Despite Texas' loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoffs, Matthew McConaughey will always be a Longhorns football superfan. The 55-year-old actor encouraged the team on social media after their heartbreaking loss in the Cotton Bowl.

“Hell of a fight tonight men of @TexasLonghorns football,” McConaughey tweeted. “After the pain subsides, be sure and love each other and yourselves for so much that you did so well this year. It was a season to be proud of. Until forever. #hookem”

McConaughey was present on the Texas sideline at AT&T Stadium for the Cotton Bowl, an act he typically performs for big games. Unsurprisingly, he donned his signature cowboy hat the entire game.

A native of Uvalde, Texas, McConaughey graduated from Texas in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in television and film studies. He got his first acting job before even graduating, accepting a role on “Unsolved Mysteries” in 1992, per IMDb.

Since rising to prominence as one of the most iconic American actors of the current era, McConaughey has been Texas' biggest celebrity fan. A lifelong football fan, McConaughey memorably played legendary coach Jack Lengyel in the iconic movie “We Are Marshall.”

Matthew McConaughey watches Texas suffer second consecutive CFP semifinal defeat

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While the 2025 Cotton Bowl was much closer than the final score indicated, the Longhorns fell one game short of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game for the second season in a row. A year before losing to Ohio State, Texas lost a one-score game to Washington in the 2024 Sugar Bowl.

Despite losing by two scores to Ohio State, Texas was just as close to making the National Championship Game in 2025. The Longhorns had the ball on the Buckeyes' one-yard line with under three minutes to go in a 21-14 game. A failed jet sweep pushed them back to the eight-yard line.

Two plays later, Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer strip-sacked Quinn Ewers and returned the ball 92 yards for a score. Texas would not recover as Ewers threw an interception on the ensuing possession to firmly seal the team's fate.

Moving forward, the Longhorns appear likely to enter a new era in 2025. While Ewers is eligible to return to the team, all signs indicate Steve Sarkisian turning the keys over to superstar sophomore Arch Manning. As the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, Arch Manning has just two starts in his career but is already one of the biggest stars in college football.