The Texas Longhorns made a statement on Saturday as they looked to find a way into the College Football Playoffs. They were helped by the Washington Huskies on Friday night when they defeated Oregon in the Pac-12 title game.
The Longhorns will leave the Big 12 in the same fashion they entered the conference in 1996, with a conference championship. For the second time in three seasons, Oklahoma State comes up short but in more humiliating fashion than the last time.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers and the offense did their part on Saturday as they secured the Big 12 championship and WWE title belt. Ewers set a Big 12 title game record with 452 yards passing. He found nine different receivers with a bulk of the targets going to tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders.
Oklahoma State faced a 35-14 deficit as the second half got underway. The offense struggled to move the football, while the defense gave up big play after big play. Twice in the first half, Texas benefitted from plays of 50+ yards as they put up over 422 yards of offense and averaged 9.0 yards per play. Ewers alone averaged 15.4 yards per completion as he racked up 354 yards on 31 attempts.
It wouldn’t go much different in the second half as the Longhorns offense kept it rolling. The first score came on a 57-yard run by Keilan Robinson to extend the lead to 42-14.
ROBINSON GOES ALL THE WAY! pic.twitter.com/eufKEP5bhs
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) December 2, 2023
Robinson would strike again on an 11-yard run to cap off another scoring drive by the Texas offense. The Longhorns led the game by 35 with under 11 minutes left in the game. It was over by all intents and purposes.
Alan Bowman and the Cowboys were finally able to respond late in the fourth quarter for the first score of the second half. Bowman found Rashod Owens in the front of the end zone for the score. Texas led 49-21 at that point with 6:26 left in the game.
The Longhorns offense was able to milk the clock to lock up their fourth Big 12 title in the final season as part of the conference.