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I had several thoughts as I walked out of AT&T Stadium after the Cotton Bowl on Friday night.
My first non-football thought is that people outside of Texas do not realize how cold it gets here. I was bundled up and wearing gloves like I lived in Detroit. I did not have an ice scraper, so I had to wait for my car window defroster to kick in before I could finally see through the windows. As I made the drive back to my hotel in Las Colinas in the early morning, it was hard to distinguish the difference between ice and water on the road. I drove slowly enough to ensure my 2013 Ford Taurus did not skid off the road, especially on the numerous overpasses between Arlington and Irving.
Once I stopped worrying about my life, I began to reflect on it. Texas vs. Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl marked the 142nd Longhorn game I have covered – all in person – since arriving in Austin over a decade ago. I remember standing next to Andy Staples, a long-time friend and college football reporter, after Texas knocked off Notre Dame on September 4, 2016, in Austin. As we stood on the sidelines, I asked Staples what he thought of the win, and he said, “Looks like you guys won’t have to worry about a coaching search after this season.” Yeah, Texas lost to Kansas, finished 5-7, and the Longhorns eventually hired Tom Herman.
It has been a long journey to the Cotton Bowl. I spent Saturday thinking about the missed opportunities Texas had against Ohio State. The game was determined by a few plays, and the Longhorns did not step up in those key moments. You cannot give up a touchdown on an obvious pass play seconds before halftime. You have to score on first-and-goal. I am sure other moments in your mind were the difference in this game. It was a game Texas could have won but did not.
Reflecting on this season, I will simply say two things can be true:
1. It was frustrating.
2. It was a success.
“I’m very proud,” Sarkisian said after the loss against Ohio State. “I told these guys in the locker room, they need to hold their heads high. There’s nothing to be ashamed of for what they did this season, the work that they put in, the challenges that we were faced with. Everybody’s got their own unique challenges. We had ours. But never did anyone complain, we never got the ‘poor mes.’ They just worked. They came back to work. As a coach, that makes you proud. But what I do know is I think that every player that leaves our program is a better man.
“And for these two guys right here [on the podium], Jahdae [Barron] was here when I got here. Quinn [Ewers] coming in and trusting us. That permeates throughout our locker room. When you have trust from your leaders, then you get trust from the other players in that locker room. We’ve got a great deal of pride. We’ve got a great deal of pride in this helmet. We’ve got a great deal of pride in being Longhorns and playing the game of football the right way. I think we do that.
“I think we win with class, and I think we lost with class tonight. That’s something that you learn in life. Life’s not always going to go your way. But if you can do it the right way and you show some resolve and some resiliency and you be a man about it and you be accountable for your actions, you can get on the other side of that adversity and keep going forward. And that’s what these two guys will do, and that’s what the other 120 guys in that locker room will do.”
The season was frustrating for obvious reasons.
Texas built a successful defense, but we never fully knew what to expect from the offense.
There were scoring lulls.
The run game was inconsistent.
There were moments of strength and weakness with the offensive line.
Receivers could make amazing catches but drop the easy receptions.
The opinions of Quinn Ewers were mixed.
The offense routinely disappeared in the third quarter.
The red zone offense was a source of frustration.
Nevertheless, Texas put together enough pieces of the puzzle to finish 13-3 this season and advanced to its second consecutive final-four appearance.
Allow me to steal a point that Ketch made during our postgame show:
The only teams better than Texas this season were Georgia and Ohio State.
That is nothing to be ashamed of.
I am sure your Texas A&M or Oklahoma friends had a lot to say about Texas’ loss.
Ignore them.
Texas was the only remaining SEC program in the college football playoff semifinals. Sarkisian’s record over the past two seasons is 25-5. The Longhorns will enter next season as the No. 1 ranked team by many college football publications. Sarkisian has built a program that will annually compete for a national championship.
There are not many teams in a similar position.
I know the wounds are still fresh.
We will spend the offseason talking about ways Texas can improve. Unfortunately, that strip-sack fumble recovery for a touchdown by Jack Sawyer will be replayed more times than you can stomach throughout the offseason, especially leading up to the season opener against Ohio State.
This season was frustrating.
However, it was also a success.
“Honestly, it was awesome,” Sarkisian said. “I loved every second of it, you know? I think these guys would probably tell you the same thing. Was it easy? No. Football is not meant to be easy. It’s a tough sport. It’s physically grueling. It’s mentally grueling. But I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, of showing up every morning with these guys and going to work and playing in some awesome environments and some great games.
