Quinn Ewers opens up on his emotions after season-ending loss in Sugar Bowl

Quinn Ewers let all of his emotions hang out after Texas’ Sugar Bowl loss to Washington. The 37-31 loss was nearly a miraculous comeback to get to the national championship.

However, to get so close but fall short is a lot on the mental state of the players and coaches. Ewers held his head high in the end.

The Texas quarterback took a step back and put it all into perspective.

“You know, it’s tough, especially losing a close game like this,” Ewers said postgame. “But even though you take a step back and you look back at the entire season, I’m proud of the way that we attacked each week. And for us to have the opportunity …  The whole team is beyond grateful for this opportunity that we had today. 

“And I think we all played our hearts out. I don’t question anybody’s effort in that locker room at all, but I couldn’t be more proud of the way that we attacked this year because I know most of y’all didn’t believe that we would be here right now. We’re going to continue to just focus on the opinions inside our four walls and continue to build.”

He gets that a lot can take place over the next year, although his obvious goal is to bring his team back to where they were on Monday night.

“I mean I guess I’m a human being. I understand what’s ahead,” Ewers said. “But, at the same time, there’s a long ways between here and a year from now. A lot can happen in 365 days.”

Even so, a return to The Big Easy is the mission for Ewers from the Longhorns’ new home next fall, the SEC. They realize they have some unfinished business after Monday’s defeat. That leaves them the next few months to prepare themselves for a potential return to next year’s playoff.

“I know that we’re going to work as hard as we can to try to be back,” Ewers said. “That’s all we can really do. Attack the offseason the right way and just continue to build this team to what’s capable of being.”

In 12 games this season, Ewers finished with 3,479 yards, 22 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 69% completion percentage.As a member of the Class of 2021, Ewers was a five-star recruit out of Southlake (Texas) Carroll, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the state, the No. 1 quarterback in the class and the No. 3 overall prospect in the class.