The Texas Longhorns pulled out a very narrow victory over Arizona State on Wednesday. It took Steve Sarkisian and Texas some extra time, but they were eventually able to sneak away with a 39-31 win in double overtime.
After it looked like Texas was ready to run away with the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Peach Bowl, the Longhorns stalled out on offense as Arizona State slowly crawled back into the game and eventually forced the extra period. However, whenever Texas needed it, wide receiver Matthew Golden was there to make a key play.
Golden caught the game-tying touchdown in the first overtime on a miraculous fourth-and-13 hookup from Quinn Ewers, which kept Texas' season alive. After the game, Sarkisian gave a heartfelt shoutout to his star receiver after he came up big in this one, via Inside Texas.
“You earn trust with consistency and time,” Sarkisian said. “I think there's a level of consistency in Matthew's game that he's earned a lot of trust from myself and Quinn that in a lot of critical moments it's easy to try to find him because you know he's going to be in the right spot, you know he's going to be competitively tough and make those plays.”
Article Continues BelowIn addition to the final touchdown, Golden came up big time and time again on Wednesday for Texas. He picked up a number of huge third downs and was really the only Longhorns wideout who was able to consistently make big plays down the field. For the game, Golden finished with seven catches for 149 yards and a touchdown, and he also made an acrobatic grab on Texas' final two-point conversion.
Golden is one part of a very talented Texas receiving core that includes potential NFL Draft pick Isaiah Bond and freshman phenom Ryan Wingo. The Longhorns' fourth receiver, the speedy Silas Bolden, also returned a punt for a touchdown during this game.
With a crop of weapons like that, this Texas football team has one of the most dangerous offenses in the league. With just two games to go until a potential National Championship, that is the type of group that can get them to the end of the season with the trophy in hand.