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Michael Taaffe lets out guttural screams as he exits Cotton Bowl following Texas loss
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Michael Taaffe was understandably distraught following Friday night’s loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Texas lost a heartbreaker in the Cotton Bowl, 28-14, to end a second consecutive season one game shy of the national championship. The Longhorns had a chance in the closing minutes to tie the ball game at 21-21, but a scoop-and-score touchdown from Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer ended the threat and iced the game.
Afterward, Taaffe let all of his emotions out in the tunnel as he was leaving the field.
The junior safety had 5 tackles in the game. In 3 Playoff games for the Longhorns this season, he made 17 tackles and broke up 3 passes.
“This team’s so special to me,” Taaffe told Inside Texas after the game. “Just for this chapter of this book to close for this team, as far as we can’t play another game together. That hurt. Emotionally that hurts. Just to not be able to play with those guys ever again, wearing the burnt orange.”
An Austin native, Taaffe is a fifth-generation Longhorn who initially walked on in 2021. He was named a second-team All-American by the AP this year.
“I grew up wanting to be on this stage every moment of my life,” Taaffe told Inside Texas. “And to know we left it all out there. Everything we had. It was cut short and that’s emotional for me.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
