AUSTIN, Texas — Get ready for another few days of hot debate about the Bowl Championship Series, the Big 12 title chase and the best player in college football — with the Texas Longhorns smack in the middle of it all.

Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy made another strong statement in his case for the Heisman Trophy and No. 4 Texas put a historic beating on an old rival with a 49-9 victory over Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night.

The question now is, was whipping a bad team good enough to keep McCoy and the Longhorns in play for the trophy and the championships?

"It was a great night for Texas football," said Longhorns coach Mack Brown, who earned career win No. 200. "I felt they made the statement they needed to make. Starting with Colt."

McCoy passed for two touchdowns and ran for two more as the Longhorns (11-1, 7-1 Big 12) posted the largest margin of victory in the rivalry since a 48-0 Texas victory way back in 1898.

McCoy finished with 311 yards on 23-of-28 passing and ran for 49 more to earn his first win over the Aggies in three tries. He also got career victory No. 31, passing Vince Young to set a Texas record for starting quarterbacks, and set a Longhorns season record with 3,594 yards passing.

Defensively, Texas held the Aggies (4-8, 2-6) to 245 total yards and minus-24 yards rushing. The Longhorns sacked quarterbacks Jerrod Johnson and Stephen McGee six times

Texas, currently No. 2 in the BCS standings, now must wait until this weekend to see if its national title dreams are intact. The Longhorns are in prime position for at least a berth in a BCS bowl, but need some help if the team that spent a month at No. 1 will be able to play for the Big 12 title and BCS national championship.

A potential three-way tie for the Big 12 South division could swing to No. 3 Oklahoma if the Sooners beat No. 11 Oklahoma State on Saturday and leap Texas in the BCS rankings. Even if the Sooners lose, No. 7 Texas Tech still holds a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Longhorns going into the Red Raiders' game against Baylor.

That's why Texas needed a big win over a big rival in front of a national television audience. Style matters at this point in the season and the question now is whether Texas' victory impressed BCS voters. The Associated Press rankings are not part of the BCS.

"I do think that if we go to the Big 12 championship, it will probably be because we are a great football team and we beat Oklahoma on a neutral site," Brown said.

"The voters have a real tough decision. Oklahoma is a great team. Texas Tech is a great team. I do not want to sit here and take anything away from them. This league is better than it's ever been," Brown said.

McCoy deflected questions about what should happen to his Longhorns at this point.

"We can't control all that. We wanted to leave it all out on the field and we did that," he said.