What the Longhorns players said following UT's 39-31 Peach Bowl double OT win over Arizona State

Texas is two-for-two in the 2024 College Football Playoff after defeating Arizona State, 39-31, in double overtime in the Chick Fil-A Peach Bowl on Wednesday from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Here’s what the players had to say as they prepare for the CFB semifinals.

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Quinn Ewers, QB

“I think that we all stay calm, and for all of us to stay calm, it kind of starts with me. And I just try to be that calm within the storm for all the guys, and I think that my relationship with Jesus has helped me in that specific way of knowing that no matter what happens, that He’s going to be there for me. He’s still going to love me. And the reality of it is, that’s the reality of it.”

Q. Quinn, can you kind of speak to coming through the clutch with the two big overtime passes that you had and does your heart rate ever change?

QUINN EWERS: Well, I think just first off, that’s just a testament to how mature this team is and just taking advantage of every single opportunity that we have, whether it be fourth and 15 or first and 10, whatever the situation is, just taking full advantage of the opportunity that’s thrown our way.

And just so proud of the way that the entire team stayed poised and composed through the entire game, especially through overtime. And it definitely feels a lot better to be on this end of the win in overtime at the same spot for sure.

Q. What were your conversations like after you guys tied it up on the sideline?

QUINN EWERS: Pretty short and simple. Let’s go do it again. And Coach Sark called a great play that we run pretty often against our own defense, and it hit kind of similar. So, it’s funny how things work.

Q. You mentioned the March Madness feel and you talked to basketball coaches and they say experience and being there before helps. I’m wondering how much the experience against Washington helped you all get through these moments this year?

QUINN EWERS: You can’t really coach or teach experience. So just the amount of maturity and poise that we have in these games I think has definitely helped us over time.

JAHDAE BARRON: Sark told us at halftime, this was the point where we were at last year, and we didn’t handle business and just to be able to have another opportunity to go out there and go out there and handle business, that was a blessing to do that. So him just continuing to just fight us and push us through that adversity and things like that.

Q. You both mentioned your faith in God and that faith in each other. Just to expound on that a little bit and why that’s so important to you, and Coach, what it’s like to coach guys that put God first?

QUINN EWERS: It’s just been super cool to see the number of guys that have really let God come into their heart, and me being part of that and Jahdae being part of that, it’s kind of like a domino effect in the locker room.

I think more guys are starting to come to Bible study, come to chapel, whatever it is. And just to see that, and I think that’s what grows us closer as well is just the amount of guys that are putting their faith in the Lord has been really cool to see.

We pray after every practice as a team. And prayer is very powerful, and I really believe in prayer. And it’s just been cool to see how Jesus and God have just worked in our lives throughout this year, and I think that is also a testament to how we stay level-headed and poised throughout the entirety of the game.

Jahdae Barron, CB

Q. Jahdae, your faith never wavered. What do you have to say about his clutch performance, three straight throws for scores?

JAHDAE BARRON: I mean, this starts all like during the summer. Our culture Wednesdays and again just opening up to one another, but I wish Sark could have had a card. We do these culture things on I would say Friday, but today is not Friday. So we do it Tuesday. Tuesday night, we do a team activity, and we write in the card.

And in the card, I wrote just thanking Sark and the last bullet point was Quinn is going to play fast and the reason he’s going to play fast is because of God the creator. He’s going to give all his worries and everything he has and give it to him and allow him to play free. And I think that’s what Quinn did. When our back is against the wall, he just kept fighting and made some big-time plays in those three throws.

Q. You’ve been through a lot with Quinn over the last three years. I know outside of the building takes a lot of criticism undeserved. But how would you describe the belief in him in those moments and how he’s able to continuously pull you guys through?

JAHDAE BARRON: Quinn’s a leader. He’s been leading us this whole time. We used to be roommates. He used to bully me telling me go take out the trash, screaming at me go to sleep. Just Quinn, he strives to be perfect, but he wants everybody else to be perfect.

