The Sun Devils took advantage of a massive time of possession disparity to get their offense going.
It was an all-time collapse from the No. 5 seed Texas Longhorns, but thanks to heroics in overtime they managed to edge out the No. 4 seed Arizona State Sun Devils to advance to the College Football playoff semifinals. The Sun Devils found something they liked against the Texas defense late in the game and took advantage of it, while the offense had to make up for its early struggles with late-game fireworks.
Arizona State: 510 total yards (214 rushing, 296 passing)
The Longhorns had a lid on the ASU offense early in the game, holding the Sun Devils to just 178 yards in the first half, with the vaunted rushing attack managing just 47 through the first 47 minutes. Arizona State, which came into the game as one of the top time-of-possession teams in the country, did just that to Texas in the third quarter, holding the ball for 12:38 of the 15 minutes coming out of the locker room. That turned into Cam Skattebo and the rest of the team taking advantage of a tired Texas defense and putting up 332 yards in the final 30 minutes of the game.
When it was all said and done, the Longhorns allowed 500 yards for the first time since last year’s College Football Playoff loss to the Washington Huskies, during which they allowed 532 yards to Michael Penix and that explosive offense. Texas was just four yards shy of allowing their second-consecutive 300-yard passing game after allowing just two, 200-yard passing games in the regular season. It also marked the Longhorns’ first 200-yard rushing game since the Oklahoma Sooners a year ago, with Skattebo gashing the Longhorns’ defense late. He finished the game with four rushes of 10 yards or more, with 73 of his 143 yards coming on just four rushes. His total on the day would have clocked in as the third-best team performance of the year, behind Florida and Mississippi State.
Quinn Ewers: 20-30, 322, 3 TD, INT
This game showed both the highlights and lowlights of what Quinn Ewers brings to the table. The Longhorns’ offense came out and put up 77 yards and a score on his first two passes before he completed just seven of his next 14 attempts for 85 yards and an interception. Part of the issue seemed to be schematic, throwing just 11 passes in the first three quarters of the game.
Ewers turned it on following the turnover, going 10-of-13 passing for 160 yards and two scores — including a masterful strike to Matthew Golden on 4th and 13 in overtime — to clinch the win for Texas. He finished with his third 300-yard game of the season, after putting up six last year. His performance this year, however, has put him in sole possession of second place for 300-yard games in school history behind Colt McCoy.
Matthew Golden: 7 rec, 149 yards, TD
A big part of Ewers’ success in the game was the play of Matthew Golden, who was on the receiving end of the first play of the game, a 54-yard strike that set up a 23-yard TD to DeAndre Moore on the game’s second play. That sparked his second 100-yard game in the last three, after going without a 100-yard game since 2022 with the Houston Cougars. Five of his seven receptions resulted in a first down or a touchdown, including that overtime touchdown which turned out to be his final catch of the game thanks to Gunnar Helm and Andrew Mukuba.
After the Peach Bowl, he sits just 64 yards away from 1,000 yards and has nine touchdowns on the year. If he manages to reach 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns against Ohio State in the semifinals, he will become the first Longhorn receiver to accomplish that feat since Jordan Shipley in 2009.