The No. 13 Texas Longhorns took a while to get rolling, but a close game turned into a comfortable win after a huge fourth quarter from the defense, including two fourth quarter interceptions of Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood. Texas managed to put the offense into gear in the fourth quarter, mostly thanks to the efforts of the other star quarterback in the game, Texas’s Arch Manning.
ATLANTA -- — With Arizona State one play away from pulling off a comeback for the ages in the College Football Playoff, Quinn Ewers delivered a throw to Matthew Golden that saved the season for Texas.
Then it was left to Andrew Mukuba to finish off Cam Skattebo and the gritty Sun Devils.
If the Longhorns go on to win the national championship, they’ll long remember how they kept their hopes alive in this Peach Bowl quarterfinal classic.
Ewers passed 28 yards to Golden for a touchdown on fourth-and-13 to force a second overtime, and Mukuba's interception clinched a 39-31 victory after Texas squandered a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter and missed two field goal attempts that could've won it in regulation.
“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,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “The resiliency that these guys showed today was something that as a coach makes you really proud.”
Skattebo put No. 10 Arizona State ahead for the first time all day with a 3-yard touchdown run to start overtime against No. 4 Texas, the capper on a brilliant performance that wasn't quite enough to knock off the Longhorns.
The Sun Devils — a two-touchdown underdog, according to Sportsbook — had the game in their grasp before Ewers spotted Golden breaking free behind two defenders to haul in the tying score.
“That's just a testament to how mature this team is and just taking advantage of every single opportunity that we have,” Ewers said.
After moving to the opposite end of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Ewers threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm on the very next play, followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Golden.
The Longhorns (13-2) finally put Arizona State (11-3) away when Mukuba picked off Sam Leavitt’s pass at the 3 to end the game.
“We gave everything we had,” Skattebo said. “We never stopped.”
After a bunch of lopsided results through the first five games of the expanded 12-team playoff, the format finally produced the sort of thrilling game that supporters envisioned.
It sends Texas back to its home state for a Cotton Bowl semifinal against No. 6 Ohio State, which routed No. 1 Oregon 41-21 in the Rose Bowl.
Despite being dominated on the stat sheet most of the game, the Longhorns had a seemingly comfortable 24-8 lead after scoring two early touchdowns and getting a 5-yard scoring run from Ewers with just over 10 minutes remaining.
But Skattebo and the Sun Devils were just getting warmed up.
The running back who calls himself the best in the nation, Skattebo backed up his bravado by displaying every facet of his all-around game.
First, he took a pitch on fourth-and-2 and heaved a 42-yard touchdown pass to Malik McClain that gave the Sun Devils a chance when they made the 2-point conversion.
Then, Skattebo broke loose down the sideline and hauled in a 62-yard throw from Leavitt — getting his helmet ripped off at the end of the play, which seemed like the only way to bring him down.
That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by the bowling ball of a back, and it was only appropriate that Skattebo also powered in for the 2-point conversion that tied the game at 24 with 5 minutes remaining.
Texas had a pair of chances to win in regulation, but Bert Auburn was wide right on a 48-yard field goal attempt and clanked one off the left upright from 38 yards away as time expired.
“We weren’t at our best and it felt like an NCAA March Madness basketball game with the swings of emotions and things,” Sarkisian said. “I'm just proud of these guys because not every game is going to be pretty and not every game is just going to go exactly how you want it to go.”
In the final minute of the third quarter, Texas led 17-8 even though Arizona State had a commanding 303-128 lead in total yards and had held the ball nearly three times longer than the Longhorns, 32:49 to 11:30.
Arizona State finished with 510 yards to 375 for the Longhorns.
Despite vomiting on the sideline before the start of the fourth quarter, Skattebo rushed for 143 yards, made eight catches for another 99 yards and, of course, had that one big completion.
It wasn’t quite enough.
Ewers threw for 322 yards, with Golden making seven receptions for 149 yards.
Early fireworks
After Arizona State drove for a field goal on the opening possession, Texas needed only two plays to claim the lead.
Ewers hooked up with Golden on a 54-yard play, then went to DeAndre Moore Jr. for a 23-yard scoring pass.
Both times, the Longhorns went after Montana Warren, starting in place of Shamari Simmons with the Sun Devils star forced to sit out the first half after being penalized for targeting in the Big 12 championship game.
Arizona State then went three-and-out and Silas Bolden returned the punt 75 yards for another Texas touchdown. Having taken just two snaps, the Longhorns had a 14-3 lead.
But any thoughts of another CFP blowout faded as Texas struggled to finish off the Sun Devils, one of the nation’s most surprising teams after going 3-9 a year ago and remaining largely unnoticed until late this season.
The takeaway
Texas: It wasn’t pretty, but Sarkisian was correct to give the Longhorns points for resiliency. This also provides the coaching staff with plenty of teaching tools, because it’s hard to see Texas winning two more games — and a national championship — without significant improvement.
