In the backs of the minds and on the tips of the tongues of most of the 74,527 who filled AT&T Stadium on Friday night was whether 5th-seeded Texas could even hang with 8th-seeded and scarlet-hot Ohio State. We all saw what these Buckeyes did to Tennessee and No. 1 Oregon. We all saw Texas barely scape Arizona State.
Instead, what we got was a tight game defined by three plays. Three plays that entered Ohio State lore the moment they happened. Three plays the 2024 Texas Longhorns took to their grave.
Play 1: After Ohio State scored on its opening possession, Texas slowly found its sea legs, ultimately evening the game on a 18-yard wheel route from quarterback Quinn Ewers to running back Jayon Blue. In a 7-7 game, Texas was winning. Out-rushed 43-6 in the first quarter, Texas had pulled even on the ground. And after Ohio State rolled 64 yards to open the game, each of the next four Buckeye possessions was worse than the last: 43 yards, then 14, then 7, then minus-7. And then a 75-yard screen pass to running back TreVeyon Henderson.
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard bailed at the snap, then bailed more as Texas edge Trey Moore evaded Ohio State right tackle Josh Pryor. As Moore pursued, nickel back Jaylon Guilbeau brought a delayed blitz. Howard backpedaled enough to allow Guilbeau to race past Henderson, then floated the ball to Henderson, all alone. Right guard Tegra Tshbola blocked middle linebacker Anthony Hill, center Carson Hinzman pushed safety Andrew Mukuba into safety Michael Taaffe, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka shielded corner Gavin Holmes, and corners Jahdae Barron and Malik Muhammad took angles to shallow to affect the play. Henderson scored untouched.
"It really was a simulated pressure," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game. "It was not like we were trying to blitz them. We were still seven guys in coverage. Good call by them, good execution. It's unfortunate that they hit the screen. I think there was maybe 24 seconds or something to go in the half. I don't think anybody was anticipating that."
"I actually said to the coaches, 'We're going to stop doing screen drill because we don't call any dang screens," Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said. "And so sure enough, what do you want to run? You want to run the ball? You want to take a knee? I said, 'No, just run the screen.' 'Are you sure?' Sure enough, it went the whole distance."
"That's something we practice every day," offensive lineman Donovan Jackson said. "I hate it because it's basically just conditioning. I was blocking back so I was really able to see the play develop. As I saw it progress I thought, 'Surely he's going to get 20.' When I saw Carson get the block I thought, 'Oh my gosh, he might go.' When I saw him it the sideline I was like Ohhhhh my gosh."
"When he hit the seam, I knew no one was going to catch him," wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said.
"I don't think anyone thought that was going for 75 yards," Howard said. "That's kind of a drive-starter in a 2-minute scenario."
"They had good numbers into the screen, guys lost leverage, and that's what happened," defensive end Barryn Sorrell said.
"We were put in a position, we didn't execute the call so a big play happened," said linebacker Anthony Hill. "We looked at the play and we moved on."
Play 2: Move on, Texas did. After Ohio State broke a 14-14 tie with a 13-play, 88-yard touchdown drive, Texas responded with its crispest series of the evening, until it wasn't. Opening with an 8-yard completion and an 8-yard run, Ewers found tight end Gunnar Helm for a 34-yard gain on the exact same play that beat Arizona State. Helm was penalized 15 yards for taunting safety Caleb Downs, but Ewers hit Matthew Golden for 27 yards on the next snap, taking the ball to the Ohio State 13. On 3rd-and-3 from the 6, freshman wide receiver Ryan Wingo drew a pass interference flag. On 1st-and-goal from the 2, Wingo drew another pass interference flag.
Turns out, the Buckeyes had the Longhorns right where they wanted them.
On 1st-and-goal from the 1, Texas brought in a jumbo package with freshman running back Jerrick Gibson -- nicknamed Baby Rhino. Gibson was stuffed. Sarkisian then took his jumbo package off the field, and on 2nd-and-goal from the 1, Sarkisian called a toss sweep to the boundary.
Ohio State detonated it.
