Texas 39 Arizona State 31 (OT)
Pretty boring game, tbh
The Texas Longhorns became the first team to win all six NY6 bowl games on Wednesday afternoon, outlasting the Arizona State Sun Devils in a wild game, 39-31 in double overtime.
It was the second game in two tries in Atlanta where Texas was forced to go to overtime.
It was a game typical of the 2024 schedule for the Horns, where they raced out to a 14-3 lead in a matter of minutes and it looked like a laugher before they had to hold on by the skin of their teeth late and eventually had to pull it out of their you know what to win the thing.
Quinn Ewers looked great early, got no help from his offensive line in the middle, under threw a couple of deep balls and then finally threw a bad interception that gave the ball to Arizona State midway through the fourth quarter with a chance to tie, which they did.
And then we found out that Steve Sarkisian might know what he is doing after all.
Ewers directed not one but two drives in the final minutes to give his team a chance to win the game with a non-spectacular field goal, but twice Bert Auburn missed kicks that would have most likely given Texas the win.
In overtime, Arizona State scored a touchdown first, forcing the Longhorns to match, but a slew of negative plays and penalties left the Longhorns with a 4th and 13 with their season on the line.
Showing a blitz up the middle, Ewers shifted his protection, changed Matthew Golden’s route and Touchdown Texas!
ESPN couldn’t get their shit together in time, but in the first play of the second overtime, Texas got Gunnar Helm open on a TE leak play, perfectly executed by the Texas offense, and then the defense got their first turnover of the game to clinch it.
We can talk about Texas’s offensive line, we can talk about the running game, we can talk about the two misses by Auburn, we can talk about the officials, we can talk about Cam Skattebo and Sam Leavitt’s shiftiness, but at the end of the day, Texas’s third-year starting quarterback was 11-of-14 passing for 161 yards with two touchdowns past the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and he led his team to victory, not taking no for an answer.
“Quinn is a G,” Sarkisian said after the game.
He is, indeed. And it might take winning in Atlanta again for some of y’all to realize that.
There is plenty of time to talk about what went wrong, but Texas survived and advanced, and we don’t apologize for playoff wins.
The Horns take on Ohio State next, and we’ll have plenty to say on that next week, but I just find it hilarious that everyone wanted to fire Ryan Day into the sun a month ago but now they are some unbeatable juggernaut.
Hook em!
Texas first to win all six games
second straight overtime in this stadium
Quinn had the bad interception (maybe we should just stick to deep balls along the sidelines?), but was clutch in 4Q when he got this kicker in position to win the game twice and was nails in the OT;
Quinn in the final 5:00 of regulation and two overtime periods: 11/14 161 yds 2 TDs
Sarkisian after the game: “Quinn is a G, man'“