CFB fans praise Texas’s stout defense for impressive showing vs. Ohio State

CFB fans were mostly in approval of one thing as the Ohio State-Texas showdown arrived at halftime on Friday night in Arlington, Texas.

And that is, for all the Longhorns’ offensive faults, they’ve got a pretty darn good defense that was stifling the high-octane Buckeyes through 30 minutes in the second College Football Playoff semifinal.

After surrendering a 10-play, 64-yard touchdown drive on Ohio State’s first possession of the game, it looked like it might be the start of a long night of football in Texas’s home state. The Buckeyes led 7-0 and with the Longhorns’ offense failing to muster much with Quinn Ewers at the helm, well, it was getting late very early in the Cotton Bowl.

Until it wasn’t. Because the Texas defense got nasty after that, pitching a shutout for the rest of the first half until disaster struck as Will Howard connected with TreVeyon Henderson on a 75-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left before halftime that put Ohio State back up, 14-7, at halftime.

Still, the Longhorns defense had kept the team in the game with still another half to go, as the teams battled for the right to face Notre Dame in the national title game on Jan. 20. Apart from the first and last drive of the first half by the Buckeyes, the Longhorns were lights out and kept Texas in the game despite early offensive struggles.

Here is a sampling of the pro-Texas defense posts on social media (before that awful late touchdown, of course):

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.