When the Texas Longhorns tried to hit the ball from the one-yard line into the end zone late in the fourth quarter to tie the game, they had to get through Ohio State’s premier red zone defense. On second-and-goal from Ohio State’s one-yard line, the Longhorns attempted a throw to Quintrevion Wisner, which resulted in a loss of seven yards.

The big loss led to Ohio State University linebacker Jack Sawyer securing a strip sack and a game-sealing fumble return touchdown two plays later. The Buckeyes won the Cotton Bowl game 28-14 and punched their ticket to the national championship game against Notre Dame on January 20th.

Ohio State’s defense swallowed up Texas’ offense, which had a chance to tie the game late. Nothing the Longhorns called worked, which begs the question: What if they tried a different approach?

After the game, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler discussed the second-down play with Scott Van Pelt Sports center. Herbstreit mentioned that he was surprised that Texas didn’t try to use the more mobile Arch Manning at quarterback to bring a new element and drive the ball into the end zone.

“I will never second-guess a coach, especially a guy like (Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian) who works so hard,” Herbstreit continued Sports center. “But I thought you could see Arch’s wrinkle in that situation, with his ability to maybe read a zone, maybe get him to the rim. Again, I’m not going to question it, but that wide swing with.” As fast as Ohio State’s defense was, this was a difficult task.

Manning only had one rush for eight yards against Ohio State, and that was in the second quarter. The redshirt freshman quarterback had 939 passing yards and nine touchdown throws along with four rushing scores over the season.