Laken Litman
College Football & Soccer Analyst
In 2008, Nick Saban delivered one of his most memorable and famous pregame speeches. Alabama was going into Baton Rouge to play LSU for the first time since Saban left the Tigers for the NFL, and he riled up his players in the locker room before they ran out onto the field.
“How much does this game mean to you?” Saban said, his voice rising. “Because if it means something to you, you can’t stand still. You understand? You play fast. You play strong. You go out there and dominate the guy you’re playing against and make his ass quit. That’s our trademark. That’s our M.O. as a team. That’s what people know us as.”
The “make his ass quit” bit became part of the identity of future national championship-winning Crimson Tide teams, including the ones Steve Sarkisian was a part of.
Sarkisian, who left Tuscaloosa to become Texas’ head coach in 2021, has always been open about how much he values his mentor, Saban, and everything he learned while coaching for him. He has adopted many Saban principles at Texas, and the Longhorns are closer than they’ve been in years to resuming their reputation as an elite-level program. Sarkisian took a 5-7 team in 2021 – a team tight end Gunnar Helm said had a “horrible culture” and that “nobody wanted to be here” – and turned it into one that has made back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances.
This season, Texas made it to the SEC Championship game as a league debutant, has a top-rated defense, and boasts NFL talent on both sides of the ball. But one critical thing has been missing: Texas has not made anyone’s you-know-what quit.
In fact, it’s been the opposite. The Longhorns have let opponents hang around after building leads. Just take the recent 39-31 victory over Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. Texas rolled out to a hot start, scoring 14 points in 66 seconds of game action, putting together a strong and explosive first quarter. Then, the Longhorns gave up a 16-point lead while Cam Skattebo made chunk plays, only to come back and win, 39-31, in double overtime.
Against Clemson, Texas was up 28-10 at the half, but the Tigers rallied and nearly made it a one-score game on two different occasions in the fourth quarter. If not for a goal-line stand and a pass breakup, things might have turned out differently.
Texas led Georgia 6-3 at halftime of the SEC title game, but it should have been a wider margin. Turnovers, penalties and a missed field goal doomed the Longhorns, and the Bulldogs won, 22-19, in overtime.
Does Texas lack that killer instinct to put teams away?
“No, I don’t feel like that’s a concern,” Texas safety Michael Taaffe said this week. “Obviously, we’ve got to keep harping on finishing. We started really fast last week, and we’ve got to always preach finishing. I gave up one of my first go-balls this year late in the game on a deep ball against Skattebo. I went to the sideline and said, ‘That’s on me.’ If you’re preaching it, you’ve got to do it also.
“I think there’s just so many situations that happened in that game that the football gods, if there are any, were on Arizona State’s side for all that second half. And it just seemed like nothing could go our way, and that happens in football. But at the end of the day, we came out with a W. And no matter what it took, we were willing to do it.”
The issue for Taaffe and the Longhorns is that Ohio State – who will clash with Texas on Friday night in the CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl – has been feverishly dominant in this playoff. After a stunning loss to Michigan that kept the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten Championship, they’ve rebounded and have come out throwing punches. In the first round of the CFP, the Buckeyes clobbered Tennessee, 42-17. Jeremiah Smith and the OSU offense scored 21 points in the first quarter and the Volunteers never made it close. In the Rose Bowl, Ohio State crushed Oregon, 41-21, after taking an insurmountable 34-8 lead at halftime.
“The goal is, week by week, you’ve got to upgrade,” said Buckeyes tight end Gee Scott, who caught a 30-yard pass on the first play of the Rose Bowl. “That’s the big motto that we have on this team. That team that you were last week or the team that you were in Week 5 just isn’t good enough to compete in the College Football Playoff.
“And so, our mindset is to get better and better and better. Call it what it is. Last time we played [Oregon], we fell short, but here we are … we’re able to see who upgraded more. It looked like it was the Buckeyes. And so the goal is to continue to upgrade every single week, and then you’ll look back and see how far along you’ve come.”
Ohio State Buckeyes
OSU
Texas Longhorns
TEXAS
Texas has the talent, depth and ability to combat Ohio State’s strengths. So, how do they execute that plan?
1. The Longhorns have to end quality drives with touchdowns. They’re scoring TDs in the red zone just 64% of the time, while Ohio State is doing it on 76% of its trips inside the 20. This is especially relevant coming out of halftime where Texas has been outscored 60-16 in the third quarter over the last eight games.
2. The Longhorns can’t turn the ball over. Entering this semifinal, Texas ranked 126th nationally with 24 turnovers this season – only six FBS teams have more. Quinn Ewers is known for his calm and steady demeanor, but he’s thrown 11 interceptions this season, five of which have come in the last four games. On the flip side, Texas has forced the second-most turnovers in the country with 30 (only Notre Dame has more with 31).
3. The Longhorns can’t miss crucial field goals. Kicker Bert Auburn, who has climbed his way into the Texas record books and has made the most field goals in a single season in program history, has been struggling lately. In the Peach Bowl, he missed two go-ahead field goals, and he missed one in the SEC Championship game.
4. The Longhorns need to establish themselves early on the offensive line. Ohio State’s defense has 12 sacks in the last two games, including eight vs. Oregon. The Longhorns have given up 33 sacks this season, while the Buckeyes have allowed 12. The unit is expected to be back at full strength after starting right tackle Cam Williams missed the last game with an injury, which should aid what’s been an inconsistent run game. After rushing for 292 yards against Clemson, Texas mustered just 53 yards on the ground against Arizona State’s smaller defensive front.
“I would just say that we – as an offense, the running back room, the tight end room, the O-line room – we know what we’re capable of and what we’ve put on film is not our best,” Texas center Jake Majors said. “We understand that there are high expectations and we’ve got to meet those expectations.
“We were frustrated, but at the end of the day, we were able to win. But what we did wasn’t good enough to our standard. That next day, we were all walking around with a chip on our shoulder, ready to get back to work and get this run game going.”
Sarkisian has said his team has yet to play its best game of the year. Is Texas capable of doing so against a Buckeyes team that’s gelling and performing at an elite level? Friday night at the Cotton Bowl will serve as a marker for Texas and its trajectory, especially after losing in last year’s CFP semifinal round, albeit in a four-team playoff format.
“Ohio State is playing really good football right now and if we want a chance, we’ve got to match that and exceed that,” Majors said. “So, we’ve got to put our best foot forward and come out swinging and come out fast.”
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? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]
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