Two historic titans square off for a spot in the longhorns-daily-news-texas-coach-steve-sarkisian-is-a-bear-bryant-coach-of-the-year-finalist/” title=”Longhorns Daily News: Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is a Bear Bryant Coach of the Year finalist”>championship game.
The No. 5 Texas Longhorns are one win away from playing for a national championship for the first time since Mack Brown and Colt McCoy were on campus. The last hurdle in the way of Steve Sarkisian, Quinn Ewers, and the rest of the Longhorns is one of the hottest teams in the country, the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ohio State boasts one of the most talented rosters in the country and missed out on the Big 10 Championship by virtue of an uncharacteristic poor performance against rival Michigan. They responded by putting up more than 40 points in their first two College Football Playoff matchups, including a three-score win over No. 1 Oregon to reach the semifinals. Led by a bevy of offensive weapons, including two dynamic runners and a pair of the most talented receivers in the country, the Will Howard offense can put up points in bunches. Can the Texas defense slow them down enough for the offense to exceed that pace?
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I expect Sark to open the game heavy pass and then try to establish the run. Don’t be surprised if Texas starts the game on offense if they win the coin flip with Ohio State’s knack for starting fast. But I don’t foresee the Longhorns winning this game with sub-50 rushing yards like they did against Arizona State. They key will be playing complimentary football. Actually, the key will be playing a darn near perfect game.
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Less than two weeks later, Ewers entered the NCAA transfer portal after a semester with the Buckeyes. Less than two weeks after that, the No. 1 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class with a perfect rating by 247Sports returned to the Lone Star State, becoming a huge coup for first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian in committing to Texas despite a 5-7 debut on the Forty Acres by Sarkisian.
On Friday in the Cotton Bowl, the college career for Ewers comes full circle as the Longhorns take on the Buckeyes at AT&T Stadium in the College Football Playoff semifinal, a legacy game for the third-year Texas starter that also happens to come against his former team.
Injury Report
Texas Longhorns
- S Derek Williams Jr. — out
- RB CJ Baxter Jr. — out
- RB Christian Clark — out
- RB Velton Gardner — out
- OT Cameron Williams — probable
Ohio State Buckeyes
- RB TC Caffery — out
- OL Josh Simmons — out
- OL Seth McLaughlin — out
- S Inky Jones — questionable
- QB Mason Maggs — questionable
How to watch
TV: ESPN
Time: 6:45 p.m. Central
Radio: Texassports.com. Broadcasts are also available on Sirius 132, XM 199, and App Ch. 953
Online Streaming: WatchESPN
Odds: Texas +7, according to FanDuel