Arizona State: The Sun Devils will regret all the chances they squandered before the fourth quarter. Three times, they were stopped on fourth down in Texas territory. The Longhorns also blocked a 36-yard field goal attempt just before the end of the first half. But this was a performance that is sure to boost ASU’s profile nationwide and give coach Kenny Dillingham’s program a sense that it does belong among the nation’s elite.
Up next
Texas: The Longhorns will face Ohio State for the first time since the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, when Texas prevailed 24-21. The Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 will make the fourth meeting overall between the powerhouse programs, with Texas holding a 2-1 lead in the series.
Arizona State: Will look to build on its remarkable turnaround, beginning with the 2025 season opener hosting Northern Arizona on Aug. 30.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- — Dylan Disu overcame early foul trouble to score 18 points, Marcus Carr and Sir'Jabari Rice added 17 apiece, and seventh-ranked Texas silenced a heavily pro-Kansas crowd with a 76-56 romp over the third-ranked Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament title game Saturday night.
After going more than two decades without a Big 12 tourney championship, the Longhorns (26-8) have won two of the past three, and likely wrapped up a No. 2 seed in next week's NCAA Tournament with their performance in Kansas City.
With interim coach Rodney Terry leading the way, the Longhorns built a 39-33 lead by halftime, extended it to 20 down the stretch and coasted toward a shower of confetti during a net-cutting celebration.
Jalen Wilson scored 24 points and Joseph Yesufu, pressed into the starting lineup due to injuries, finished with 11 for the Jayhawks (27-7), who had won 13 of their previous 16 trips to the Big 12 finals.
The question now is whether the defending national champs did enough before Saturday night to earn the overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament, and with it a favorable road through Kansas City in the regional round.
Kansas was once again without Hall of Fame coach Bill Self, who went to the emergency room on the eve of its quarterfinal for an undisclosed medical procedure. Self's longtime assistant and acting coach, Norm Roberts, once again called the shots from the sideline for the championship game.
On the other side stood Terry, who certainly didn't expect to be pulling the strings for Texas. But when Chris Beard was fired for an off-the-court incident early in the season, the former Fresno State and UTEP coach not only kept his talented team together but guided it to a second-place finish in the regular season.
Right behind the Jayhawks, who also happened to be defending Big 12 Tournament champs.
Both teams were missing starters Saturday night due to injuries — Kevin McCullar Jr. for the Jayhawks, Timmy Allen for the Longhorns — yet there was still plenty of star power on display inside the T-Mobile Center.
Wilson, the league's player of the year, kept the Jayhawks afloat during a scattershot first half. He scored 17 points, more than half their total, while pounding the glass and even picking up a steal.
Texas, meanwhile, relied on depth and balance in forging a 39-33 halftime lead. It had to after losing Disu, who already had been a revelation the previous two rounds, to a pair of fouls less than eight minutes into the game.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- — Texas finally won the Big 12 Tournament championship.
Don't try telling the Longhorns they didn't earn it.
After getting a free pass through the semifinals when Kansas withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test, and avoiding mighty Baylor once they reached the title game, embattled coach Shaka Smart's bunch took advantage of the situation Saturday night with 91-86 victory over No. 12 Oklahoma State.
Matt Coleman poured in a career-high 30 points, Jericho Simms had a career-best 21 to go with 14 rebounds, and the third-seeded Longhorns stayed poised during the tense final minutes to win for the first time in seven trips to the finals.
"This is a gift to everyone, whether they've supported us or not," said Smart, whose future at Texas was in question after last season. "And there's a lot of people that have supported us, and we're grateful for it. But the most important thing is our guys stayed connected, and I'm just happy they get to experience this feeling."
It's the first conference tournament title for Texas since winning the old Southwest Conference in 1995.
"We've earned just a little bit of respect from, well, anybody, you know?" Coleman said. "And not that we're searching for respect. We knew in each other what we had, what we could do."
Freshman star Cade Cunningham had 29 points to lead fifth-seeded Oklahoma State (20-8), including a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute, the second of them pulling his plucky team within 89-86 with 6 seconds to go.
The Cowboys immediately fouled Andrew Jones, and he calmly made two free throws to clinch the game.
Isaac Likekele added 13 points and Kalib Boone had 12 for the Cowboys, who fought past No. 10 West Virginia and the second-ranked Bears the previous two days to reach their first Big 12 Tournament title game since 2009.
"It's so valuable having gone through this," Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said, "and the thing I will remind them of probably every day until we play, the next time we have this feeling losing a game, it's over.
"We need to make sure we have an understanding of that."
While the Cowboys looked weary early on, the Longhorns appeared fresh from their day off.
They tracked down every loose ball, were quicker in transition and spent most of the first 20 minutes above the rim with a series of alley-oop dunks. Sims and Kai Jones did most of the damage with their size inside, but the Texas backcourt that was so good in the quarterfinals provided plenty of balance.
Coleman and Co. helped the Longhorns (19-7) stretch a 29-25 lead into a 43-33 advantage by halftime.
"They were the aggressors the whole first half," Boone said. "They looked like they wanted to win. We looked like we just wanted to hang in there for a second."
It didn't help Oklahoma State's cause that it went 0 for 9 from beyond the arc.