“Kicking off the playoff at home against Clemson, to going to Atlanta and playing a double-overtime game against Arizona State, and then coming back here and playing against a great team in the Cotton Bowl. So we got to play in some amazing environments this year, like I said, from going to Michigan, to playing in the SEC championship game, playing at Kyle Field and renewing the rivalry with A&M. There’s so many great things that this season possessed.
“Yeah, it hurts, it stings right now. But I’m not going to let this one game and a couple of plays overshadow what we were able to accomplish this season. Yes, we want to be champions. That’s what life is about. You always want to come out on top. But there’s so much that we can learn from this season, and there’s so much to be proud of from this season.”
******
There are a few areas that Texas needs to improve before the 2025 season. Here is my Top 3 list:
1. Red Zone Offense: After a strong start, Sarkisian’s red zone offense has struggled during the past two seasons. Texas was better in the red zone under Casey Thompson and in Ewers’ first season than it has been the past two seasons.
Here are the rankings:
2024: 13th in the conference/101st in the nation
2023: 9th in the conference/90th in the nation
2022: Tied for 2nd in the conference/19th in the nation
2021: 3rd in the conference/4th in the nation
2. Special Teams: Jeff Banks is typically money on this side of the ball, but the 2024 season was a disaster.
Here are the rankings:
Texas was ranked 15th out of 16 in SEC punting yards.
Texas was ranked 15th out of 16 in SEC field goal percentage.
12th in touchback percentage.
6th in kickoffs.
Texas currently has two scholarship kickers, two scholarship punters, and one scholarship long-snapper. Something has to give.
3. Run Game: Maybe the addition of C.J. Baxter and Christian Clark will help this team run the ball more consistently next season. However, Baxter is not expected to participate in spring football and is recovering from season-ending injuries in back-to-back seasons.
Texas needs to find its next great running back, whether that entails developing the guys on its current roster or using the transfer portal.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
(Provided by the Sugar Bowl)
QUINN EWERS, QB
• With his 18-yard touchdown pass to Jaydon Blue with 29 seconds left before halftime, Ewers has now tossed at least one touchdown in 27 consecutive games, two shy of tying the program's record (29) set by Colt McCoy from 2007 to 2009.
• As a result of his third-quarter passing touchdown to Blue, Ewers now has 10 games throughout the 2024 season with multiple touchdown passes.
• Additionally, Ewers' second-quarter passing touchdown to Blue was the 30th passing touchdown for the Southlake, Texas native this season, becoming just the third Texas quarterback (Colt McCoy, 34 - 2008; Sam Ehlinger, 32 - 2019) to throw for 30-or-more passing touchdowns in a single season.
• Ewers now has 10 200-yard passing games this season, which is tied for the fifth most by a Texas quarterback in a single season, and 24 career 200-yard passing games, the fourth most in program history.
• Ewers completed the season with 293 completions, the fourth most in the program's single-season history and the most since Sam Ehlinger had 296 in 2019.
JAYDON BLUE, RB
• On a four-yard completion early in the second quarter, Blue now has 37 receptions this season, which is tied for the fifth most by a Texas running back in a single season.
• Blue became the first Texas running back to have a multiple-receiving touchdown performance in a single game since Bijan Robinson had two against Colorado on Dec. 29, 2020.
QUINTREVION WISNER, RB
• By finishing with six receptions, Wisner concluded the season with 44 receptions, which were the second most by a Texas running back in a single season and the most since Chris Ogbonnaya hauled in 46 throughout the 2008 season.
GUNNAR HELM, TE
• With a 34-yard reception midway through the fourth quarter, Helm became just the fifth tight end in program history to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards and the first since Ja'Tavion Sanders (2021-23).
DAVID GBENDA, WLB
• With his third-quarter interception of Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, Gbenda's two career interceptions have come off of Howard.
ETHAN BURKE, JACK
• With his tackle for loss on the second-to-last defensive play of the first quarter, Burke now has at least one tackle for loss over Texas' last five straight games, which include all three College Football Playoff games (Clemson, Arizona State, Ohio State).
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
Say what? It's not "cold as hell"? I've been saying it wrong my entire life?
