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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
ATLANTA — Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers sat at his locker long after a thrilling 39-31 double overtime win over Arizona State had ended Wednesday, his heart rate back to normal.
“We had them right where we wanted them,” Ewers told ESPN with a sly smile when asked about his season-saving touchdown pass on fourth-and-13 in the first overtime.
Ewers then delivered another touchdown pass in the second overtime, and safety Andrew Mukuba sealed it with an interception, helping the Longhorns win the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and advance to the semifinals at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.
For Texas, it was two players, often underappreciated at various times in their careers, coming up big with the game on the line. Coach Steve Sarkisian praised his team for its resilience afterward, finding a way to win despite blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead.
“One thing that I know about our group is when our backs are against the wall and when our best is needed, our best shows up time and time again,” Sarkisian said. “There’s going to be plenty of stuff that we’re going to look at and say we got to do better, but our toughness and fight doesn’t need to be better. If there’s one thing that you want as a calling card for your team, [it’s] just that.”
That resilience starts with Ewers. The Texas offense struggled for much of the game, unable to get its ground game going, forced into far too many third-and-longs. After a quick 77 yards in two plays on the first drive of the game, Texas slogged through the next two quarters with 64 total yards.
At one point, up 17-3 in the third quarter, Ewers was sacked in the end zone after recovering a fumble. It was the first safety in CFP history and cracked the door open for Arizona State to regain its confidence and get back in the game.
But Ewers bounced back from that and showed plenty of grit, leading Texas on two fourth-quarter drives that ended in missed field goals, including one from 38 yards that would have won it in regulation. He would have to show that determination again for Texas to win.
Arizona State had already scored to go up 31-24 in the first overtime. Texas faced fourth-and-13 from the Arizona State 28, one play to determine its season. Ewers saw Arizona State had planned to blitz and changed the protection at the line. When offensive coordinator Kyle Flood saw that, he knew they would have a one-on-one opportunity to get the ball to Matthew Golden.
Sure enough, Texas handled the pressure. Golden streaked down the sideline and Ewers delivered a perfect ball for a 28-yard touchdown pass, the same way they practiced it in the days leading up to the game. The job was not done.
Yet.
Texas got the ball to start the second overtime. The first-down play was a pass play called for tight end Gunnar Helm. Ewers said it was a play they like to run in the spring and fall camp during a portion of practice called “red zone lockout,” when the offense goes against the defense in simulated overtime situations. The last time they ran it in an actual game was last year against Iowa State. Helm scored.
Sure enough, Ewers threaded the ball perfectly for Helm again. Touchdown. Two-point conversion to Golden? Successful. Now it was time for the defense, which had carried Texas while the offense struggled. Through three quarters, Texas had shut down one red-zone opportunity after another for Arizona State, including a crucial fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line late in the third quarter.
But as the Sun Devils had the ball for nearly 13 minutes in the third quarter, the defense started to wear down and Cam Skattebo started to find his groove.
By the time Skattebo had willed the Sun Devils to tie the score with five minutes left in regulation, the energy was gone from the Texas defense. Mukuba, a transfer from Clemson, went over to veteran leader Jahdae Barron and told him something had to be done. They had to find a way to get their energy back.
After Texas tied the score in the first overtime, Barron gathered the defense together and said simply, “The offense is going to go score. The game is on us.'”
Mukuba, who grew up in Austin, made the decision to transfer to the Longhorns after not reaching the full potential he saw for himself with the Tigers. He came into a veteran group led by Barron, one of the best defensive players in college football. But this time, Mukuba felt, the moment was made for him.
Arizona State faced third-and-8 from the Texas 10-yard line in the second overtime, down eight. As quarterback Sam Leavitt dropped back to pass, Mukuba saw the play was coming right toward him. He said he thought to himself, “I have to make the play. Obviously, we want to win. We want to get to the next round. In that moment, I felt it was on me.”
Mukuba grabbed the interception. Game over. Texas ran onto the field in celebration, fully aware it had not played the most complete game but had found a way to win. It was a far different feeling than one year ago today, when Ewers threw incomplete on the final play of the Sugar Bowl to lose to Washington in the CFP semifinals and end what had felt like a storybook season.
Now the Longhorns have another semifinal chance, with the hope they can come back to Atlanta in 19 days to play for a national championship.
“It sure does feel a whole lot better to be on this side of things,” Ewers said. “That really showed through today. With all the momentum swings that were going on, we all just stayed confident in our own game. The resiliency of all these guys is unreal.”