. “It paid off tonight.”

Defensively, Alabama held Notre Dame to just more than 300 yards of offense, a lot of which came after Alabama had pulled its starters from the game.

The Irish only managed 32 rushing yards and didn’t find the end zone until after the Crimson Tide had scored 35 straight to open the game.

“When we walked in this locker room,” Square said. “I looked in these guys’ eyes before the game and I knew we were going to dominate.”

The very first drive of the game, Alabama marched 82 yards and scored when Lacy, who was named offensive MVP, darted 20 yards for a touchdown.

After forcing a Notre Dame three-and-out, Alabama went right back down the field using a heavy dose of Lacy. But when it got to the goal like, quarterback AJ McCarron faked the handoff and found a wide open Michael Williams for the scored.

Lacy’s most impressive score came on an 11-yard screen pass just before halftime. The junior, who is expected to declare for the NFL Draft, used his signature spin move to escape two defenders and sprinted into the end zone for the score.

“He was on a mission tonight,” right tackle D.J. Fluker said of Lacy. “He wanted to go out there and score every play. I actually challenged him on the bus I said, ‘If you can get two or three touchdowns, we’ll win the game.’ He said, ‘All right, as long as you give me good blocking, we’re going to get it.’”

Freshman Amari Cooper capped his stellar freshman season with two touchdown grabs and almost had a third when McCarron just overthrew his outstretched hands on a fly route in the second quarter.

As Alabama’s defense stuffed an impotent Notre Dame offense, Alabama used its trademark grind-it-out offense to control possession and dominate the game on the biggest stage.

“Our offensive tempo was the key to the game,” head coach Nick Saban said. “We were able to establish and maintain the run with our backs and line doing a great job and then AJ and our receivers converted third downs and maintained drives.”

McCarron jogged off the field holding that crystal football, the second one he’s captured in two years, and found his mom in the stands, holding it up so she could see his latest accomplishment.

He wasn’t exactly quick to embrace the D word that was thrown at him from all directions after the clock at Sun Life Stadium hit zero. As for the R word, there was no denying what his team had accomplished.

“I get chills thinking about it,” he said.

Chip Kelly hasn’t won his last day at the University of Oregon.

First reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the talented offensive mind rebuffed potential NFL head coaching jobs at Cleveland and Philadelphia on Sunday night after a whirlwind of rumors, reports and ruminations following Oregon’s Fiesta Bowl win.

For Kelly, it marks the second straight year he has chosen his current position over one in the pros. Kelly reportedly broke the news to the Eagles sometime Sunday afternoon.

A University source confirmed the news to The Oregonian’s Adam Jude, among other media members.

Contributing to the flurry of information on social media, Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel tweeted that Kelly made an appearance late in the evening at a college coaches convention in Nashville.

Throughout the saga, especially following Oregon’s win in the Fiesta Bowl, Kelly said repeatedly he “would listen” to any NFL team interested in his talents. Yet he and other Oregon coaches never committed to either side of the fence. Following Thursday’s game, Kelly met first with the Browns, then the Bills. A lunch with the Eagles ran a reported nine hours, causing Kelly to miss a scheduled second meeting with the Browns.

Another factor in the decision may have been Nike co-founder and Oregon booster Phil Knight. The Oregon alum has been vocal about his support of Kelly and his desire for the coach to stay in Eugene.

“I want Chip,” Knight said, following the Fiesta Bowl win. “He listened to Tampa Bay for a long time, and he never did accept the job. We’ll see what happens.”

Oregon has gone 46-7 in Kelly’s four years as head coach. Only Boise State and Alabama have tallied more wins than Oregon during that same span. Duck fans at the Fiesta Bowl made it clear whose sidelines they hoped Kelly would prowl next year.

“We want Chip! We want Chip!” cascaded down during the trophy presentation. Kelly acknowledged the love in his press conference.

