The Horns ran the same play for a touchdown last season against the Cyclones.
When the Texas Longhorns converted 4th and 13 in the first overtime of the Peach Bowl against the Arizona State Sun Devils with a 28-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Quinn Ewers to wide receiver Matthew Golden, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian wanted to consolidate the momentum at the start of second overtime.
So Sarkisian dialed up a favored play from just outside the red zone with tight end Gunnar Helm faking a block, leaking out across the formation and then taking his route up the seam.
The result was a 25-yard touchdown for Helm and a 39-31 lead for Texas that served as the final margin when safety Andrew Mukuba came up with the game-winning interception on Arizona State’s ensuing possession.
gunnar helm touchdown in 2OT pic.twitter.com/kRoe8JoNg1
— ◇ (@H00DH3R0) January 1, 2025
Helm described the play on Monday in a media availability ahead of Friday’s Cotton Bowl.
“We run a lot of a slider and gap-area protection, so we ran it last year against Iowa State and I scored on the same play,” Helm said.
In the road win over the Cyclones in Ames, Sarkisian called the same play from the same part of the field to score a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 23-9 lead after a successful two-point conversion.
#Texas TE Gunnar Helm says the 2OT TD play call was the exact same play as his TD last year vs. Iowa State.
Mentioned the play call had been in the bag for the Longhorns all season, and they tried to run it against Michigan but the play was show down. @ontexasfootball pic.twitter.com/FdBjjMe0nA
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) January 6, 2025
“But essentially, I fake that I’m sliding down in protection and then leak out the back door. It’s been pretty effective in the National Football League this year and for a lot of other colleges — I think Boise State ran a version of it against Penn State,” Helm said.
Helm was correct, as the Broncos ran a version of the play in the third quarter of the Fiesta Bowl against the Nittany Lions to produce a 58-yard touchdown.
Matt Lauter was WIDE open for the Boise State touchdown
Game on. Broncos lucky to get away with false start, but that was beautiful pic.twitter.com/8HVZ6xqZLI
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) January 1, 2025
When Sarkisian called the play in the Peach Bowl, Helm thought it had a chance to succeed.
“We knew it was going to be a good call. It’s been in the entire season; I think we try to run it against Michigan and it got shot down, but as soon as we called that one, I was pretty confident that I was going to be able to make a play,” Helm said.
Helm did, and the Horns survived and advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinal.