Texas nearly pulls off CFP stunner: ‘Felt wonderful’

Dave Wilson, ESPN Personnel WriterJan 2, 2024, 03:48 AM ET

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Dave Wilson is an editor for ESPN.com because 2010. He formerly operated at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.NEW ORLEANS, La.– Texas never led during its 37-31 loss to Washington on Monday night at the Allstate Sugar Bowl– however in a dramatic finish, had 4 opportunities to manage what would have been a resurgence for the ages.That was till the very last 2nd, when Quinn Ewers ‘toss to Adonai Mitchell was up to the grass in the end zone as time expired.After Jordan Whittington caught a 41-yard pass on third-and-10 with 20 seconds staying, Texas all of a sudden had a genuine possibility for a storybook finish.”We felt magical, the entire time that we felt like it was currently written,” Whittington said. “No matter what happened, I didn’t understand it was going to boil down to the last, like, 10 seconds … however we didn’t fluctuate one time. “The Longhorns all night had a hard time to include Washington QB Michael Penix Jr., who shredded Texas for 430 lawns and 2 passing touchdowns, completing 76%of his tosses while including 31 backyards on three runs.Editor’s Picks 2 Related” He had an excellent day,” defensive back Jahdae Barron stated. “When our D-line got him out of the box, even ran a bit.

That was a plus for him

. … Hats

off to Penix.” Texas routed 34-21 with 14:51 staying in the game, which looked in risk of escaping. The Longhorns had 10 charges, tied for a season high, and said they thought much of their problems were self-inflicted.” We all headed out there as a team and we battled our butt off, “said Mitchell, who had a skyrocketing touchdown catch on a 1-yard fade to begin the return

with 7:23 left.”We simply played an excellent group. We didn’t capitalize the method we wanted to. We had a great deal of errors on the field.”The Huskies were able to contain Mitchell and Xavier Worthy, the Longhorns’two star receivers, with Deserving catching two passes for 45 backyards and Mitchell completing with 32 yards on four catches. Ewers completed just 43.5% of his efforts to his pass receivers, according to ESPN Statistics & Information research, compared to Penix, who completed 90.5 %, including a combined 247 backyards on 11 catches for Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk.The Huskies finished nine passes of 15 or more lawns, including a 77-yarder to Polk, and 52-and 32-yarders to Odunze.Even when the pass rush and protection was good, the Huskies were imperturbable, such as Penix

‘s 29-yard touchdown pass to Polk just before halftime. Penix stepped up in the pocket and provided a strike simply past the outstretched arms of Malik Muhammad as Polk tipped the ball up and recovered it as Muhammad could just enjoy from the grass.”Give credit to Washington, they played a great game, “Texas coach Steve Sarkisian stated.”Penix fumed. They made some big plays down the field. And when they extended the lead, we got a bit out of strategy to try to fight our method back into it. But we found a method to get a couple stops and force some field goals that offered us an opportunity to get back into the game. “Ewers still finished with 318 lawns, his sixth 300-yard game of the season and the most by a Texas quarterback since Colt McCoy in 2008. Whittington, the senior who had a snakebitten profession at Texas with 3 season-ending injuries, still

turned up big one last time with the 41-yard catch. It looked like Texas may have a shot for one last victory on its revenge trip, after beating every team that defeated the Longhorns last year. The Huskies ‘win over Texas in the Alamo Bowl in 2015 was the final level.”I was so sure we’re going to win it, “Whittington said. “However you understand, often stuff does not go your method.”However Ewers’throw to Mitchell fell insufficient, batted away by Huskies cornerback Elijah Jackson to end the Longhorns ‘last Big 12 season in which they celebrated their very first conference

champion given that 2009 and ended up 12-2 with their first look in the College Football Playoff.”I loved every minute of it,”

offensive lineman Jake Majors stated.” Other than that last second.”