Texas, Steve Sarkisian failed decisively at the goal line in the Cotton Bowl

Texas was one yard away from tying the Cotton Bowl, but a failed sweep and subsequent sack and fumble clinched the game for Ohio State.
What happened in Texas’ failed throw? Steve Sarkisian points out blocking, while Ohio State player says film study prepared Buckeyes for this play.
Big games will tip the semifinals of the College Football Playoff in favor of Ohio State University

ARLINGTON, Texas – Steve Sarkisian got cute, but it sure didn’t look pretty.

Sarkisian is praised for being one of the best players in the country, but he fell into the familiar coaching trap on Friday and tried to show how smart he is with a game sheet in hand.

Only Ohio State’s defense made Sarkisian look foolish at the end of the Buckeyes’ 28-14 win in the Cotton Bowl.

The scene: First-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Texas trailed by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The Longhorns had to move one yard to reach the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

First down: Texas audibly moves into a Power I formation, but Ohio State stuffs a run up the middle.

No damage. Three more attempts for three feet.

Second descent: Sarkisian digs way too deep. He calls for a toss sweep from the left tackle from the shotgun formation. The Buckeyes had it defended, absolutely dead. Safety Caleb Downs shot untouched into the backfield and almost ended the play right then and there.

Texas ball carrier Quintrevion Wisner escaped on downs but made no progress toward the end zone as his run continued toward the sideline. Safety Lathan Ransom threw a flipper to Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. Ransom wrapped up Wisner 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

This is how you go from first-and-1 to third-and-8.

Two plays later, Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer ended Texas’ comeback hopes with a strip sack of Quinn Ewers. Sawyer recovered the fumble and dragged his prize 83 yards to the end zone.

“Just a wonderful play,” linebacker Cody Simon said of Sawyer’s strip sack and score. “This moment will remain in history forever.”

It certainly will, but Texas was caught offside two plays earlier when Ransom’s tackle for a loss put the Longhorns behind the 8-ball.

Steve Sarkisian defends the play call that put Texas in reverse

Sarkisian stuck to his toss-sweep play call.

“It’s one of those plays where if you block everything right, you’ll get into the end zone,” Sarkisian said. “We don’t have that.”

Sarkisian didn’t fool Ohio State either.

To hear Downs say, the Buckeyes were ready for that throw.

“You could see it in the movie,” Downs said. “They like to play when big moments are coming.”

As soon as Ewers received the snap, Downs made a beeline for Wisner. Downs pushed Wisner off course before Ransom cleared the tackle.

“That’s what they’ve been doing all year long – throwing crack to the limit,” Downs said. “I’m just glad Lathan made it when I missed the tackle.”

Ransom’s reflexes weren’t quite as quick as Downs’ immediately after the snap, but he wasn’t far behind his teammate. As a ransom, he didn’t let Banks, the hulking Texas tackle that NFL scouts like, slow him down for long.

“Nobody really commits to big plays,” Simon said. “He pulled the trigger and made a big play.”

From Wisner’s perspective, what went wrong on that second-down run?

“I’m not even sure,” the Texas running back said.

Not his fault. He never had a chance.

“If you give us an inch, we will defend it,” Simon said. “That was the epitome of that.”

Big plays give Ohio State a lead over Texas in the Cotton Bowl

Texas never led in this game, but struggled against an opponent that emerged as a leading candidate to win the national championship as the playoffs progressed. The score was tied at 14 midway through the fourth quarter.

“They made their plays when it counted most,” Texas linebacker David Gbenda said.

Like quarterback Will Howard’s 18-yard run on fourth down that gave the Buckeyes the go-ahead in the fourth quarter.

Or TreVeyon Henderson’s 75-yard touchdown on a screen pass.

Texas had tied the score at 7 before scoring a touchback with 29 seconds left before halftime. Ohio State could go into the locker room tied, but why not try something safe and see what happens?

Any football newbie knows to expect a screen in this situation. In fact, Buckeyes offensive coordinator Chip Kelly scored.

And sure enough, Texas fell for it.

Ohio State’s two offensive tackles stayed home to block while the Buckeyes’ three interior defenders moved forward to block for the screen. Four Texans defenders rushed toward Howard as the screen slowly developed. At the last moment, Howard threw a completion to Henderson. The Buckeyes had Texas locked down.

Henderson found the seam and, boom, he was gone. Gone for a score, untouched.

“He’s one of the fastest people I’ve ever seen,” Buckeyes wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said of Henderson.

The Texas defense looked shaky on that screen pass before their blocking “leaked,” as Sarkisian put it, on that second-down throw a yard from the end zone two quarters later.

But why should you call for a risky run to the border on the second descent?

Early in the game, Sarkisian effectively started a quarterback run for backup quarterback Arch Manning to move the chains down on fourth down during a drive that ended in a touchdown. Re-inserting Manning near the goal line might have worked. Or one or two more runs inside the tackles could have been the deciding factor.

We’ll never know. We know that the Buckeyes weren’t fooled in the slightest by a throw sweep that probably seemed clever to Sarkisian when he called it, but looked terribly silly and sloppy in action.

Blake Toppmeyer is the national college football columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read his entire columnS.

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