The Texas Longhorns found themselves in prime position to tie the game in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s Cotton Bowl when they marched from their own 25-yard line to Ohio State’s one-yard line, where they had four chances, to achieve the balance.

On first down, Texas running back Jerrick Gibson was utilized for no gain. On second down, the Longhorns elected to throw to fellow halfback Quintrevion Wisner, resulting in a loss of seven yards. After an incomplete pass on third down, quarterback Quinn Ewers was sacked by his former Buckeyes roommate Jack Sawyer, who returned the forced fumble 83 yards for a game-winning touchdown.

The Longhorns’ play calls at the goal line confused both pundits and fans.

After the game, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian spoke to the media and explained that the Longhorns were caught in a “tough” package after drawing a pair of pass interference flags that pushed the ball to the one-yard line .

“Our plan was to try to get the ball to the rim when we got down there,” Sarkisian said. “It’s one of those plays. If you block it right, you get into the end zone, and we didn’t do that, and we lost quite a bit of yardage.”

“At that point, you’re kind of stuck behind the eight-ball because we knew we were in four-down territory based on the score.”

Sarkisian noted that in his opinion, even if the Longhorns turned the ball over on downs, they would probably have a chance at another possession given how well supported the Buckeyes would have been. Of course, Sawyer had other ideas.

“And I was OK, even if we didn’t score a goal. Not that I didn’t want a goal, but I thought, all right, they need to be supported and we’ll probably get another possession with good field position,” Sarkisian continued.

“The last thing you think about is the sack, and he’s going to jump right to the guy, and he’s going to run for the touchdown.”

Ultimately, Sarkisian acknowledged how hard it is to win when you can’t capitalize on opportunities like the ones his team had late in the game.

“First and first we don’t score, to be honest you probably don’t deserve to win that way.”