The Texas Longhorns will play the Washington Huskies on Jan. 1 in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. Here’s a look back at the top 20 moments as we count down the days.
The Longhorns had some trouble over the years on the road against Baylor and with just a 7-3 lead after the first quarter, it looked like Texas might take the game down to the wire.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers shifted the momentum in the second quarter, avoiding Baylor pressure on third down and scrambling toward the sideline. Ewers showed off his speed, motoring past a Bear defender on the outside and taking advantage of a block downfield by tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders to scamper 29 yards for a touchdown.
The score set off the rest of the Texas offense, which scored two more unanswered touchdowns on its next two drives in the second quarter and put the Longhorns on the path to a 38-6 victory over their in-state rivals.
It was a great jump-start for Texas in its first Big 12 game of the season, one where the Longhorns really showed how deep its offense can be.
Ewers found eight different receivers on the day, with six getting multiple receptions. Four players had five or more rushes for the Longhorns and they even got to show some flexibility with wide receiver Xavier Worthy slinging a 35-yard pass to Sanders.
“We want to really be versatile on offense, whether it’s the style of runs, the personnel groupings, the formations, the motions, the shifts,” Sarkisian said after the game. “We don’t go into games with just simple game plans and simple formations. We tax our guys because we know what’s going to tax our opponents.”
The Longhorns have one of the deepest rosters in the country, with almost any player on the offense ready to break out at any moment. When it comes to winning a CFP semifinal, that could certainly come in clutch for Texas.
