Finished: No. 11 Longhorns dominate final 15 minutes to take down No. 3 Alabama, 34-24, on its turf
In 2021, five of Texas’ seven losses were by 10 or fewer points. The Longhorns lost five games in 2022, and all of them were one possession contests.
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What had kept Texas from fully taking the form of a program that contends for titles and can go toe to toe — and win — versus the sports’ upper echelon was the ability to earn victories in games with tight margins and high stakes.
So Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, returning to the place he believes saved his life to face the coach who helped resurrect his career, made the closing portions of everything Texas did in the offseason of the utmost importance. Whether it was the last play, the last rep, the last sprint, the last clip of film study, Sarkisian placed an emphasis on finishing in order to coax better results in that area out of his team.
The toughest test as to whether the No. 11 Longhorns had improved in the ability to perform in the closing moments came Saturday in the form of the No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide. In the final four drives of the contest, Texas scored three touchdowns, limited the Tide to one score, and emptied the last 7:14 of clock to end the game with possession and a 34-24 win in front of 100,077 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“You get what you emphasize in this profession,” Sarkisian said postgame. “I know going back to year one how ugly some of those fourth quarters were. Last year, we were kind of 50-50. We played decent fourth quarters and we didn’t play some great in some fourth quarters and lost some games. As you continue to as a coach put forth an emphasis and practicing things, tonight I think it shined through with our ability to play fourth-quarter football.”
Finishing takes a full team effort, but a full team effort can include standout performances. The Longhorns got one from quarterback Quinn Ewers. The sophomore talent was 24-for-38 for 349 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Two of those scores, one to Xavier Worthy and one to Adonai Mitchell, were perfectly-placed lobs that served as long-awaited conversions on the signature deep passing aspects of Sarkisian’s offense.
“Hopefully we can keep on hitting those,” Ewers said with a smile.
The Longhorns also forced two turnovers, intercepting Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe twice. The first was from Jahdae Barron in the first quarter. The second was by Jerrin Thompson in the fourth quarter, a pick that set up a short field that ended in one of the trio of closing touchdowns.
Those plays helped Texas dominate the fourth quarter. The most important stat is obviously the scoreboard, and Texas controlled the final 15 minutes in that category: UT 21, Bama 8.
But there were other aspects that prove how much the staff’s emphasis on the closing moments paid off in full in Tuscaloosa. Texas outgained the Tide 176 to 67 in the final 15. The Longhorns had 41 rushing yards, all of them key in running down the final 7:14, to Bama’s -16.
Ewers was a sensational 6-of-7 for 135 yards and two touchdowns, the crescendo of a performance that put him squarely and deservedly on the national stage.
“The cold winter runs that we do, the hot summer runs we do, I’m so glad it’s all coming to life and you can see the work we put in the offseason,” Ewers said.
Those paid off in earnest during the fourth quarter for the Texas defense. Ewers did his part, helping the Longhorns take a 27-16 lead with most of the final period to play.
Alabama would cut the lead to 27-24, and Bryant-Denny Stadium gained confidence as the Crimson Tide did.
However, the next time out for Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit would function as the best evidence a Sarkisian defense has offered to prove they can close out ballgames as well.
“We were up by three but it felt like we were losing the way the crowd was cheering,” Jaylan Ford said. “But I walked up to one of my coaches and said ‘this is the moment you live for.’”
The opportunity was set up by Ewers’ third touchdown pass to Mitchell, making the game a 34-24 contest with 8:23 left. Bama took possession needing a score and a stop.
First down was a Milroe pass that fell incomplete. Second down was the same. Third and 10 on Alabama’s 20 gave freshman Anthony Hill a chance to get after Milroe and put the Tide into a situation where punting was the only reasonable option. What followed was the 7:14 drive to close it out.
“I think there’s a lot of people out there that based on the games we played in the past or the seasons we played in the past, some people try not to believe our hype,” Ford said. “They don’t want to get let down. To them, I would just say have faith in us. We don’t want to be the ones to let people down. Have faith in us.”
That faith comes from the top.
“He said he’s got all the faith in the world in us,” Ford explained. “Coming from the head guy, that’s a lot.”
That combination of faith, focus, conditioning, and talent on both sides of the ball gave Texas the needed ingredients to be able to finish an opponent. Sarkisian got what he emphasized, and as a result his program gets to leave Tuscaloosa with a historic victory.
“We’ve worked really hard on our conditioning,” Sarkisian said. “We worked really hard on getting guys re-centered and re-focusing in the fourth quarter. It comes down to execution in the fourth quarter, and you’ve got to be really well conditioned. I thought those things showed up tonight.”