Fellas, the video evidence to prove you’re a stud in bed (adult humor/NSFW)
I assume he lived
The life of an adult gamer vs. a kid (bad language alert)
Sports On A Dime
1. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on the strip sack against Ohio State: “Yeah, I felt him. I started drifting away. I thought I was going to be able to get the ball off before he got there. Obviously, it's not like I tried to give them the game. But I saw Jack running with the ball down the sideline. It sucks, man. But he's a great player, great individual, great person. Like you said, we were roommates when I was up at Ohio State. So, it just sucks. It sucks. Jack's [Sawyer] a good player and he made a good play.”
2. Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian on Ewers’ impact after three seasons on the 40 Acres: “I'm super proud of Quinn. He's taught me a lot, probably unknowingly to him, because of what he went through every year dealing with injury, what he goes through where I don't know if he'd ever live up to the standards of what everybody thinks he's supposed to be.
“But at the end of the day, all he did was show up every day and work and be a great leader and be a great teammate. And that's a real credit to him because human nature, in this day and age, is to look at Twitter, to look at Instagram, to look at social media and articles written and fan boards and whatever else. And you can ride that emotional roller coaster of whatever you think public opinion could be, and that could be the opinion of one or a hundred or whatever.
“But this guy never did that. All he did was come to work every day. All he did was be a great teammate. All he did was work on his craft, get himself as healthy as he could when he was injured, and then show up when it was time to show up.”
3. Longhorn cornerback Jahdae Barron on advancing to the semifinals: “Man, just growing up in Austin and having the opportunity to wear burnt orange, it's been amazing. But just to start off, Quinn [Ewers] coming in, being my roommate. Coach Sark, he's changed my life completely. I'm totally a different person just on and off the field and how I care about myself and just carry myself and things like that. But I was always told the purpose serves a purpose that's a lot greater than me and any individual. But these two guys, they most definitely changed my life and everybody else included in the program.”
4. Barron on the Longhorn defense shutting down Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith: “Just hats off to PK (Pete Kwiatkowski) and the game plan that we had and just mastering PK's game plan. There's a lot of things that we should have done before, obviously, to prevent some points from them scoring. But PK's game plan on that situation on No. 4 was amazing.”
5. Barron’s final thoughts on the 2024 season: “: I just want to say one thing. I mean, it's been amazing, just the opportunity, but at the end of the day, I just want everybody to know, you know, usually, sometimes you always don't come out on top. But we won. We truly know who our leader is and that's God and Jesus Christ. And ultimately, just having the ability to use the gi that He gave us to share with the world, I mean, it's been amazing. And obviously, amazing for me just growing up in Aus n and having the opportunity. But everybody's not blessed to do things we do, just to be here. People dealing with fires and chaos in New Orleans. So just to have the opportunity to glorify God on the football field is truly been an honor. I appreciate everybody.”
6. Props to Vernon Broughton. Some college football observers questioned if he was dedicated to football before this season. However, Broughton emerged as a draftable defensive tackle after becoming a force in the 2024 season.
7. Ohio State quarterback Will Howard on Texas shutting down Jeremiah Smith: “Yeah, we knew they were going to be keying him. Obviously, the first two rounds of the playoffs, he went off. We knew they were going to do something to try and take him away. They clouded him. They doubled him. They were finding different ways to get two guys over top of him. But all that means is that we need to be smart and get the ball to other guys. I think Carnell stepped up and made some great plays. The running backs did a great job. Tight ends had some great catches. I think Texas, what they do on defense, likes to keep shell on things, make you work the game, and get the ball down the field methodically. I think they -- you know, credit to them. They've got a great defense, and they've got some dudes. But when it came down to it in the fourth quarter, man, we did what we had to do, and the defense did a hell of a job.”
8. Ohio State coach Ryan Day on the win against Texas: “I, first, want to give Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian) and his staff and team a lot of credit. It's a very good team. A lot of respect for the way he goes about his business, and he's got an unbelievable reputation in the coaching community. And his team played very, very hard today. It was a very well-fought game, and they're a very good team. Had a great season. It came down to the fourth quarter. And I believe that the resilience that we've had to show throughout the entire season and through some of these guys' careers has led us to this opportunity to win this game and go play for a national championship. We talked before the game about how you leave a legacy is to become your own legend. There's some guys on this team today that, I believe, will become legends in Ohio State history. We also talked about how we want to keep this team together. It's a great team.”
9. Okay …
10. When lacrosse meets hockey
