The College Football Playoff quarterfinals provided a lot of intriguing matchups Wednesday as the Texas Longhorns survived a rough fourth quarter and defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils in double-overtime. Meanwhile, the Ohio State Buckeyes completely dominated the Oregon Ducks. Now, fourth-ranked Texas and sixth-ranked Ohio State are set to meet in the Cotton Bowl in the semifinals.
On Thursday’s edition of “First Take,” the Longhorns came up and host Stephen A. Smith made it known that he’s not feeling the Longhorns reaching the national championship game as they have a tough matchup with the Buckeyes.
“They were sloppy. As formidable as (ASU running back Cam Skattebo) was, he’s only one dude, and he gave you nightmares. … Based on the sloppiness that I’ve seen from Texas, I’m scared they’re going to get blown out by Ohio State,” Smith said.
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According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Buckeyes (12-2) are six-point favorites more than a week ahead of the Cotton Bowl, which will be played on Jan. 10.
How did Quinn Ewers do in the College Football Playoff against Arizona State?
While there were some questions regarding how quarterback Quinn Ewers was doing in the big game for the Texas Longhorns, he stepped up and finished 20 of 30 (66.7%) for 322 yards with three touchdowns to one interception while adding a rushing touchdown.
There were some head-scratching decisions, such as the pass that wound up being intercepted as well as some of the playcalling. However, it’s difficult to call Ewers out for the plays. On “The Colin Cowherd Podcast,” former NFL scout John Middlekauff said he was not too impressed with the outing despite the box score looking well.
“This is a national championship roster without a national championship quarterback,” Middlekauff said.
Breaking down the game, Ewers made mistakes, but right now the only thing Texas (13-2) needs to do is survive and advance.
Edited by Joseph Schiefelbein