The horseshoe that was up the Texas Longhorns’ ass finally fell Monday night. Hours after its claim to legitimacy faded, with Alabama squandering a seven-point fourth-quarter lead to a semi-lethargic Michigan team, UT repeatedly looked like a fraud.
Washington quarterback Michael Penix torched the Burnt Orange secondary, but a foul call by UW coach Kalen DeBoer gave Quinn Ewers enough time to get within field goal range. The Huskies survived four of 20 plays to earn a trip to the College Football Playoff title game, 37-31, and those missed opportunities will haunt the people of Austin for a long time.
We know what this Texas program faces as it heads to the SEC and it’s a much tougher schedule, against schools they can’t overwhelm with resources, in a conference that doesn’t care about its prestige. Instead of announcing its arrival with a potential championship, UT displayed the kind of craziness that has defined Longhorn football for a decade now.
Dropped passes, deadly fumbles and a plethora of flags negated any talent advantage — real or perceived — that Texas had. If DeBoer hadn’t done his best to take the lead, this game would have ended midway through the final quarter.
I’m looking at you, run the play on third and three from the Texas five yard line in the third quarter. Heisman finalist cooking, and you take the ball out of his hands for what? Gain a few yards to score a basket anyway?
Yes, there was a bit of bad luck with Dillon Johnson’s injury stopping the clock to give Texas one last gasp, but one of the biggest mistakes of the 2023 college football season was the running game useless from Miami when a knee on the ground would have been enough against Georgia Tech. Coaches take note: a fumble isn’t the only extremely bad thing that can happen when you take a chance on Pride. Bonus note to offensive linemen: The next time this happens, if the problem is not corrected during the offseason, stretch the injured player to the sideline yourself.
If a Texas receiver catches one of the many balls thrown by Ewers in the final 45 seconds, the talking heads spend all day slowly roasting DeBoers for ruining Penix’s incredible play. Washington’s Rome Odunze was the top receiver on the field, followed closely by Ja’Lynn Polk. Between Texas’ turnovers and UW’s clock management, it’s surprising the refs didn’t just throw a greased pig at the 50 to see who can fight it first.
The Longhorns came into Monday night favored by 3.5 and the final score was as telling of the talent difference as it should have been. That said, Washington outplayed and dominated Texas for 59 minutes.
And yet, UT had four scoring chances to complete the comeback. I don’t know how long Steve Sarkisian will lament the final play calls — especially a few of those fades — but it’s no less than one life, no more than three.
Next season, when the Longhorns ask “When is the Iowa State game?” » after yet another SEC knife fight, the 2024 Sugar Bowl, and what could have been, will look like it did six lifetimes ago.