Quinn Ewers shares blame, but horrific play from two Longhorns destroyed Texas' hopes in College Football Playoff loss
Any time a team loses fans and analysts want to point the blame at someone. Was it Steve Sarkisian's fault? Was it Quinn Ewers? All the blame usually gets heaped on one or two people even though it's quite often a group effort.Regardless of who is to blame, the Texas Longhorns did fall to Ryan […]
Any time a team loses fans and analysts want to point the blame at someone. Was it Steve Sarkisian's fault? Was it Quinn Ewers? All the blame usually gets heaped on one or two people even though it's quite often a group effort.
Regardless of who is to blame, the Texas Longhorns did fall to Ryan Day and his Ohio State Buckeyes 28-14 on Friday in the College Football Playoff semifinal matchup. Yes, Steve Sarkisian's play-calling and goal line decisions may have been suspect. And yes, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was far from perfect. However, the majority of the blame for the Texas Longhorns' offensive woes look like they rest with to key playmakers. Not Quinn Ewers.
Ryan Wingo & Isaiah Bond
Typically it's pretty difficult to place significant blame for a loss on wide receivers, but this game was an easy exception. It was announced just hours prior to kickoff that Ryan Wingo would be starting ahead of "star" wide receiver Isaiah Bond, but he could not have played any worse in this expanded opportunity.
Texas fans will likely just remember the 22-yard gain in the first quarter and assume Wingo played just fine. Nope.
Okay, but how bad was he?
Wingo caught just one of his six targets on the game and managed to mess things up on even more plays than that (including penalty plays that didn't count). Ewers logged a horrific 2.8 passer rating when targeting Ryan Wingo. Awful. That must be on Ewers though, right? Probably not, considering that Ewers' passer rating was well over 100 when targeting all other offensive playmakers on the team combined. Let's break it down by each critical miscue.
Wingo's first major miscue was on Texas' fourth drive of the game. It was a crucial 3rd and 6. Texas was already down 7-0 and desperately needed to answer with a score of their own. Wingo clearly had an option route on the play where he could either run a go route streaking down the field or just back off for a back shoulder catch.
There may have been a slight hold by Ohio State cornerback Jordan Hancock, but Quinn Ewers clearly wanted Wingo to play the back shoulder catch given his ball placement. Instead of Wingo even attempting to come back to the ball (which he should have understood to be the right move situationally anyway) he just tried to force a pass interference call. Pass incomplete. End of drive.
What about Isaiah Bond though? The very next Texas Longhorns drive was the only drive of the game that Isaiah Bond saw any targets, and for good reason. He started things off with a catch for eight yards. Great. Good job. But then Bond's utterly embarrassing drop just four plays later ended the fifth drive of the game for Texas. Bond was never targeted again, playing just 19 snaps the entire contest. You can see both Wingo and Bond's early failures in my posts below.
Bond's damage was mostly done after his wild drop over the middle, but Ryan Wingo wasn't even close to done with his mess.
Just before the end of the half Texas had a shot to score if they converted a couple long plays. Wingo ran a deep out-breaking route that would have put Texas inside Ohio State's 40-yard line. There was a slight hold prior to the ball arriving, but Quinn Ewers put it right on Wingo's hands and he dropped it.
Then in the third quarter, Wingo and Ewers both seemed to make mistakes on the same play. Ryan Wingo was given a ton of cushion and empty space to the far sideline by himself. It looked like he had the option to run a curl and sit, then break to the sideline if coverage dictated he do so. Instead of breaking to obviously open space, Wingo settled. Ewers attempted to throw him open to the outside, but underthrew the ball and it was tipped. Another miscue. Again, you can see both of these plays in my posts below (they're tough to watch).
Surely Ryan Wingo must have been done after three bad plays, right? Nope. He finished the game off by carrying significant responsibility for the failure of two of the most important plays of the game near the end of the fourth quarter.
The first one, it was 3rd & goal from the Ohio State Buckeyes eight-yard line with 2:30 remaining on the clock. Wingo was assigned to run a corner route that would have scored the game-tying touchdown. Unfortunately for Texas, instead of stacking the defensive back properly, stemming to the back corner of the end zone quickly, he pushed way too far inside and failed to break towards the corner until he was already in the end zone. Again, there was a little contact with the defensive back, but Wingo is 6'2", 210 pounds. He should have been able to get to his spot and win for the touchdown.
Of course, the next play Quinn Ewers was sacked, fumbled, and Jack Sawyer recovered, running it back for a score. Ohio State extended their lead to 28-14 with 2:13 remaining, ostensibly ending the game at that moment.
Then on Texas' desperation drive that followed, Wingo ended up being responsible for Quinn Ewers' only interception of the game.
Wingo was running a deep in-breaking route, but somehow managed to get tangled up with his teammate Silas Bolden. That messed up his route and the timing of the throw from Quinn Ewers, inevitably leading to the interception. Both Wingo and Bolden ended up on the ground as star safety Caleb Downs caught the game-sealing interception for Ohio State.
If you're a Texas Longhorns fan these two plays in my posts below might be painful to watch.
Yes, it's still true that Quinn Ewers did not play perfect against Ohio State. He certainly shares some of the blame. But six of his incompletions came on targets to Ryan Wingo and Isaiah Bond. Only one of those incompletions could possibly be perceived to be his fault.
Ultimately, the blame rests with the vast majority of the entire Longhorns team and the coaching staff. Not just two wide receivers. Not just Steve Sarkisian. Not just Quinn Ewers.
It was a sad day for Texas. The good news? The Arch Manning era is officially about to begin. Texas should be back in the College Football Playoff again here very soon.
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
Despite the loss, the College Football content never stops! We'll be back with more Texas Longhorns coverage here at A to Z Sports all year long! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
