ATLANTA — Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers sat at his locker lengthy after an exciting 39-31 double-overtime win over Arizona State had ended Wednesday, his coronary heart charge again to regular.
“We had them proper the place we wished them,” Ewers instructed ESPN with a sly smile when requested about his season-saving landing go on fourth-and-13 within the first extra time.
Ewers then delivered one other landing go within the second extra time, and security Andrew Mukuba sealed the victory with an interception, serving to the Longhorns win the College Football Playoff quarterfinal sport on the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and advance to the semifinals on the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, the place they’re going to face Ohio State.
For Texas, it was two gamers, usually underappreciated at varied instances of their careers, who got here up large with the sport on the road. Coach Steve Sarkisian praised his workforce for its resilience afterward, discovering a strategy to win regardless of blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead.
“One factor that I learn about our group is when our backs are towards the wall and when our greatest is required, our greatest reveals up time and time once more,” Sarkisian mentioned. “There’s going to be loads of stuff that we’ll take a look at and say, ‘We obtained to do higher,’ however our toughness and combat would not must be higher. If there’s one factor that you really want as a calling card on your workforce, [it’s] simply that.”
That resilience begins with Ewers. The Texas offense struggled for a lot of the sport, unable to get its floor sport going and compelled into far too many third-and-longs. After a fast 77 yards in two performs on the primary drive of the sport, Texas slogged by the subsequent two quarters with 64 complete yards.
At one level, up 17-3 within the third quarter, Ewers was sacked ultimately zone after recovering a fumble. It was the primary security in CFP historical past and cracked the door open for Arizona State to regain its confidence and get again within the sport.
But Ewers bounced again from that and confirmed loads of grit, main Texas on two fourth-quarter drives that led to missed discipline objective makes an attempt, together with one from 38 yards that will have received it in regulation. He needed to present that willpower once more for Texas to win.
Arizona State had already scored to go up 31-24 within the first extra time. Texas confronted fourth-and-13 from the Arizona State 28, one play to find out its season. Ewers noticed Arizona State had deliberate to blitz and altered the safety on the line. When offensive coordinator Kyle Flood noticed that, he knew the Longhorns would have a one-on-one alternative to get the ball to Matthew Golden.
Sure sufficient, Texas dealt with the strain. Golden streaked down the sideline and Ewers delivered an ideal ball for a 28-yard landing go, the identical means the Longhorns practiced it days earlier than the sport. The job was not performed.
Yet.
Texas obtained the ball to begin the second extra time. The first-down play was a go play referred to as for tight finish Gunnar Helm. Ewers mentioned it was a play the Longhorns prefer to run within the spring and fall camp throughout a portion of follow referred to as “purple zone lockout,” when the offense goes towards the protection in simulated extra time conditions. The final time they ran it in a sport was final yr towards Iowa State. Helm scored.
Ewers threaded the ball completely for Helm once more. Touchdown. The 2-point conversion to Golden? Successful. Now, it was time for the protection, which had carried Texas whereas the offense struggled. Through three quarters, Texas had shut down one purple zone alternative after one other for Arizona State, together with a vital fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line late within the third quarter.
But the Sun Devils had the ball for almost 13 minutes within the third quarter, which started to put on down the protection, and Cam Skattebo began to seek out his groove.
By the time Skattebo helped the Sun Devils tie the rating with 5 minutes left in regulation, the power was gone from the Texas protection. Mukuba, a switch from Clemson, went to veteran chief Jahdae Barron and instructed him one thing needed to be performed. The protection needed to get its power again.
After Texas tied the rating within the first extra time, Barron gathered the defensive gamers and mentioned, “The offense goes to go rating. The sport is on us.'”
Mukuba, who grew up in Austin, determined to switch to the Longhorns after not reaching what he believed was his full potential with the Tigers. He got here right into a veteran group led by Barron, among the finest defensive gamers in faculty soccer. But this time, Mukuba believed, the second was made for him.
Arizona State confronted third-and-8 from the Texas 10-yard line within the second extra time, trailing by eight factors. As quarterback Sam Leavitt dropped again to go, Mukuba noticed the play was coming towards him. He mentioned he thought, “I’ve to make the play. Obviously, we need to win. We need to get to the subsequent spherical. In that second, I felt it was on me.”
Mukuba hauled within the interception. Game over. The Longhorns ran onto the sphere in celebration, absolutely conscious that they had not performed probably the most full sport however discovered a strategy to win. It was a far totally different feeling than one yr in the past at the moment, when Ewers threw incomplete on the ultimate play of the Sugar Bowl to lose to Washington within the CFP semifinals and finish what had appeared to be a storybook season.
Now, the Longhorns have one other semifinal likelihood, with the hope they will return to Atlanta in 19 days to play for a nationwide championship. They opened as five-point underdogs to the Buckeyes within the Cotton Bowl, in response to ESPN BET.
“It positive does really feel an entire lot higher to be on this aspect of issues,” Ewers mentioned. “That actually confirmed by at the moment. With all of the momentum swings that have been occurring, all of us simply stayed assured in our personal sport. The resiliency of all these guys is unreal.”
