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The College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Peach Bowl was a classic between Texas and Arizona State. Despite Steve Sarkisian and Texas coming into the game as a heavy favorite, this one came down to the wire and featured one of the best finishes in the CFP era. In the end, Texas got the job done 39-31 in double overtime to advance to the semifinals.
Despite the victory, Texas struggled for a majority of this game and could easily have lost in regulation had Arizona State not missed multiple fourth downs and had a field goal blocked earlier in the game. While the Longhorns should rightfully get credit for making those key stops, Sarkisian knows that the consistency on offense must be better moving forward if Texas wants to reach its goals this season, according to Inside Texas.
“Steve Sarkisian mentions that Texas struggled to get into rhythm in the run game and points toward Texas running only 60 plays across four quarters and two overtimes,” Inside Texas wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
After scoring a touchdown in just two plays on its opening drive, Texas didn't find the end zone on offense again until the fourth quarter, though it did return a punt for a touchdown in the first half. During that time, the running game couldn't get going and Arizona State was doing a good job of taking away the crossing routes that Texas has so much success with.
The offense got going again in the overtimes, just in time to pull out the win. Quinn Ewers hit Matthew Golden for a clutch touchdown on fourth-and-13 to keep Texas in it and force a second extra period. After that, Ewers immediately found tight end Gunnar Helm for a touchdown on the first play of the second overtime.
The Texas defense finally slowed down the Arizona State offense and got a stop on an interception by star safety Andrew Mukuba Jr., and the Longhorns escaped with a victory. After the game, Sarkisian complimented the team's fight and resilience despite not playing its best football on Wednesday, via Inside Texas.
“As far as our guys go today, not our cleanest game of the year,” Sarkisian said. “That's okay to say that, but the one thing that I know about our group is when our backs are against the wall and when our best is needed, our best shows up time and time again.”
Texas will now await its next opponent, either Ohio State or Oregon, in the Cotton Bowl next Friday night. The Longhorns will certainly have a healthy home-field advantage playing in Dallas for that one as they look for their first appearance in the National Championship Game appearance since 2010.
