Subscribe
Follow Us
Well, Texas is back. Back at home and will be watching the College Football Playoff national championship on their respective couches after the Longhorns fell to Washington in the semifinal Sugar Bowl game.
It's definitely not the ending those in Austin had hoped for this season, but nonetheless, it still has to be recognized as nothing short of a great season for Texas football as they now set off for the SEC in 2024.
Monday night's New Year's Sugar Bowl game, which went into the early hours of the second day of the young year, was the endcap to what has to be considered one of the better semifinals in the CFP. For most of the game, it was a back-and-forth scoring affair between two teams, with Washington taking a 34-21 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after a Longhorns turnover.
But Texas came reeling back, if not by a sheer stroke of luck thanks to Washington's running back Dillon Johnson being injured late in the fourth quarter while trying to run out the clock, causing a timeout to be taken, giving the Longhorns enough time on the clock to drive down the field.
But unfortunately for Texas football, their season came to an end after hope was revived, leaving many to wonder what could have been if they could have only been playing for their first national title in almost two decades, in their home state no less in Houston, TX.
But who's to blame for this Texas Sugar Bowl loss to Washington? Let's take a look.
CJ Baxter's fumble in the third quarter
Winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half, Washington received the ball to start the third quarter and drove down in eight plays to score a touchdown to go up 28-21. One play in on the ensuing drive, freshman running back CJ Baxter ran for eight yards but fumbled, with the Huskies recovering at the Texas 33. Five plays later, Washington went up 10 for a lead they never lost after that.
Jaydon Blue fumbles in the fourth quarter
After Washington went up by 10, Texas punted on their ensuing drive, but Washington then went on a 12-play, 5:48 drive that resulted in another field goal to go up 34-21. With the game starting to feel out of reach, the Longhorns had to score on their next drive.
Four plays in, Texas got down to the Washington 43. But on a first-and-10, Quinn Ewers' pass to Jaydon Blue went for 19 yards, but the wide receiver fumbled, and it was recovered at the Washington 24. Officials originally said he was down, but it was clear the ball was well out and bouncing around well before Blue hit the ground.
That would be the last of the Longhorns' turnovers on the evening, but that's all Washington needed.
Quinn Ewers, Steve Sarkisian last four plays to end the game
It's really hard to put a ton of blame on Ewers for this game as he played really well, especially even to get the Longhorns in the position to win the game late by driving 56 yards downfield with 41 seconds left. But with first-and-10 from the Washington 12 with only 15 seconds left, Sarkisian called a swing pass to Blue that lost a yard, and then three consecutive incompletions later, the game was over.
“He was more of a checkdown on the play. We were looking for an opportunity for [Ja’Tavion Sanders] or [Jordan Whittington], trying to create a 1-on-1 matchup for those guys to go high point it,” Steve Sarkisian said in the postgame. “Naturally, they did a good job defending it, and Quinn did a good job of just getting the ball out to [Jaydon] Blue with a chance in space. But he had to get out of bounds.
“It’s a tricky situation in that you’re out of timeouts. So we have to be careful that we don’t complete a ball short of the goal line or pretty much the game’s going to end at that point.”
It's almost unfair to criticize moments like that with so much pressure and so much on the line. But that's the job. It still can't be understated how good of a year Texas had, though.
