Entering the College Football Playoff, the Texas Longhorns were swimming in a sea of doubt. Steve Sarkisian faced a huge decision: should he stick with redshirt junior Quinn Ewers at quarterback, or should the head coach turn it over to redshirt freshman Arch Manning in hopes of guiding Texas to its first national championship since 2005?
Turns out the drama was irrelevant. Despite a second-half scare, the fifth-seeded Longhorns defeated the 12th-seeded Clemson Tigers 38-24 to advance to the CFP quarterfinals. Texas has opened as a heavy favorite to defeat the #4 seed Arizona State Sun Devils — all with Ewers under center, and a happy head coach in Sarkisian.
Sark: It was hard to get back here
As Texas booked its place in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day, Sarkisian spoke about the difficulty in returning to the Playoff — which not even defending national champion Michigan could do.
“Last year was a four-team playoff,” Sarkisian reminded reporters on Saturday. “This year it got expanded to 12. But we’re the only team of those four teams that made it back into the 12-team playoff. So it’s not easy to get on this stage.”
Returning to the Playoff and advancing to a quarterfinal bowl matchup came largely on the strength of Texas’ running game, but Ewers made some big throws as well; he finished 17-of-24 for 202 yards, throwing one touchdown against one interception. Texas’ vaunted defense was not at its best, but the offense gave that unit a cushion in the second half — an offense that hardly used Manning.
Ewers now leads the Longhorns to Atlanta, where their challenge is to defeat the Big 12 champion Sun Devils. But Texas will be confident of making it to the last four and sparking championship dreams since the days Vince Young roamed campus.
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