Texas clinches spot in the Big 12 Championship with 57-7 win over Texas Tech
Thanks to a 57-7 win on Friday night over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns have clinched their place in the 2023 Big 12 Championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Longhorns complete the regular season with an 11-1 record and a conference-best 8-1 mark in Big 12 play.
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Texas makes the December 2 title game in its final season as a member of the Big 12 and for the seventh time in program history. The Longhorns won the Big 12 in 1996, 2005, and 2009 and lost in its title game appearances in 1999, 2001, and 2018. The opponent for Steve Sarkisian’s team will be determined by results of Saturday’s games featuring Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
In addition to this season being Sarkisian’s first with double-digit wins, it’s the first conference championship game appearance in his 10-year career as a head coach.
The journey to Arlington began in September when then No. 11 Texas defeated Rice, 37-10. The Longhorns then surged in the rankings up to the No. 4 spot thanks to a 34-24 win over Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was the Crimson Tide’s first home loss since 2019.
UT dispatched Wyoming, Baylor, and No. 24 Kansas to move up to the No. 3 spot before suffering its only setback to date in the Cotton Bowl versus Oklahoma. Texas then traveled to Houston and hung on versus the Cougars, but starting quarterback Quinn Ewers suffered an injury in the process. Maalik Murphy went 2-0 under center in the next two games with an easy win over BYU and a thrilling overtime victory over Kansas State.
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Heart-stopping games became a theme at that point, with Texas holding on to beat TCU 29-26 in Fort Worth in a game it led by 20 points at halftime. Then in its final trip to Ames, Iowa, the Longhorns handled Iowa State 26-16.
A spot in the Big 12 Championship wasn’t locked up until the Longhorns took care of the Red Raiders, but in doing so Texas defeated every team on its schedule that plans to remain in the Big 12 come July 1, 2024. A revenge tour of sorts, the Longhorns often faced each team’s “best shot” on a week to week basis but prevailed versus all the teams planning to remain in Brett Yormark’s league.
On December 2, Texas seeks to win its 33rd conference championship and fourth Big 12 title and potentially earn a place in the College Football Playoff. The Horns’ place in the game took all season to solidify, but the win over Tech finally made it happen.