Operating out of the pistol in 12 personnel, Ewers motioned tight end Juan Davis from right to left, where he stood equidistant between left tackle Kelvin Banks and Wingo. Golden was to Wingo's left, split out wide. Banks pulled behind Davis and while he did that, Downs shot the gap Banks vacated. Rocketing in untouched between left guard Hayden Conner and Davis, Downs met running back Quintrevion Wisner at the 8-yard line -- where he promptly got stiff-armed to the turf. Behind him, safety Lathan Ransom bounced off a kick-out block from Banks and corralled Wisner by the ankle at the 8. If he missed, cornerback Davison Igbinosun and corner Jermaine Matthews
Behind him, safety Lathan Ransom bounced off a kick-out block from Banks and corralled Wisner by the ankle at the 8. If he missed, cornerback Davison Igbinosun, and corner Jermaine Matthews, and defensive end JT Tuimoloau, and defensive tackle Ty Hamilton were there to clean it up if Ransom missed.
"We practiced that play so many times in practice," Banks said. "I saw the boundary safety come down, I thought it was going to be a big whole behind me because that's how the play's designed -- I'm supposed to kick him out and Tre hits the hole behind me. When I was kicking him out I hear screaming and yelling so I turned to my left and Downs is making the play."
"I was so mad I missed that tackle," Downs said with a laugh. "They've done that throughout the year -- crack tosses to the boundary. Seeing it and believing with your eyes. Watching film and pulling your trigger in the moment."
Sarkisian said Texas didn't get much movement "at all," indicating he thought successive tries up the middle would've met the same result. "We had a plan to try to get the ball on the edge when we got down there," he continued. "They went to big people. I can't quite tell -- it was on the far side of where it got leaky. But that's one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn't, and we lose quite a bit of yardage."
Play 3: This play requires no detailed breakdown. On 4th-and-goal from the 8, defensive end Jack Sawyer beat right tackle Cameron Williams almost immediately off the snap. Flushed, Ewers stepped into the boundary to his left, where he saw Wisner nowhere near the goal line, Wingo running a double move that took too long to develop, and Helm standing flat footed in the end zone.
Sawyer collided with Ewers as he started his throwing motion. The ball bounced right into Sawyer's gut, and he raced untouched for the clinching score.
"I hit about the 30 and I looked back, I'm like, I hope I get some blockers. I'm running out of steam here," Sawyer said. "They were running with me side by side. That speaks volumes to who this team is. We always have each other's back. It was a special moment."
"That is one of the most iconic plays I've ever seen in my life," Downs said. "God allows the ball to come to him."
"I'm sure the whole city of Columbus and all of Buckeye Nation exploded during that play," Day said.
"I was okay even if we didn't score, not that I didn't want score, but thinking, all right, they're going to have to be backed up, and we'll probably get one more possession with good field position," Sarkisian said. "The last thing you think is the sack, and it's going to bounce right to the guy, and he's going to run for a touchdown."
"I thought I was going to be able to get the ball off before he got there. Obviously, it's not like I tried to give them the game," Ewers said.
In a historic career that started at Ohio State, it would be Ewers's final meaningful play. (ESPN's Pete Thamel reported pre-game Ewers intends to turn pro.) Not only that, Sawyer and Ewers were roommates for his semester as a Buckeye.
"He's a great player, great individual, great person. Like you said, we were roommates when I was up at Ohio State. So, it just sucks. It sucks," Ewers said. "Jack's a good player, and he made a good play."
"He's a great dude," Sawyer said. "I just told him, 'Keep your head up. You played a great game and you've got a great future ahead of you. Stay in touch sometime soon."
For Texas, a second straight season ends at the goal line of a national semifinal. Texas threw into the end zone from the 13-yard line in a 37-31 Sugar Bowl loss to Washington to end the 2023 season. The 2024 campaign ends one yard shy of tying the game late in the fourth quarter against a team many thought would run Texas off the field.
"It's definitely challenging because that's been the key point of the whole year: finishing in the red zone. Finish, finish, finish. In that big moment when we needed it, we couldn't get it done," Banks said.
For Ohio State, the story continues. "We've got to finish this thing," Day said. "And they know it."