On New Year’s Day, the Texas Longhorns looked to clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals with a win over Arizona State. But, despite of a sizable 13-point spread, Saturday’s contest was a lot closer than many predicted. After a late comeback by the Sun Devils, it was the Longhorns who answered the bell in a 39-31 double overtime thriller.
On Saturday, it took two plays on offense for the Longhorns to find the end zone. After a big 54-yard pass from Quinn Ewers to Matthew Golden, Ewers found DeAndre Moore Jr on a 23-yard touchdown strike. To add insult to injury for Arizona State, Silas Bolden then followed that score up with a 75-yard punt return touchdown. With 7:08 in the first quarter, Texas led Arizona State 14-3.
However, this year’s Peach Bowl was going to be no walk in the park. In fact, Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner struggled to find any room to work with in the running game. In total, Wisner tallied 45 yards rushing against the Sun Devils. As a result of Arizona State’s defensive front, Steve Sarkisian’s offensive attack was fairly limited.
Because of Texas’ inability to establish a running game, Arizona State absolutely controlled the time of possession. After a difficult start to the contest, Texas’ defense started to wear down thanks to Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo. Against Texas, Skattebo tallied a whopping 284 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Furthermore, Skattebo fought through pain all night, and only got better with increased adversity.
After the Texas offense continued to sputter, Arizona State finally took advantage. First, Skattebo fired a 42-yard touchdown pass to Malik McClain with 6:31 left in the fourth quarter. Following Skattebo’s throw, Texas’s lead over the Sun Devils was cut to 24-8. Afterwards, Skattebo forced overtime with two consecutive rushing touchdowns.
The difficult part to understand? The Longhorn defense continued to shine. On Saturday, the Texas offense had every opportunity to seize the game and did not. Consequently, the defensive dam was bound to break at some point and it did.
But, when all hope was lost, Quinn Ewers and the Longhorn offense looked their best. In overtime, Ewers fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Golden on fourth down. Then, in the next overtime period, Ewers found Gunnar Helm for a 25-yard touchdown. Ultimately, that was enough to win the game after defensive back Andrew Mukuba sealed the game with an interception.
With the 39-31 victory, Texas now looks ahead to the next round of the playoffs. If Texas wants to advance past the semifinal round, the team will need to find some consistency on offense. The good news? Quinn Ewers is starting to show glimpses of his true potential. On Saturday, Ewers tallied 322 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and an interception. However, the issue this season has been that neither the running or passing games have seemed to click at the same time.
Now, Texas will take on the winner of Ohio State-Oregon in the Cotton Bowl on January 10th. Kickoff from Arlington, TX is scheduled for 6:30 PM (CT), and will air on ESPN. With a win, the Longhorns would be just one victory shy of winning the national championship.
