4 takeaways from Texas's grueling loss to Ohio State in CFP

With a trip to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Notre Dame on the line, Texas football battled the Ohio State Buckeyes in a battle between two blue bloods in the national semis at the Cotton Bowl.

Quinn Ewers and Texas football fall short of Ohio State in CFP semis at the Cotton Bowl

Texas had a promising drive going after the opening kickoff on the game's first drive. A spectacular one-handed catch from junior wide receiver Matthew Golden helped the Longhorns get on the plus side of the 50-yard line. But a couple of zero or negative plays stalled Texas's drive on offense and led to a punt.

Ohio State put up the game's first points on a methodical drive that went 90+ yards down the field set the tone on the scoreboard.

But the offensive points were sparse after it looked like Texas and Ohio State would be able to consistently and methodically keep the chains moving against the defenses early in the first half.

Texas got on the board with a big drive before halftime to tie things up at 7 on a touchdown pass from quarterback Quinn Ewers to running back Jaydon Blue. But Ohio State responded with a 75-yard screen pass touchdown from Will Howard to running back TreVeyon Henderson to get the lead back less than 60 seconds after Texas tied things up before halftime.

Ohio State and Texas went back-and-forth in the second half between the two offenses. But a sack-fumble returned for a touchdown by the Buckeyes put the nail in the coffin for the Longhorns' chances in this game.

Here are four takeaways from Texas's loss in the College Football Playoff semis to Ohio State.

Texas's defensive line takes control

Coming into this game, the Longhorns boasted the the two highest-graded defensive tackles in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins had a big impact on Texas's first two Playoff wins over the Clemson Tigers and Arizona State Sun Devils.

Broughton made a big play in the second half when he forced a fumble against Howard that Ohio State's quarterback luckily fell on in the backfield.

Texas's defensive front held Ohio State to under 100 rushing yards for the third time this season. Ohio State rushed for just 81 yards and under 3.5 yards per carry.

The defensive line did its job, disrupting the Ohio State passing game and limited the Buckeyes' potent running-back duo of Quinshon Judkins and Henderson on the ground.

Texas's offense struggles out of the gates

Texas struggled to convert on the plus side of the 50 yard line in the game's first quarter against Ohio State's stout and buttoned-up defense. The game's first two drives for Texas's offense got on the plus side of the 50-yard line after a few nice passing plays from the Longhorns.

But Texas had some key mistakes that caused the offense to sputter out on second and third down, keeping the Longhorns at zero points after getting the ball across the 50 twice to open up the game.

The offensive line penalties, missed throws and avoidable sacks on Ewers, and a lack of an established ground game halted Texas's offense on almost every single first-half drive.

Leaving meat on the bone has been a common theme for Texas's offense for long stretches of games this season. In Texas's two losses coming into the national semis of the CFP at the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns scored on under 50 percent of drives that crossed the opponent's 50-yard line against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Not being able to establish a consistent ground game, along with some costly penalties on offense and defense late in the first and the second half, hurt Texas's offense and kept them from advancing the ball.

After rushing for just 53 yards and under two yards per carry against Arizona State in the CFP quarterfinals at the Peach Bowl last week, the Longhorns rushed for under 60 yards and two yards per carry against the Buckeyes tonight.

Texas's offense had five drives that got around or across midfield in this game, and they only got points on two of them.

Will Howard hand injury slows Ohio State's offensive momentum

After Ohio State scored on the game's opening drive, the intermediate and downfield passing game was limited for the Buckeyes. The box-score stats looked really good for Ohio State, with over 225 passing yards in the game's first 35 minutes.

But looking into the context of what happened in this game for Ohio State's offense shows how impactful it was for Howard to keep the ball closer

Close-up pictures of Howard's hand surfaced on social media in the first half. Howard's hand injury probably played a role in Day and the Buckeyes limiting the downfield passing game after the first couple of drives of the game for Ohio State.

The biggest play of the game for Ohio State's game technically through the air was the 75-yard screen pass from Howard to Henderson right before halftime.

In the second half, Howard made some key throws when he needed to. But it was mostly Texas mistakes that set up Ohio State for success to score so that the Buckeyes could secure the double-digit victory over the Longhorns.

Texas can't execute when it matters late in the fourth quarter

Just before the two-minute warning, Texas had the ball up against Ohio State's goal line down by just one touchdown. A pass interference call against Ohio State gave the Longhorns first-and-goal inside of Ohio State's two-yard line, and it looked like the Longhorns were very close to tying up the game and potentially going to overtime for the second game in a row in the College Football Playoff semis.

But after one run play that went for no yards up the middle against Ohio State's defensive front, Texas started going backward. Texas could've run the ball up the middle and tested the Ohio State defensive front.

On second-and-goal, the Longhorns ran a toss play to Wisner that went for a loss of seven yards. Two plays later, Ewers was sacked and stripped by Ohio State edge rusher Jack Sawyer, which went for a touchdown to put the Buckeyes up by two scores late in the fourth quarter.

Sarkisian had some great play calls and had the Longhorns back in a great spot as a postseason contender. But this is the second postseason in a row that the Longhorns lost a game with a chance to tie things up late in the fourth quarter on the goal line.

Next season, the Longhorns begin with a road trip to Columbus against Ohio State in a game where Texas should not be lacking for a chip on their shoulder.

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