Steve Sarkisian will forever be haunted by what happened on the goal line against Buckeyes in College Football Playoffs
Texas had four plays from the 1-yard line to tie Ohio State and couldn’t get it done
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian will spend an entire offseason, if not an entire lifetime, wondering what happened on the goal line Friday against Ohio State.
The situation: Texas had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. The Horns had four plays to get one yard and tie things up with more than two minutes left in the College Football Playoffs semifinals.
Four plays. One yard.
What happened next was simply incredible. Texas was turned away three times, and then Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer beat right tackle Cam Williams off the edge, sacked his former roommate Quinn Ewers, forced a fumble and rumbled 83 yards for a game-clinching touchdown.
Texas was forced to swallow a heartbreaking, stomach-churning 28-14 loss in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.
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“It’s unfortunate,” Sarkisian said. “First-and-goal on the one and we don’t score. You know, you quite frankly probably don’t deserve to win that way.”
The Buckeyes were supposed to run all over the Horns, who were six-point underdogs after being favored in every game they played all season in the SEC. But it’s a one-score game with 3:56 remaining, and by all appearances, Texas was about score a touchdown and tie things up at 21-all.
The Buckeyes had just been flagged for back-to-back pass interference calls in the end zone, giving the Horns a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
At various points down the season’s homestretch, Sarkisian sent in backup Arch Manning to run plays on the goal line. Not this time. On first down, Texas sent in its jumbo package, which included 260-pound defensive end Barryn Sorrell and 315-pound defensive tackle Jermayne Lole and freshman hammerhead Jerrick Gibson.
Four plays to get one yard.
On first down, Gibson got stuffed at the line by JT Tuimoloau and Arvell Reese. No gain.
On second down, the Horns went back to a standard personnel grouping. This time from the 1-yard line, Ewers pitched to his left to Quintrevion Wisner in the backfield. Wisner got strung out wide as Caleb Downs pierced the Texas line and busted the play up for a seven-yard loss. It never had a chance.
On third down now from the OSU 8, Ewers tried to throw for Ryan Wingo in the back corner of the end zone but it fell incomplete. The ball might’ve been tipped just slightly at the line of scrimmage, but that play didn’t have much of a chance.
Finally on fourth-and-goal from the OSU 8, all hell broke loose in the form of Sawyer.
Sawyer beat Williams around the edge and surged at Ewers, sacking the quarterback and forcing a fumble in the process. The ball took a perfect Ohio State bounce, right into Sawyer’s arms, and the 6-foot-5, 260-pound senior made an all-world play as he raced 86 yards for a touchdown.
Ewers and Sawyer are more than opposing players. They were once teammates at Ohio State when Ewers first went to Columbus out of high school. Not only that, but Ewers and Sawyer were roommates during the quarterback’s four months before he transferred to Texas.
“I felt him. I started drifting away,” Ewers said. “Thought I was gonna be able to get the ball off before he got there. Obviously, it’s not like I tried to give him the game. But I saw Jack running with the ball down the sideline, and, you know, it sucks, man.”
Wisner tried in vain to make a tackle attempt, but he was blocked off by Ohio State’s offensive players-turned-blockers.
The Longhorns saw a one-score game turn into a 14-point nightmare with 2:13 remaining. Ewers threw an interception on the next possession, but the game was essentially over. Texas players shuffled off the field as the Buckeyes danced in a confetti storm and raised the Cotton Bowl trophy.
“As I told them, today's game is the life of a competitor,” Sarkisian said. “You put yourself in this arena, you compete your tail off. But we have nothing to hang our heads about by the way they competed, not only tonight but this entire season.”
