Five-seed Texas football (13-3, 7-1 SEC) and head coach Steve Sarkisian were bounced from the 12-team College Football Playoff in the semifinals at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 by the eight-seed Ohio State Buckeyes (13-2, 7-2 Big Ten) and head coach Ryan Day.
Quinn Ewers and Texas football see their season end in DFW at the Cotton Bowl after a goal line turnover vs. Ohio State
For the second year in a row, the Longhorns were eliminated from the College Football Playoff in the national semifinals. Both postseasons ended for Sarkisian and the Longhorns on the goal line for the offense.
The play that will live on in everyone's minds among Texas fans for a long time is the toss play to the left on second-and-goal where running back Quintrevion Wisner was tackled for a seven-yard loss in the backfield. Texas couldn't recover after getting to third-and-eight after it had the ball up against Ohio State's goal line with just a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and a chance to tie the game.
It's true that if the Longhorns couldn't score to tie the game up with a chance to go to the national championship game with first-and-goal at the one-yard line, they didn't deserve to win this game against Ohio State.
Here are three big overreactions after the Longhorns excruciating 14-point loss to Ohio State in the CFP semis at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10.
This loss will hurt Quinn Ewers' legacy at Texas
I thought this was a decent performance by quarterback Quinn Ewers, managing the game for the Longhorns' offense after this unit got off to a rough start in the first half. Ewers had some miscues and self-sacks in the first half.
But he responded well in the second half, making some big plays to keep drives alive in the game's final 30 minutes for the Longhorns. He found Wisner for a key first down in the second half while he was about to get taken down for the sack by an Ohio State pass rusher.
Ewers career at Texas ended with a really tough loss to the Buckeyes in the CFP semis.
"Like Coach Sark said, it's the life of a competitor. It sucks being on this side of things back to back years, pretty much a game decided on one play. And it's hard, all the work that we put in, being in the Final Four back to back years and coming up short, it's tough."Quinn Ewers
One of the plays that ultimately decided this game was a strip-sack that Ohio State edge rusher Jack Sawyer took back for six points and essentially sealed the win for the Buckeyes was on that crucial final goal line possession for the Texas offense.
That said, it was very ironic and makes sense that the Longhorns season ended again in the red zone on offense, given how much this unit struggled in that area of the field under Sarkisian for the past three seasons.