TEXAS NOTES
THE OPENING KICKOFF • The University of Texas continues its 131st season of football on New Year’s Day when the Longhorns face Washington in the 2024 Allstate Sugar Bowl. The College Football Playoff semifinal between the Longhorns (12-1) and Pac-12 Champion Huskies (13-0) will kick off at 7:45 p.m. CT from inside Caesars Superdome and air nationally on ESPN. • Texas will be making its first College Football Playoff appearance in program history, climbing from No. 7 in the penultimate CFP ranking last week to No. 3 after a dominant victory over No. 18 Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship game, winning 49-21. • The Longhorns won the Big 12 title for the first time since 2009 and the fourth time in program history. • Texas won the first-ever Big 12 Championship in 1995 and the four overall titles are the second-most in conference history. • Washington defeated Oregon for the Pac-12 crown, the Huskies’ first since 2018, and has won 20 consecutive games, the longest active streak among FBS programs. • Texas’ No. 3 ranking in the College Football Playoff is the highest in program history. The Horns had been selected at number seven in the first five CFP rankings, the best mark in program history, prior to climbing to third. • The Longhorns checked in at No. 3 in the latest Associated Press poll, the fourth time this season UT his been ranked in the top-3, and at No. 4 in the Coaches poll, the second time the Horns have been in the top-4 in 2023. • Texas (No. 3/4) is ranked in the AP Top-10 for the 13th consecutive week and the Coaches poll Top-10 for the eighth-straight week, the longest streak for UT in both polls since the 2009-10 seasons. • The Longhorns’ 13-1 start is the best for the program since 2009. • UT has won seven consecutive games, the longest winning streak for Texas since 2008-09 (17 games). • Texas currently boasts 948 all-time wins, the fourth most in college football history. UT holds an all-time record of 948-391-33 (.703).
LONGHORN BOWL HISTORY • Texas is making its 59th all-time bowl appearance this season, the third-most in the country behind only Alabama and Georgia. • The Longhorns have an all-time record of 31-25-2 (.552) in bowl games. • This year’s Sugar Bowl will be UT’s fifth all-time appearance in the game. The Longhorns are 2-2 in the Sugar Bowl, with their last appearance being a 28-21 victory over Georgia in 2019. Prior to that, the Horns won the 1948 Sugar Bowl, 27-7 over Alabama, lost the 1958 Sugar Bowl, 39-7 to Ole Miss, and fell in the 1995 Sugar Bowl to Virginia Tech, 28-10. • The Cotton Bowl (22 appearances), Alamo Bowl and Bluebonnet Bowl (six appearances) are the only bowl games that the Longhorns have appeared in more frequently than the Sugar Bowl, while this year’s fifth appearance will match the number of times Texas has played in the Holiday Bowl. • Texas will be making its 18th trip overall to Louisiana. The Longhorns have a 10-6-1 record in the Pelican State with a 7-0-1 record in New Orleans against Tulane, a 1-4 mark against LSU in Baton Rouge and a 2-2 Sugar Bowl record. The Horns are 2-1 all-time in the Superdome (a win over Georgia and a loss to Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl and a 2002 win over Tulane). • Texas will be playing a current member of the Pac-12 Conference for the 14th time. UT holds an 8-5 record in those instances.
SERIES HISTORY VS. WASHINGTON • Texas and Washington will face off for the sixth time in series history. The teams met in last season’s Valero Alamo in San Antonio. The Longhorns and Huskies will meet in back-to-back seasons for the first time since a home-and-home series in 1974-75. • Texas holds a 3-2 record all-time against Washington, including a 1-2 record in neutral-site meetings. UT fell to Washington in the 2022 Alamo Bowl, (27-20) after previously besting the Huskies at the 2001 Holiday Bowl (47-43) and Washington claiming the win at the 1979 Sun Bowl (14-7). Texas won a home-and-home series against Washington in the early 70’s winning in Austin by a score of 35-21 in 1974, then topping the Huskies in Seattle in 1975, 28-10.
A TEXAS WIN WOULD … • Be Texas’ 949th all-time victory, the fourth winningest program in college football history. • Give the Longhorns their first CFP semifinal win and advance Texas to the CFP national championship for the first time in program history. • Move Texas to the National Championship Game for the first time since 2009. • Give Steve Sarkisian his 72nd victory as a head coach and 26th at Texas in his 120th career game as a head coach. • Mark the first 13-1 start for a Steve Sarkisian led team and the best for the Longhorns since 2009 (13-1). • Be the Longhorns’ first 13-win season since 2009. • Extend Texas’ winning streak to eight-straight games, the longest since 2008-09 (17 games). • Mark Texas’ second consecutive neutral-site victory. THIRD SEASON OF SARKISIAN ERA • Texas Football Head Coach Steve Sarkisian is in his third season at the helm of the Longhorns and his 10th season as a head coach overall. • Last season, the Texas offense ranked 24th in the nation and third in the Big 12 Conference with 34.5 points per game, the fourth-straight top-25 scoring output for a Sarkisian-led offense.
• The offensive showing also marked the eighth top-25 scoring offense in Sarkisian’s career. • Marked the seventh time a Sarkisian offense averaged at least 34 points per game. • Jonathon Brooks surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season in the victory over Kansas State, marking the 12th consecutive year a Sarkisian offense (as head coach or offensive coordinator) has had a 1,000-yard rusher. • Texas has had both a 1,000-yard rusher and 500-yard rusher in all three of his seasons at UT. Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson rushed for over 1,000 and 500 yards, respectively, in 2021 and 2022, while Jonathon Brooks topped 1,000 yards this season and CJ Baxter has surpassed 500 yards on the ground this year. VICTORY COUNT • For the third time in program history, Texas heads into a bowl game with 12 wins (2005, 2009). • Texas has three wins this season over teams in the final College Football Playoff Top-25 rankings: Alabama, Oklahoma State, Kansas State • The Longhorns have eight wins over teams playing in bowl games.
RECORD-SETTING CHAMPIONSHIP GAME • Texas had 422 yards of offense and 35 points in the first half of the Big 12 Championship Game. • Texas finished the game with 662 yards of total offense, it is the fifth time they’ve surpassed 500 total yards of offense this season. • The 49 combined points in the first half is the most points scored in a half in Big 12 Championship game history. The previous record was 46 (Colorado vs Texas, 2001). • QB Quinn Ewers, the Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player, completed 35-of-46 passes for 452 yards and four touchdowns, breaking the Big 12 Championship Game record and establishing career-highs for completions and passing yards, while also equaling the Big 12 Championship Game and his personal best with four touchdown passes. • Texas became the only Power 5 team over the last 20 seasons to put up 400 yards of offense and 35 points in a single half of a conference title game. • Texas’ 662 yards of offense in the Big 12 title game were 7th-most ever in a game for Longhorns. Meanwhile, the Longhorns defense held an OSU offense that was averaging 433 yards per game to 281 (89 of which came on the Cowboys final drive when Texas led 49-14).
FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS • Over the last 2 games, Texas has averaged 595 yards of offense (345 pass/250 rush) and 53 points. By contrast, the defense has allowed an average of just 239.5 yards (169 pass/70.5 rush) and 14 total points in that stretch. • Texas has scored over 30 points in the second half against Texas Tech and the first half against Oklahoma State, the first time this season with back-to-back games of 30 point halves.
WASHINGTON NOTES
THE GAME: The No. 2-ranked Washington football team (13-0) takes on No. 3 Texas (12-1) in the 2024 Allstate Sugar Bowl, Jan. 1 at Caesers Superdome in New Orleans. The winner of this College Football Playoff game will advance to face the winner of Michigan-Alabama one week later in Houston. The Sugar Bowl kicks off 5:45 p.m. PT and will air on ESPN television. HUSKIES’ BOWL HISTORY: Washington will be making its 42nd bowl game appearance in New Orleans. The Huskies enter the game with an 20-20-1 overall record in bowl games, dating back to the 1924 Rose Bowl, where the UW tied Navy, 14-14. This game vs. Texas marks the first-ever trip to the Sugar Bowl by a Pac-12 team.
