Much of the discussion about Texas in its run to its second consecutive spot in the College Football Playoffs this year has been about its quarterback play, specifically whether Quinn Ewers has done enough to continue to be the starter over future star Arch Manning.
It was what Ewers can do, and did Saturday afternoon in Austin, Texas, that doesn’t show up in the statistics for the fifth-seeded Longhorns’ 38-24 victory over 12th-seeded Clemson in a CFP first-round game that has kept him as QB1.
The Longhorns (12-2) advance to the CFP quarterfinals, where they will square off against fourth-seeded Arizona State, the Big 12 champion, on Jan. 1 in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta.
Jaydon Blue rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns for Texas in the win, including a 77-yard score in the fourth quarter. Ewers passed for 202 yards and a score, and Quintrevion Wisner added 110 yards and two TDs on 15 carries for the Longhorns, who outgained Clemson 292-76 on the ground.
“The run game is important for us on a lot of levels,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Our offense is better when we can run it. One of the first bullet points I put up in this room in preparation for this game was run to win.”
The Longhorns’ defense stopped Clemson on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 7:24 left. Texas then produced a final march that chewed up almost six minutes.
Sarkisian praised Ewers for his game management and explained that both of Blue’s TD runs came after his quarterback audibled out of the scheduled play and into one that succeeded.
“Quinn made a lot of plays for us on time and he made a couple plays off schedule, which are critical for us as well,” Sarkisian said. “But I thought he managed the game beautifully.”
Ewers credited the Texas offensive line, which played the entire second half with two injured starters on the bench, for “putting in the work the past 10 days and really taking to heart to running the football.”
He stayed with his mantra that it’s just his job to get the offense in a position to make plays.
“It’s a great feeling anytime you’re able to get the offense into the correct play call for a certain look,” Ewers said. “It’s just a testament to the coaches giving us those types of looks in practice.”
Cade Klubnik, who played his prep football in Austin, passed for 336 yards and three TDs to keep the Tigers (10-4) in the game. Nine of Klubnik’s 26 completions on 43 throws went to T.J. Moore, who had career-high 116 receiving yards and a touchdown catch.
Everything went right for the Tigers on the game’s opening possession. They used 12 snaps and nearly seven minutes to drive 75 yards to a 22-yard TD pass from Klubnik to Antonio Williams.
Texas responded with its own 75-yard, 12-play march that culminated in a 3-yard scoring run up the middle by Wisner with 2:04 to play in the first quarter.
The Longhorns got a 38-yard touchdown sprint by Blue with 12:49 to play in the second quarter and then a 16-yard TD run by Wisner 5 1/2 minutes later to push their lead to 21-7.
Clemson’s Nolan Hauser hit a 32-yard field goal with 1:33 left in the second quarter. Texas answered with a 19-yard TD pass from Ewers to Gunnar Helm that extended the Longhorns’ lead to 28-10 at the break.
“Leveraging blocks, missed fits, missed tackles …,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of his team’s troubles in the first half. “Texas is really good and they can make you pay for those things.
Bert Auburn added a 22-yard field goal on the Longhorns’ opening drive of the third quarter.
Klubnik found Jarvis Green out of the backfield for a nifty 25-yard TD pass to pull the Tigers to within 31-17 with 3:29 to play in the third. He then connected with Moore on a 7-yard scoring pass on fourth down with 11:43 remaining to bring Clemson to within seven points.
On the second play of Texas’s ensuing drive, Blue broke free and streaked down the left sideline to lift the Longhorns back up by two scores.
“We put ourselves in too big of a hole, allowing 28 points in the first half,” Swinney added. “But our kids battled. We were in position to win the game. We had every opportunity to win it. Until Texas was taking that final knee, I didn’t think there was a moment we weren’t winning the game.”
Up next: vs. No. 4 seed Arizona State (11-2), Peach Bowl, Jan. 1, Noon EST. (College Football Playoff quarterfinal)
About Arizona State: The Sun Devils won the Big 12 championship in a rout over Iowa State and earned their ticket to the Peach Bowl as one of the four highest-ranked conference champions. Arizona State has won six straight games and eight of its last nine and has one of the best run defenses in the nation this season, only allowing 117.5 yards on the ground per game.
The Sun Devils are led by All-America running back Cam Skattebo, who was second in the nation in yards from scrimmage with 2,074 (1,568 rushing and 506 receiving) and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
–Field Level Media
