Texas football picked up its first College Football Playoff win in program history on Saturday afternoon, downing the Clemson Tigers 38-24.
The Clemson offense, led by Austinite Cade Klubnik, had one of the season's more successful outings against the Longhorn defense. Klubnik finished with 336 yards passing and three touchdowns. It was the first time all season the Texas defense gave up more than 211 yards all season.
However, the Texas offense responded to any punch the ACC Champions threw.
Paced by the ground game, Texas football finished with 494 total yards on 6.9 yards per play. Head coach Steve Sarkisian returned to his principles of running the football, which paid major dividends.
The two-headed backfield monster of Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue combined for 256 yards and four scores on the ground. Blue's 77-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter after the Tigers pulled within a score proved to be the dagger.
If Texas wants to make a deep run in the College Football Playoff, they must continue to get strong performances from the rushing attack, something Coach Sarkisian continuously harps on.
Although the Texas defense was not at its best, but they stepped up when it mattered most. The defensive line bowed on two plays inside the two-yard line as Clemson looked to cut into the lead with eight minutes to go in the game.
What Texas football players said after being Clemson in the College Football Playoff
It was far from a perfect game for the Longhorns, but the No. 5 seed did enough to punch their ticket in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. The Big 12 Champion Arizona State Sun Devils await.
Here is everything Texas players said after the win.
Quinn Ewers, QB
“This is who we are. We deserve to be here. We have every right to be right where we are.”
"It's a great feeling anytime you're able to get the offense into the correct playcall for certain look. I think it's just a testament to the coaches giving us those types of looks in practice."
"We really do a good job of staying enamored with us and are not focused on what went wrong. We're really just trying to focus on the next play. I think we did a really good job of that tonight, for sure."
"I think me and Gunnar have a great connection on and off the field, and off the field helps the on the field."
Michael Taaffe, S
"When you look across the sideline, no matter how close you are with the other opponent, they're your opponent for 60 minutes."
"At the end of the game, it's all love. He's a great guy, he had a great game. Exposed some things. I don't know how many yards they had passing, but definitely need to improve."
On matching up with former HS teammate Cade Klubnik: "We were definitely sharing words back and forth (on the field), so that was fun."
Jahdae Barron, DB
"I'm so proud of Taaffe. He wanted to make more plays. But it's not how you start, it's how you finish."
Jaydon Blue, RB
"We made a big emphasis that we were going to have to run the ball to win these games. I credit these guys. Those guys are the reason those touchdowns happened."
Andrew Mukuba, DB
"It obviously felt good to get the win against my former team. It was good to be on this side of the win."
Barryn Sorrell, DE
"It's a blessing that we still get to keep playing. Obviously there's things we can keep working on, but we get to go back to work."
"I'm blessed just to keep playing and play again on January 1. My time being here, I feel like I've heard a lot that a team is going to come in here and run the ball on us."
Gunnar Helm, TE
Helm noted the touchdown catches down the seam against Michigan, Kentucky and Clemson were three different play designs.
Hayden Conner, OL
On the OL room: "It's a brotherhood for sure. We rely on each other and trust each other."