No. 3 Texas football made its first appearance in the College Football Playoff against the No. 2 Washington Huskies in the Semifinal game Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian were looking to get the jump on Washington and head coach Kalen DeBoer.
But the Longhorns weren't able to convert early in the first quarter. Texas stalled on its first drive of the game, which put momentum on Washington's side early on. Washington converted on its first offensive drive of the game to get the 7-0 lead on Texas.
No. 2 Washington barely hangs on to beat No. 3 Texas football in CFP semis at the Sugar Bowl
Texas was able to respond throughout the first half, tying the game up at 7-7 in the first quarter. Washington and Texas traded blows throughout the first half, eventually leading to a 21-21 tie heading into the locker room at halftime.
The second half is when the Huskies really sealed the deal against Texas. Washington took a 13-point lead at one point in the second half after possessing the ball for over a dozen minutes in the third quarter.
A late drive from Texas got them down to Washington's red zone with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter after the clock had to stop when Washington's running back came up injured on a third down stop. But Texas wasn't able to convert in Washington's red zone to take the lead.
Here are four takeaways from the Longhorns' one-score loss to Washington in the College Football Playoff Semifinals game at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
Michael Penix Jr. outduels Quinn Ewers
This was the Michael Penix Jr. show for most of the Sugar Bowl. Penix showed why he was the Heisman runner-up for the Huskies this season, passing for well over 400 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
Penix was nearly spotless, especially when Washington needed him to be in clutch moments in the second half of this game. He led Washington on the drive that was the eventual game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter.
Penix was precise, especially throwing the deep ball in this game. He completed over 75 percent of his passing attempts and hit over a half-dozen explosive plays through the air.
For Texas, redshirt sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers got off to a slow start. Ewers threw for under 100 yards and no touchdowns in the first half.
But he did come on strong in the second half. Ewers more than doubled his passing yardage from the first half in the final 30 minutes, with over 225 passing yards and one passing touchdown with no interceptions.
It unfortunately just came too little too late for Ewers to find his rhythm through the air in this game. He also missed a key throw late in this game, targeting junior wide receiver Adonai Mitchell on a potential game-winning connection in the back of the end zone on the second-to-last play.
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.
Penalties put Texas off-schedule consistently
Among the major storylines in this game for the Longhorns was penalties. After entering this game as one of the least penalized teams in the Big 12 this season, Sarkisian's squad was flagged 10 times for 66 yards in this semifinal game against the Huskies.
Texas entered this game averaging just over 50 penalty yards per game and roughly a half-dozen penalty calls. But Texas had roughly matched that number of flags and penatly yards in the first half alone.
In the first half, Texas was flagged six times for 36 yards. And if you include net yards lost on those penalty calls, the Longhorns lost over 50 yards on those six flags.
Texas didn't do itself any favors early in this one, with some costly false start, offsides, and holding penalties in the first half.
Meanwhile, Washington was pretty spotless regarding flags called against them in the first half. Washington was flagged just one time for three yards as the Huskies were pretty spotless in this regard in the first 30 minutes.
This was a big turnaround for Washington in the first half of this game regarding penalties as the Huskies were one of the most penalized teams in the Power Five entering this game. Washington averaged nearly eight flags per game with 74 penalty yards.
Washington was penalized more in the second half, including a key play where a Husky cover guy interfered with redshirt senior Jordan Whittington on the punt return. That helped set up Texas with better field position on the final drive of the game that could've been a potential game-winner had the Longhorns executed in the Washington red zone with under a minute to go.
It's noteworthy that there was an impactful flag pick up late in this game. The refs picked up a flag that was thrown for a block in the back foul where a Washington player shoved redshirt junior Texas corner Ryan Watts on the sideline in the back.
That flag would've put Washington far behind the sticks on one of their final drives of the fourth quarter. Instead, Washington hit a couple of shot plays and eventually nailed the game-winning field goal.
Regardless of how you feel about the penalty calls, some of these were some seriously impactful plays that had a say in the outcome of this game.
Texas's secondary needs massive improvement
The biggest weakness for the Longhorns that the Huskies were able to exploit was the secondary play. Texas's pass defense had issues this season at times facing some of the better offenses in the Big 12 who could spread them out in the second halves of games (i.e., Houston, TCU, and Kansas State).
Inconsistent safety play that we've seen for most of the season and missing true freshman safety Derek Williams Jr. in the first half of the Sugar Bowl proved to be very costly for the Longhorns' pass defense.
Penix sliced and diced the Texas secondary in this game, especially in the first half. He hit some deep shots and was methodical leading multiple Washington touchdown drives, throwing for over 250 yards in the first half.
While Texas technically did a better job in pass coverage, including limiting big plays better, in the second half, it still wasn't as effective as it needed to be. Penix still threw for over 150 yards and a score in the second half as Texas's secondary was still looking for answers after Williams returned to the defensive backfield.
Washington's receivers proved to be the superior group in this game compared to Texas's secondary, and it wasn't really close. Star wideouts Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, and Ja'lynn Polk were able to generate the necessary separation on most plays for Penix to fit some beautiful throws in the intermediate and deep passing game.
It also didn't help that the Longhorns got very minimal pressure on Penix and didn't do much to put Washington behind the sticks ever. Texas's defense didn't make the big plays when they needed to for most of this game. They didn't have a single sack and only managed a handful of tackles for loss.
And the only turnover Texas forced was on a muffed punt by the Huskies on special teams.
It was by no means an easy task for Texas's defense to match up against the nation's top passing offense and one of the best receiving corps in the Power Five. But there are still some clear flaws that Pete Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns must address this offseason on defense, especially in the secondary, if this team wants to make a better run in the Playoff in the near future.