ARLINGTON, Texas – A year ago, Texas was one game away from playing for a national championship.

But Quinn Ewers’ last-second pass to Adonai Mitchell in the end zone was deflected by Washington, ending the Longhorns’ season in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

As the pain set in and hugs were exchanged in the Sugar Bowl losers’ locker room, there was quiet confidence and determination to get back in that position and go one step further.

“We looked at each other,” security guard Michael Taaffe said Friday evening, recalling the scene. “I saw the vision of this team.”

On Friday, the Longhorns were once again on the verge of playing for a national title in the playoff semifinals, this time against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. With Texas trailing by a touchdown with four minutes left, only 3 feet of AT&T Stadium turf stood between Texas and a chance to keep the season alive. The Longhorns only needed 1 yard to potentially tie the score.

At that point, Texas’ title dreams were utterly dashed during a four-game stretch that the Longhorns will remember but would rather soon forget. They failed to gain a yard and lost 7 yards on their first three downs. On fourth down, Ewers was sacked, fumbled, and Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer recovered by taking the ball 83 yards the other way, securing a 28-14 victory that left the Longhorns dazed.

“First-and-goal on the 1 and we don’t score, honestly, you probably don’t deserve to win that way,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.

After back-to-back pass interference penalties against Ohio State, the Longhorns set Texas up with a first-and-goal in the first minute, and the Longhorns mostly trailed. On first down, they brought a deep personnel package that included offensive lineman Jaydon Chatman at fullback in front of true freshman Jerrick Gibson in the I-formation and 315-pound defensive lineman Jermayne Lole as extra power and tight end.

But in the same way Texas has blocked its opponents in short-yardage situations over the past seven weeks, Ohio State’s front penetrated the middle and dropped Gibson for no gain.

“Obviously we didn’t get much movement at all,” Sarkisian said.

The second-and-goal call, a throw to left by Quintrevion Wisner, exploded in the Longhorns’ faces.

Left tackle Kelvin Banks pulled and pushed Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom toward the left sideline. Wisner was supposed to shoot into the gap, but couldn’t because Buckeyes star Caleb Downs instinctively shouted through the open space between Banks and left guard Hayden Conner, who was occupying defensive tackle Ty Hamilton.

Wisner intercepted Ewers’ pitch at 8 and by the time he reached the left hash mark, Downs was already untouched at 5 and closing in quickly. Wisner stiff-armed Downs to the turf, but his presence forced Wisner to the sideline, giving Ransom enough time to recover from Banks’ block. Ransom pounced on Wisner’s right ankle and cornerback Davison Igbinosun completed the tackle for a loss of 7 yards. Even if he hadn’t, four other redshirts would have been nearby, ready to end the game.

“I thought there was going to be a big hole behind me because of how the game is designed,” Banks said. “I’m supposed to throw (the defender) out and Tre is supposed to hit the hole behind me. … But I turn left and Downs makes the play.”

Sarkisian said the plan was to attack the rim as Texas approached the goal line. “If you block everything right, you can get into the end zone,” he said. “We didn’t do that and we lost a lot of mileage.”

Banks added: “Downs just made a great play.”

A third-and-goal pass to freshman Ryan Wingo in the left corner of the end zone failed as Wingo tried to escape a deft Igbinosun. However, the throw was rushed as Sawyer looked Ewers in the face when he released the ball.

The fourth descent was a disaster. As Ewers dropped back to pass, Sawyer made an impressive bend-and-strike pass on right tackle Cam Williams — who struggled to contain edge pressure most of the night in his first game back from a sprained knee — and within three Within seconds he knocked Ewers to the ground on the lawn.

“I felt him,” Ewers said of Sawyer. “I started to drift off. I thought I could get the ball away before it got there.”

The ball came loose as Ewers attempted to throw it. Sawyer, who was once Ewers’ roommate at Ohio State University, took 17th place and sprinted to victory.

“I saw Jack running down the touchline with the ball. It sucks, man,” Ewers said. “But he’s a great player, a great person, a great human being. …It just sucks. It sucks. Jack is a good player and he played a good game.”

The goal-line sequence was a revival of an old problem that persisted at Texas in 2023 but that the Longhorns appeared to have fixed in 2024: ending red-zone drives with touchdowns. Last season, Texas ranked 120th in the FBS, scoring touchdowns on just 50.8 percent of trips to the red zone. It became a focus this offseason, and through the first six games it appeared to have been corrected: Texas ranked 10th nationally at midseason, scoring touchdowns on 78.8 percent of red-zone drives.

But since mid-October, the Longhorns have reverted to old habits, scoring on just half of their red zone trips over the last 10 games, which ranks 107th nationally. At the most critical moment of the Cotton Bowl, this mistake proved fatal.

“That was the defining point of the whole year, getting in the red zone, ready, ready, done,” Banks said, slapping his closed right fist against his open left hand for emphasis. “It definitely sucks because in that big moment when we really needed it, we couldn’t do it.”

It wasn’t the only misstep by Texas in a game the Longhorns were good enough to win. They appeared to be no match for the extremely talented Ohio State team. After giving up an opening touchdown, the Longhorns’ defense settled down and kept the Buckeyes quiet for most of the first half. Ohio State did itself little favors with penalties and unforced errors.

But Texas’ protection issues remained, particularly on the right side, where Williams struggled. Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau gave the Longhorns everything they could and more.

Despite these deficiencies and a touchdown late in the first half that Texas gave up on a pass to TreVeyon Henderson, the Longhorns continued to fight. A David Gbenda interception early in the third quarter kept them around, and Texas tied the score at 14 after an impressive third quarter drive as Ewers led Texas to a 4-for-4 performance on third downs, before hitting Jaydon Blue for his second touchdown.

But Ohio State finished when Texas couldn’t. The Buckeyes’ seven-minute, 45-second drive, which included a fourth-down conversion by Will Howard, was a championship drive when the Buckeyes needed it. Texas, with all of its talent and an experienced, SEC-ready offensive line, was unable to do that. For this reason, the Longhorns will not play on January 20th.

“It sucks to be on that side of things,” Ewers said. “After two years in a row, one game was pretty much decided in one go. It is difficult. All the work we put in, being in the last four years in a row and coming up short two years is tough.”

Banks said: “That has really been our determination throughout the off-season: to get to this stage and finish. If it doesn’t happen again the second time, you think: What could we have done better?”

The Longhorns will spend the coming weeks and months playing the what-if game. But the team will be drastically different in 2025. Ewers is likely heading to the NFL Draft, which he told ESPN this week. Banks is probably headed there, too, although he didn’t say so on Friday night (he said he would talk to his family and agent before deciding his future). Most of the offensive line will be gone. Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron will graduate, as will tight end Gunnar Helm and several other key players.

The Arch Manning era begins in Texas’ second year in the SEC. But the climb back to that point and beyond isn’t easy, even with as much talent as the Longhorns.

Taaffe believes they will come back because of the standard set. Texas has a 25-5 record with back-to-back playoff and conference title games over the last two years. They were up to the challenge in their first year of SEC membership. And it’s notable that the Longhorns were the only one of last year’s final four teams to even make the 12-team playoffs.

But that wasn’t the goal. The plan was to play for a national championship in Atlanta. Instead, they have to spend an entire offseason thinking about how close they were to that goal.

“I hate this feeling more than I like winning,” Taaffe said. “I won’t have any regrets because I left it all out there, and my teammates shouldn’t have any regrets because I know they left it all out there.”

(Photo: Tim Heitman / Imagn Images)