“I think it just, really for me, reaffirms what this place is all about,” Kelly said. “It’s a special place with special people. They accepted me six years ago when I was at New Hampshire. Not many people knew about me. Gave me an opportunity to come here. It really means a lot.”

The move also guarantees Kelly will be the head of the program during Oregon’s meetings this spring with the NCAA. Potential sanctions still hang above the program regarding the Ducks’ dealings with shady recruiter Willie Lyles.

“We’ve cooperated fully with the (NCAA),” Kelly said. “If they want to talk to us again, we’ll continue to cooperate fully. I feel confident in the situation.”

University officials are expected to comment on the situation Monday morning.

An article in Sunday’s issue of the New York Times brought to light an issue that deserves closer examination from the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association.)

The article revealed the NCAA’s drug-testing, which is conducted by an external company, Drug Free Sport, in the interest of transparency, has some less than savory elements to it that do not serve the organization if deterring drugs among student athletes is something they truly value.

Drug Free Sport, which conducts drug testing for the NFL and NBA, was founded by a former NCAA employee. According to the New York Times, the company now receives about $4.6 million every year from the NCAA for their drug tests, yet the article stated “since the company began running the NCAA’s drug-testing program in 1999 … the rate of positive tests has been no higher than 1 percent in any year despite an NCAA survey of student-athletes that indicated at least 1 in 5 used marijuana, a banned substance.”

The stench of conflicts of interest reeks.

Furthermore, unlike other drug-testing agencies which often require drug-testing to be completed within 90 minutes of its announcement, the article stated that college athletes are often given as much as a day’s notice in advance before the tests were administered. In other cases, the colleges were allowed to administer their own tests — making tampering with and skewing test results hard to trace.

While the article itself states that college athletics is not where doping scandals typically take place, if the NCAA places any value in its athletes being drug-free, this form of testing for the sake of testing is certainly not the best way of achieving this.

According to a 2007 study, college athletes are more likely than the average college students to face more pressure to do drugs.

For an organization like the NCAA, so vast in size, it is indeed difficult to find an effective solution that can test the hundreds of thousands of athletes, but the existing policy seems to advocate that it is all right to turn a blind eye. For athletes starting their careers, this should not be the idea they take away.

Though the article does not point to evidence of abuse of the system, the holes in the system should be closed to prevent opportunities for such abuse.

Late Tuesday Jan. 1, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 257-167 on a Senate bill to pass legislation that would avoid the financial situation known as the “fiscal cliff” — a series of spending cuts and tax increases that was scheduled to take effect at the start of this year. The agreement was reached the day the fiscal cliff was supposed to be reached. It was very much an eleventh-hour compromise.

With the approval of the bill, taxes increased for married couples making more than $450,000 a year, and unmarried citizens making more than $400,000. These increases are reminiscent of the tax rates of the Clinton era.

Under the bill unemployment was also extended, which helped 2 million out-of-work Americans, and tax credits for college tuition created by the 2009 stimulus package were also extended for five years, which aided 25 million low-income families. The House also approved to revoke the $900 congressional pay raise.

A major benefit point for students with the approval of the bill is the tax credit for college tuition extension. With tuition increases becoming commonplace, and the price of education rising as textbooks and materials become more expensive, this credit is a small nod to the plight of the student — a relief of sorts for many, especially the low-income families mentioned above.

Although the benefits we reap for this deal are important, the hysteria the deal has cultivated cannot be ignored. The fiscal cliff, and the possibility of reaching it, has been a talking point ever since the election.

People have been fretting over possible hikes in taxes and the next time a major deal needs to be made; there needs to be open negotiation and more visibility and public discussion to, “not scare the heck out of folks quite as much,” as President Barack Obama stated in the White House briefing room after the deal passed.

For Congress to take until the last possible moment to reach a resolution shows a major flaw in the legislative system of our nation. Party affiliated actions have too much power and too much prevalence within the system. Legislators don’t take what is best for the country into account anymore. Rather, they take what is best for their political party. A legislator’s job is to be a voice for their constituents, not of corporate sponsors or to garner political popularity and enjoy perks associated with it. Power and influence are dangerous things. Those who use it for themselves instead of others don’t deserve it. Sadly, in Washington, that doesn’t seem to be a widely held principle.

