The No. 5 seed Texas Longhorns were as bad as ever, but thanks to overtime heroics they managed to oust the No. 4 seed Arizona State Sun Devils and advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Sun Devils found something they liked late in the game against the Texas defense and took advantage, while the offense had to make up for its early woes with late-game fireworks.

Arizona State: 510 total yards (214 rushing, 296 passing)

The Longhorns kept the ASU offense in check early in the game, holding the Sun Devils to just 178 yards in the first half while the vaunted rushing attack managed just 47 yards in the first 47 minutes. Arizona State, which came into the game as one of the best possession teams in the country, did just that against Texas in the third quarter. Holding the ball for 12:38 of the 15 minutes as he comes out of the locker room. That led to Cam Skattebo and the rest of the team taking advantage of a tired Texas defense and racking up 332 yards in the final 30 minutes of the game.

Ultimately, the Longhorns allowed 500 yards for the first time since last year’s College Football Playoff loss to the Washington Huskies, when they allowed 532 yards to Michael Penix and that explosive offense. Texas was just four yards away from allowing its second straight 300-yard passing game after allowing just two 200-yard passing games in the regular season. It was also the Longhorns’ first 200-yard rushing game since the Oklahoma Sooners a year ago, with Skattebo hurting the Longhorns’ defense late. He finished the game with four runs of 10 yards or more. He managed 73 of his 143 yards on just four carries. His overall performance that day would have been the third-best team performance of the year behind Florida and Mississippi State.

Quinn Ewers: 20-30, 322, 3 TD, INT

This game showcased both the highs and lows of what Quinn Ewers has to offer. The Longhorns’ offense came out swinging, gaining 77 yards and a score on his first two passes before completing just seven of his next 14 attempts for 85 yards and an interception. Part of the problem seemed schematic, He only threw 11 passes in the first three quarters of the game.

Ewers turned it on and followed the turnover 10 of 13 passes for 160 yards and two scores – including a masterful hit to Matthew Golden on 4th-and-13 in overtime – secured Texas the victory. He was finished with his Third 300-yard game of the seasonafter putting up six last year. However, his performance this year has placed him in sole possession of second place for 300-yard games in school history behind Colt McCoy.

Matthew Golden: 7 rec, 149 yards, TD

A large part of Ewers’ success in this game was the play of Matthew Golden, who was on the opposite side of the ball on the game’s first play, a 54-yard strike that set up a 23-yard touchdown for DeAndre Moore on the game’s second play . That was the catalyst for his second 100-yard game in the last three games after he hadn’t had a 100-yard game since 2022 with the Houston Cougars. Five of his seven receptions resulted in a first down or touchdown. including the overtime touchdown that turned out to be his final catch of the game thanks to Gunnar Helm and Andrew Mukuba.

After the Peach Bowl, he is just 64 yards away from 1,000 yards and has scored nine touchdowns this year. If he manages to get 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns against it Ohio State In the semifinals, he will become the first Longhorn receiver to achieve this feat since Jordan Shipley in 2009.