Quinn Ewers' time at Texas might be over, but there's no denying his impact
2025-01-11
Category: sports

ARLINGTON, Texas – Surrounded by cameras and reporters, and escorted by a police officer, Quinn Ewers walked across the field toward the tunnel that would lead to the Texas locker room. He took in the surrounding scene: The screens at AT&amp;T Stadium were lit up in scarlet red with the words "OHIO STATE WINS!" and "CHAMPIONS" in all caps. He acknowledged some Longhorn fans who waited for him to pass by, showing their support for the Texas quarterback with their horns up, while trying to ignore the fact that a trophy presentation was about to take place, and not for his team. When he reached the end of the turf to make his way into the bowels of the stadium, Ewers turned around, looked back at the field, and kissed the towel around his neck twice. He had done so much on this field –&nbsp;played for a high school state championship, won a Big 12 title, and it might have just been where he played his final college football game.  Ohio State beat Texas 28-14 in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl on Friday night to advance to the CFP National Championship game vs. Notre Dame. This was the second straight year the Longhorns' season ended at this juncture. Last time, they were one play away from beating Washington. This time, they came close to stopping the Buckeyes, but again, could not finish.&nbsp; Entering the CFP clash with Ohio State, Texas players spoke of last year's loss to the Huskies and how it set the culture in place for this season. Ewers said he would do "anything it took to get us right back here," and they wanted to take it one step further.&nbsp; They nearly did. Trailing 21-14 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Ewers, as calm and steady as he always is, led the Texas offense from its own 25-yard line to first-and-goal from the Ohio State 2-yard line. On the first play, Jerrick Gibson rushed up the middle for no gain. "We went to a heavy package, which is Jerrick's package," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "We ran it, and we obviously didn't get much movement at all." On the second try, Ewers pitched the ball to Quintrevion Wisner, who tried to get to the edge but was swallowed up by Ohio State's defense for a loss of 7 yards. "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," Sarkisian said. On third down, Ewers' pass intended for freshman standout Ryan Wingo was broken up in the end zone. "At that point, you're kind of stuck behind the eight-ball because we knew we were in four-down territory because of the score of the game," Sarkisian said.&nbsp; And on fourth down, Ewers dropped back to pass but was quickly wrapped up by Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer, who strip-sacked the quarterback, scooped up the fumble and returned it 83 yards for a touchdown. Ewers said he felt Sawyer coming, tried to drift away from him and thought he could get the ball off before contact.  "It's not like I tried to give them the game," Ewers said. "But I saw Jack running with the ball down the sideline. It sucks, man. But he's a great player, great individual, great person.&nbsp; "It just sucks. It sucks."  It was a poetic way for things to end, though. Ewers famously started his career at Ohio State and was roommates with Sawyer before transferring to Texas after one semester. Asked if the two said anything to each other after the game, Sawyer told the broadcast that Ewers said, "screw you" before he walked away laughing.&nbsp; "That's my boy," Sawyer said of Ewers. "Obviously, we were roommates when he was here. I've got a lot of respect for him and the rest of the Texas team."  As massive as Sawyer's scoop-and-score touchdown was, it wasn't the only defining moment in Friday night's Cotton Bowl. Late in the second quarter, one play after Texas leveled the score at 7-7, Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson caught a pass from Will Howard and proceeded to go untouched for a 75-yard touchdown to give his team a 14-7 edge heading into halftime. Part of Texas' defensive game plan was to be aware of Henderson in the open field – he had a similar play against Oregon in the Rose Bowl when he went off for a 66-yard score – but the coverage busted. "It's unfortunate that they hit the screen," Sarkisian said. "I don't think anybody was anticipating that. Definitely stole some momentum." Texas had a strong response in the third quarter. Ewers led a game-tying drive, while the defense played lights out with an interception, stuffing Quinshon Judkins on a third-and-1, sacking Howard and breaking up another pass on third-and-15. By the end of the night, the Longhorns had two sacks – Ohio State had given up 12 the whole year and Howard had yet to be sacked in a playoff game. The unit also made star wideout Jeremiah Smith invisible, holding him to just one catch for 3 yards. "[Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski's] game plan on that situation on No. 4 was amazing," defensive back Jahdae Barron said. Ohio State might have been the favorite coming into this showdown, but heading into the fourth quarter, it felt like the game was there for Texas to take. In the end, however, Ewers couldn't execute when he needed to the most and the Longhorns did not get their perfect ending. The senior signal-caller finished 23-of-39 for 283 yards with two touchdowns, an interception and was sacked four times. Texas couldn't run the ball effectively, rushing for 58 yards, one of its worst outputs of the year.&nbsp; Now, Ewers, who dreamed of being the starting quarterback at Texas his entire life, won't play for a national championship. But he will go down as a central figure in helping Sarkisian rebuild a program into an elite contender.&nbsp;  "I'm super proud of Quinn," Sarkisian said. "I don't know if he'd ever live up to the standards of what everybody thinks he's supposed to be. But at the end of the day, all he did was show up every day and work and be a great leader and be a great teammate. And that's a real credit to him because human nature, in this day and age, is to look at Twitter, to look at Instagram, to look at social media and articles written and fan boards and whatever else.&nbsp; "But this guy never did that. He fought through everything. Never complained about it one time. And I think that's why he has so much respect from his teammates." As for Ewers and his future, there's speculation of lucrative NIL offers for him to enter the transfer portal. He has not declared for the NFL Draft, but that is reportedly where his mind is at right now. He did not address the matter after the game.  As for the program's future, the fan base has already turned its attention to Arch Manning. "It hurts, it stings right now," Sarkisian said. "But I'm not going to let this one game and a couple plays overshadow what we were able to accomplish this season. Yes, we want to be champions. That's what life is about. You always want to come out on top. But there's so much that we can learn from this season, and there's so much to be proud of from this season." Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman. [Want great stories delivered right to your inbox?&nbsp;Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]