But, again, he knows the Lord is his creator and he can give everything to him. He can just go play fast, literally go out there and play fast. We’re all blessed to be here and blessed to play a game we love, but at the end of the day, you can’t make a mistake in God’s eyes.

Q. You guys played against a lot of elite competition in the SEC and then I’m sure the focal point of your game plan defensively this week was to stop the run for ASU, and obviously to have a guy like Cam Skattebo. So watching film of him and then actually playing against him, what was it like when facing Skattebo?

JAHDAE BARRON: As a competitor, you know, it’s fun. It’s fun when guys say what they say before the game and that’s just his confidence level and things like that. But just to go out there with my guys and keep fighting. I think we kept fighting.

Sometimes if we had a penalty and they got another drive, another play, we just continued to fight. And I think ultimately that’s what it means and that’s what brotherhood means here and the culture and level of bond that we have and the level of bond that we share.

Q. You both mentioned your faith in God and that faith in each other. Just to expound on that a little bit and why that’s so important to you, and Coach, what it’s like to coach guys that put God first?

JAHDAE BARRON: I mean, yesterday in Bible study with Kevin Washington, there was a few guys that went up there. Kevin asked us to tell the reason why you deeply and strongly got closer with God and why you trust God, and Cedric went up there and he told us his story, and Jake Majors went up there, and I also went up there.

I told all the guys like last year and the years before previously, I wanted things done on my time. But it doesn’t work like that. God has everything planned. It’s already written. And all you have to do is just keep going with the process and just trusting the process and then allowing everybody to be a plus in your life and trusting everybody. So just literally relying on God.

And Psalms 105:1, just “give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness and show the whole world what He has done.” I mean, I’m showing you all my talent, but I’ll be surprised, too, when God just pushes me to go out there and allows me to make plays like that.

Andrew Mukuba, S

Q: Can you take us through that game-sealing interception?

ANDREW MUKUBA: “It really, that whole drive really started, you know, with Jahdae Barron. I told him, man, the energy is low on the sideline, on the defensive side of the ball. You need to get everybody together, you know, talk to him, you know, bring the spirit up and bring the energy up. You know, he did that. Obviously, we knew we had to get a stop. I mean, on my end, you know, it was all just discipline. You know, my eyes on my man. Obviously, you know, he ran his route. I was in good position to look bad for the ball. I looked back for the ball. Obviously, you know, I had a good grip in my hands of the ball, so I knew I wasn’t dropping the ball. I knew I couldn’t drop the ball. So, it was like, just make a play whenever your name is called, when you decided to transfer home.”

Q: Is this what you envision making plays like on this stage?

MUKUBA: “Yeah, definitely. And I was just telling one of the guys in locker room that this whole year, it’s been feeling like a movie for me, you know, for me, coming back to my hometown, playing some of the best football since I’ve been in college. And then look what happened today, so I just feel like everything’s been scripted for like a movie, thinking on that fourth and 13.”

Matthew Golden, WR

Q: On the path to victory in overtime..

MATTHEW GOLDEN: “I just feel like God was preparing me for that situation, so just having Him in there, having my brothers around me – there’s no better feeling. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle, we just had to come out there and execute.’

Gunnar Helm, TE

Q: On playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after losing the SEC Championship game..

GUNNAR HELM: It’s in the back of our head that we’ve played here before. We wanted to come back and get a win. But again, it wasn’t necessarily a big thought in our head.”

Trey Moore, EDGE

Q: On the fourth down conversion in overtime ultimately leading to a victory..

TREY MOORE: “I was praying to God at that point. I trust in our offense and (Quinn) Ewers. I’m just glad we came out with a win. It was a hard-fought battle. We’re blessed to come out with a victory.”

Silas Bolden, WR, Special Teams

Q: On scoring his first punt return touchdown..

SILAS BOLDEN: “I’ve been waiting this whole season, sometimes I was forcing it. I feel like as the season went on, I started playing a little smarter, just waiting for the opportunity, and today was my opportunity to go score a touchdown.”