While it’s important to note that some individuals did cross party lines when voting on the deal, it’s also important to point out desperation was the main factor in the legislators doing so. Compromise was not made for the sake of fairness and a just resolution for all. Compromise was made to distance themselves from blame if things did not resolve in a timely manner. Fear motivated this compromise, not honor. Forced compromise is not compromise. Although the fiscal cliff was avoided, large problems and limits with the legislative system still need to be addressed if Congress is to serve its public adequately and fairly. And if they are unable to do this, their chief task, then their purpose is moot.

Heisman Trophy winners have a reputation of under-playing in the post-season following their receiving the award, but Johnny Manziel quelled any doubts by breaking open a 14-13 game with 27 unanswered points and the No. 10 Aggies ran away with the 2013 AT&T Cotton Bowl against No. 12 Oklahoma, 41-13.

Manziel broke Cotton Bowl records for total offense and rushing yards by a quarterback while the A&M offense broke the SEC record for total offense in a season and the Cotton Bowl record for single-game offense. Manziel’s 229 rushing yards set an all-time FBS bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback.

Manziel said the concern over a perceived inability of Heisman winners to perform in bowl games is over-stated.

“There is too much talk about how you perform after the Heisman and about the layoff and all that,” Manziel said. “There wasn’t anything holding us back. No rust, there was no nothing.”

In equally impressive fashion, the A&M defense held Oklahoma without a single second-half point after showing initial sluggishness.

“The defense played great, and got us the ball back quick,” Manziel said. “It gave us the tempo and we rolled.”

Manziel’s game included 287 yards passing for two touchdowns and one interception to go with 17 carries for 229 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior receiver Ryan Swope – in his final A&M game – eclipsed 100 yards receiving with 104 yards and a touchdown on eight catches. Other seniors delivered in their career end-caps, including defensive back Dustin Harris, who picked off Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones and notched a game-high 10 tackles.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the seniors and what they’ve done this year,” Manziel said. “To go out and win 11 games and do what we’ve done, is impressive.”

Swope said the team knew what was at stake and they played according to gameplan.

Three A&M runners averaged better than six yards per carry: Manziel (13.5), junior running back Ben Malena (7.0), and freshman running back Trey Williams (6.8). The trio combined for four rushing touchdowns and 326 yards. A&M out-gained Oklahoma by a margin of 633 yards to 401.

With the departure of offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury for the head coaching position at Texas Tech, running backs coach Clarence McKinney took the play-calling responsibilities for the game.

“Clarence has been in this offense for five years,” head coach Kevin Sumlin said. “Continuity is important for what we do.”

A back-and-forth first half seemed to promise a close game as Oklahoma entered the locker room at halftime down one point at 14-13. The Aggie defense forced punts on each of the Sooners’ third-quarter possessions and A&M found the endzone three times. The backbreaker for the Sooners may have come on a fourth-and-five completion from Manziel to Swope, who shed a tackler and ran free for the touchdown to put A&M up 34-13.

For A&M, the season concluded with its first 11-win campaign since 1998, its first Heisman Trophy winner since 1957, four All-Americans, an Outland Award winner, the Davey O’Brien and AP Player of the Year awards, and a victory in the Cotton Bowl. The Aggies never trailed in their last six games.

“Every week these guys understood what the plan was and came out and executed at a high level,” head coach Kevin Sumlin said. “This game is really indicative of how we played all season.”

Contributors from all sides of the ball will depart via graduation or early entry in the NFL draft, but expectations will be high entering the 2013 season. The most notable returnee will be Manziel, but Williams, Malena, and redshirt freshman Mike Evans return from the skill positions and will be complemented by a highly touted recruiting class.