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Texas lost a heartbreaker to Ohio State on Friday night at the Cotton Bowl, 28-14.
The Longhorns had a chance to tie the game late, but a fumble by Quinn Ewers on 4th down turned into a Jack Sawyer touchdown return that sealed the game for the Buckeyes. Texas provided a valiant effort, but came up just short in the CFP semifinals for a second consecutive season.
Here are 3 takeaways from Texas’ loss:
Dual-threat running backs
Texas’s offense struggled at times in this game, but the Longhorns were able to consistently make progress through the air by targeting running backs Jaydon Blue and Tre Wisner.
Blue and Wisner were UT’s leading receivers on the night. They caught a combined 11 of Ewers’ 23 total completions for a total of 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. Both of the scores were by Blue, including a game-tying touchdown midway through the 4th quarter.
Unfortunately for Texas, it did not find much success running the ball. Wisner carried the ball 17 times for 46 yards while Blue totaled 16 rushing yards on 4 attempts.
Texas’s defense was (mostly) excellent
Despite the loss, Texas put up as good a fight against this Ohio State team as anyone else all season outside of Michigan. Ohio State managed 6.5 yards per play, which is below-average by their standards.
If you remove Ohio State’s biggest play of the day, a 75-yard touchdown pass to TreVeyon Henderson at the end of the first half, that per-play average drops to just 5.3 yards.
Texas recorded 4 tackles for loss and held Ohio State to just 3.4 yards per carry on the night.
Was this the last of Quinn Ewers in Burnt Orange?
It’s long been the expectation that Arch Manning would take over as Texas’s quarterback beginning in 2025 after sitting behind Ewers for 2 seasons.
Ewers had a disappointing 2024 season, though, and still has collegiate eligibility remaining. It’s possible he will opt to return to Texas — or another college football program — in 2025.
Regardless of where Ewers ends up next season, it’s worth recognizing Ewers’ impact in Austin. He led Texas to its first 2 CFP appearances in program history and departs Texas in 3rd place on the program’s all-time passing yardage list.
His accomplishments also include going 3-1 vs. rivals Oklahoma and Texas A&M and leading Texas to the SEC Championship Game in 2024.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
