Steve Sarkisian had one eye on the exit door Thursday when the moderator said there was time for one more question.

Would right tackle Cameron Williams be healthy enough to play against Ohio State?

“Cam will play,” Sarkisian said. “That was an easy one, dude.”

Williams’ return to the lineup bolsters an offensive line that needs to have its best game of the season in the Cotton Bowl.

The Longhorns’ running attack has been terrific in wins but inconsistent or non-existent in two UT losses this season to Georgia. The Horns’ ability to run the ball against the Buckeyes will have huge ramifications over their chances of success in College Football Playoffs semifinals.

WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE: Follow A to Z Sports’ Texas Longhorns channel on YouTube.

Click here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content

“For us, it's a blessing to be on a stage like this and perform, how we know we can perform. it's very exciting,” running back Quintrevion Wisner said.

Texas piled up rushing yards in chunks in November, getting more than 200 yards in three of the last four games during the regular season. Production nosedived against Georgia in the SEC championship. The Horns had just 31 yards rushing, settled for field goals instead of getting touchdowns and lost 22-19 in overtime.

Texas ran the ball for 292 yards against Clemson and notched an double-digit victory in the first round of the College Football Playoffs. Then it was rough sledding against Arizona State. The Horns had just 53 yards rushing and needed Quinn Ewers to have some of the best throws of his life to win in double overtime.

Steve Sarkisian won’t turn Longhorns’ play-calling duties over with Arch Manning era set to begin

Sark on calling plays: “As long as I’m decent at it, I’ll probably continue to do it.”

Was there differences in the Clemson and Arizona State game plans? Was it the defensive fronts? “These are fair questions, but it's never one thing. It really isn't,” offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Kyle Flood said.

“We needed to play better last week in the run game, and we didn't. None of us were happy about it,” Flood added. “We’ve had other games we played well, and that’s great. But as I told the players, when you play well and you run the ball for 280 yards in the first round, you don't get any yards in the second round.”

It probably didn’t help that Williams, a season-long starter, could play against the Sun Devils. Williams got tangled up with Wisner during a botched screen play and suffered a right knee injury. Backup Trevor Goosby filled in for Williams, just as he played for Kelvin Banks Jr. against Texas A&M and Georgia.

Should something happen to Williams or Banks again, Goosby gets tapped on the shoulder.

Still, Flood and the rest of the offensive coaches are banking the slate being wiped clean against Ohio State. What happened, or rather didn’t, against Georgia and Arizona State doesn’t matter come Friday.

The Buckeyes have the nation’s fifth-best run defense and allow 92.2 yards per game. While that sounds impressive, Michigan ran for a season-high 172 yards on the Ohio State defense in the final game of the regular season and won 13-10.

“If you don't run the balls in the second round — there really is no carry-over,” Flood said. “It’s a completely different game. Completely different matchups. Completely different schemes.

“So even though there are some things we would like to have done better last week, some may or may not be the same things we're going to have to do really well this week, playing against coach [Jim] Knowles’ defense.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in our guys. I think they're practiced really well. We're excited about the challenge. These defenses are a tremendous challenge.”