The Longhorns head back to Atlanta for a chance to reach the College Football Playoff semifinals.
The No. 5 Texas Longhorns are heading back to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day hoping the matchup with the No. 4 Arizona State Sun Devils goes better than their last trip to Georgia, a loss to the home-state Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game.
The Sun Devils, picked to finish last in the preseason Big 12 polls, earned a bye thanks to blowing out the Iowa State Cyclones in the conference title game to cap off an unlikely championship season.
Now, with extra time to prepare, they look to knock off a Longhorns team coming off of a relatively stress-free win over the Clemson Tigers in the opening round. Arizona State, led by star running back Cam Skattebo, will try to assert their will on the toughest run defense they have faced all year. Their offense will be without the services of their leading receiver, so maintaining balance for them will be even harder than it has been through the year.
No offense to Sam Leavitt, but he is not Cade Klubnik. The Texas defense has not seen a running back like Cam Skattebo this season, but I’m more confident in Texas stopping the run than I am in them stopping the pass. Without Jordyn Tyson, ASU is a one-man offense and Pete Kwiatkowski is a wrecking crew.
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Their offense has been great this season with the emergence of Cam Skattebo as one of the best running backs in the nation. On the other side of the ball, the defense can be sneaky and force quarterbacks into mistakes through disguised coverages.
This is an Arizona State team Texas should beat, but complacency is not a luxury if they want to go all the way.
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 — questionable
- WR Isaiah Bond — probable
Clemson Tigers
- WR Jordyn Tyson — out
- RB Raleek Brown — out
- DB Cole Martin — out
- TE Jayden Fortier — questionable
- WR Zechariah Sample — questionable
- WR Jake Smith — questionable
How to Watch
TV: ESPN
Time: 12:00 p.m. Central
Radio: Texassports.com. Broadcasts are also available on Sirius 132, XM 199, and App Ch. 953
Online Streaming: WatchESPN
Odds: Texas -12.5, according to FanDuel