Cunningham finally hit the Cowboys' first 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the second half, and the All-Big 12 forward kept pouring it on. Cunningham added another moments later as Oklahoma State whittled an 11-point lead to 52-48. And when Texas stretched the lead again, he fed Anderson with a nifty pass to get within 66-59 with 8 minutes to go.
Foul trouble began to set in, though. Cowboys forward Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe was the first to foul out, and Anderson joined him on the bench when he picked up his fifth foul with Texas clinging to an 81-75 lead and 1:16 to go.
Of course it would be Coleman that helped put the game away.
After hitting the go-ahead foul shots with 1.8 seconds left in a 67-66 quarterfinal win over No. 20 Texas Tech, the senior guard calmly made two more to give the Longhorns an 83-75 lead with 1:15 to go in the championship.
The Longhorns held on from there for their seventh win over a Top 25 opponent this season.
"I can't even explain it. Nobody knows how much it means for myself and for coach," Coleman said. "Since the day we stepped on campus, we got the whole team here, I looked to my left and my right and said, ‘We've got some guys. We've got the makeup to do something special this season.'"
BIG PICTURE
Oklahoma State finished the season on a roll, winning eight of its last nine before the Big 12 title game with a pair of OT victories. The Cowboys beat six ranked teams in the past two weeks to build some NCAA Tournament momentum.
Texas is starting to hit its stride, too, after playing just six games in 35 days due to positive COVID-19 tests in January and February. All seven of the Longhorns' losses this season have come against teams that were ranked at the time.
UP NEXT
The teams will remain in Kansas City to learn their NCAA Tournament seeding — both should land around the 3-line in the bracket Sunday — and continue with daily COVID-19 testing before departing for Indianapolis.
------
The latest tumultuous season for Texas ended on a positive note.
To cap off a season full of underwhelming performances, disappointing losses and coaching rumors, the No. 20 Longhorns knocked off Colorado in the Alamo Bowl 55-23 to finish the year with a 7-3 record.
The game could prove to be somewhat of a passing of the torch for Tom Herman’s program. Sam Ehlinger has started at quarterback for nearly every game of Herman’s four years at Texas. Though he has the option to return in 2021, Tuesday night’s game was the final outing of Ehlinger’s senior year. Unfortunately, it ended prematurely.
Ehlinger completed 10-of-16 throws for 160 yards and a touchdown, helping the Longhorns take a 17-10 lead at halftime. But he didn’t come back out from the locker room for the third quarter and was ruled out with a shoulder injury. He later returned to the sideline with his right arm in a sling. And if this was indeed his final game in a UT uniform, Ehlinger finishes No. 2 in program history in passing yards (11,336), touchdowns (94) and completions (923).
With Ehlinger sidelined, backup Casey Thompson filled in admirably. Thompson, a sophomore, completed eight of his 10 throws for 170 yards and four touchdowns. But it wasn’t Thompson who shined the brightest among Texas’ young core. It was freshman running back Bijan Robinson.
Robinson, on the heels of 223 all-purpose yards in the regular season finale vs. Kansas State, was the best player on the field against Colorado. In the first quarter alone, Robinson reeled off runs of 27 and 50 yards, scored on an eight-yard run and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass.
On the first play of the second half, Robinson exploded through the line for a 66-yard gain to set up a 13-yard touchdown pass from Thompson to Joshua Moore. Robinson later scored his third touchdown on a throwback screen from Thompson that went for 23 yards and increased Texas’ lead to 41-16.
In the end, Robinson finished with 183 yards and a touchdown on just 10 rushes along with two catches for 37 yards and two more scores. Moore, another underclassman, led the receiving group with five catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
Fourth straight bowl win under Tom Herman
With the win, Texas is now 4-0 in bowl games under Herman. The Longhorns beat Missouri in the Texas Bowl in 2017, infamously beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in 2018, and beat Utah in last year’s Alamo Bowl.
Each time, the bowl win generated a level of hype entering the offseason and the subsequent season. Herman’s teams have never quite lived up to that hype, though.
After the Sugar Bowl win (you know, the one where Ehlinger said Texas is “back”), UT followed it up by going 8-5 in 2019. It was a disappointing year, but the blowout bowl win over Utah played a part in getting people’s hopes up for the program entering 2020.
Again, UT fell short of expectations. The Longhorns started the year 2-2, including another loss to Oklahoma in the Red River game. Later in the year, the Longhorns’ Big 12 title game hopes were still alive — until they blew a late lead in a loss to Iowa State.
That was a game that turned the intensity up on Herman’s hot seat. The school’s pursuit of Urban Meyer was no secret, but Meyer wasn’t interested and UT athletic director Chris Del Conte eventually issued a half-hearted vote of confidence in which he said simply that Herman “is our coach.”
So the show will roll on into 2021 with Herman at the head. The hot seat talk won’t subside, either. And with the way guys like Robinson and Thompson performed against Colorado, the usual Texas hype machine should be alive and well once again throughout the offseason. Will it be warranted? If past seasons are any indication, it’s unlikely.
