Three Takeaways As Texas Edges Arizona State In 2 OT Peach Bowl Thriller
No. 5 Texas will face No. 6 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on January 9 in Arlington, Texas.
ATLANTA — No. 5 Texas held on for a 39-31 double overtime victory on Wednesday afternoon over No. 4 Arizona State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals in the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
With the win, the Longhorns will play the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. The winner of that game will advance to the National Championship game on January 20.
Here are three key takeaways from Texas’ win over Arizona State:
Running game left in 2024?
Texas, which has been known for their defense, appears to have left their running game back in 2024. The Longhorns ran for 53 yards on 29 carries for an average of 1.8 yards per attempt on Wednesday — way below the season-high 292 rushing yards and four touchdowns in their quarterfinal win against Clemson.
Texas will likely need to do better if they have any chance of stopping the explosive Ohio State running game.
“I thought they did a good job with some of their movement,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said of Arizona State’s defense. “I thought they did a nice job kind of on the back side of things when we were ready to make some cuts. And then you feel like it’s maybe a gain of six, seven, eight yards. We were getting three. And it was kind of a little frustrating.”
