Steve Sarkisian addresses Texas' play calls on final drive vs. Washington

Texas nearly pulled off an incredible comeback in the Sugar Bowl against Washington, before coming up 13 yards short.

Washington took a 37-28 lead with 2:40 remaining in the game, but Texas rallied and had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds.

Quinn Ewers and company had first-and-10 from the Washington 12 with 15 seconds remaining, but the Longhorns would get no closer thanks to a swing pass that lost a yard and three consecutive incompletions.

After the game, Steve Sarkisian discussed the play calling on the final drive, starting with the swing pass to Jaydon Blue on first down. Blue ended up losing a yard on the play.

“He was more of a checkdown on the play. We were looking for an opportunity for [Ja’Tavion Sanders] or [Jordan Whittington], trying to create a 1-on-1 matchup for those guys to go high point it,” Steve Sarkisian said. “Naturally, they did a good job defending it, and Quinn did a good job of just getting the ball out to Blue with a chance in space. But he had to get out of bounds.

It’s a tricky situation in that you’re out of timeouts. So we have to be careful that we don’t complete a ball short of the goal line or pretty much the game’s going to end at that point.”

After checking down on first down, Texas still had time for three more plays.

On second down, Ewers attempted to find Adonai Mitchell in the back of the end zone, but the ball sailed out of bounds with five seconds remaining.

Ewers immediately got pressured on third down and had to throw the ball away with one second left, giving Texas one more play. Ewers gave Mitchell a shot on fourth down, but Washington defensive back Elijah Jackson knocked the ball away to end the game and clinch the win.

Sarkisian explained the difficult situation Texas was in late

“It’s a tricky situation in that we’re out of timeouts, so you have to be very careful that we don’t complete a ball short of the goal line, or pretty much the game’s going to end at that point,” Sarkisian said. “So when you’re forced to throw it into the end zone each time, it makes it difficult –especially when they’re defending the end zone.

“We were just trying to create some matchups with some different route combinations to create some 1-on-1s and to give our playmakers a chance to make a play. And we just weren’t quite able to do it.”