Texas Football: 4 takeaways from UT's Sugar Bowl loss to UW

Second-half fumbles prove costly for the Longhorns

If there were ever a costly problem that really diminished the Longhorns' chances to win this game in the second half, it was drive-killing turnovers. On back-to-back drives in the second half, Texas fumbled the ball away to the Huskies.

The first was a fumble on a run play by true freshman running back CJ Baxter Jr. Washington edge rusher Bralen Trice stripped Baxter on a run play up the middle, and Washington recovered. That would eventually turn into a Washington field goal that put them up by two scores in the third quarter.

And the second fumble came on an explosive play by sophomore running back Jaydon Blue. Blue made a couple of Washington defenders miss on a nice run after the catch on a screen pass from Ewers that otherwise would've set Texas's offense up around Washington's red zone.

This was a tough bounce for Blue, as he bobbled the ball after running into junior tight end Gunnar Helm's backside.

That fumble by Blue was seriously costly for the Longhorns, as it could've gotten them within three points of the Huskies had he not fumbled the ball on that play. Instead, Washington turned that possession into a nearly five-minute-long drive at a critical point of the game in the second half.

Texas needed that time on the clock and the points that Washington put up on the board with a field goal on that offensive drive after the Blue fumble.

Outside of this fumble, Blue had a really solid outing for the Longhorns. He was good returning kicks before Sarkisian and staff pulled the plug on him on special teams in the second half for redshirt senior running back Keilan Robinson. That came despite Robinson having a big brace on his wrist due to a reported hand injury he suffered this week.