13 WINS: Washington has won 13 games for the first time in UW history, and finished the regular season unbeaten for the first time since 1991, when the Huskies went 11-0 in the regular season before beating Michigan in the 1991 Rose Bowl. Prior to that, the Huskies hadn’t gone unbeaten and untied in the regular season since 1916. The Dawgs also won 12 or more games for just the third time ever (12-0 in 1991; 12-2 in 2016). TWO 100-YARD RECEIVERS IN A GAME: Prior to the start of this season, Washington had had just eight games in its history with two players finishing with 100 or more receiving yards (including two such games last year). In 2023, UW has had two players with 100 receiving yards in six of 13 games: vs. Boise State: Rome Oduzne (132) & Ja’Lynn Polk (101) vs. Tulsa: Jalen McMillan (120) & Odunze (107) at Michigan State: Odunze (180) & Polk (118) vs. California: Polk (127) & Odunze (125) vs. Oregon: Odunze (128) & Polk (118) vs. Oregon (Pac-12 Champ. Game): McMillan (131) & Odunze (102) Additionally, last year, Odunze was the first Husky ever to record four straight 100-yard games. In both the first and last four games of 2023, he matched that streak, twice.
CONFERENCE MOVES: Along with USC, UCLA and Oregon, the Huskies will move to the Big Ten Conference after this coming academic year (2023-24) and will play a Big Ten schedule in 2024. Four other current Pac-12 programs – Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah – will join the Big 12 Conference in 2024-25; while Stanford and California will join the ACC. Washington has been a member of what is now the Pac-12 since the inception of the league, in 1915. UW-TEXAS TIES: One main connection between the current Washington and Texas football teams is obvious: third-year Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian served as head coach at Washington from 2009 through 2013. Sarkisian’s UT staff also includes a number of individuals with direct UW ties. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski coached at UW from 2014 through 2020, while co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Jeff Choate was also on the Husky staff in 2014 and 2015 before taking the job as head coach at Montana State. Additionally, Texas strength & conditioning coach Torre Becton worked at Washington from 2011-15, under both Sarkisian and Chris Petersen. The staff also includes former UW linebacker Tevis Bartlett (a graduate assistant coach) and Joey Thomas (a UT analyst), who began his playing career at UW before transferring to Montana State. Former Husky GA Henry Fernandez and quality control coach Jeff Crosby are also on the Texas staff, as is former UW director of football operations Jared Blank. The Husky roster includes six players who attended high school in the state of Texas: WR Ja’Lynn Polk (Lufkin), RB Will Nixon (Waco/Midway), CB Jaivion Green (Houston/Lamar), S Diesel Gordon (Arlington/Seguin), EDGE Anthony James (Lavon/Wylie East), and CB Jabbar Muhammad (DeSoto).
HUSKIES vs. LONGHORNS HISTORY: The Huskies and Longhorns will be facing one another in a bowl game for the second year in a row, having played in the Valero Alamo Bowl last year. It’s the first (and only) time since the 1992 and 1993 Rose Bowls (Michigan that UW has faced the same team in a bowl game in consecutive years. Washington and Texas have squared off against one another just five times, despite sharing a significant connection. In 1956, Darrell Royal was hired as Washington’s new head football coach, having served the previous two years as head coach at Mississippi State. A former Oklahoma player and Bud Wilkinson disciple, Royal’s tenure on Montlake lasted just one season before Texas came calling. He moved to Austin where he was so successful (180 wins, 11 Southwest Conference titles, 3 national championships) that they named the Longhorns’ stadium after him. It took nearly two decades to arrange a series against his former team as the Huskies and Horns played a home-and-home in 1974 and 1975. They’ve since played one another two more times, in bowl games. Here are brief recaps of the five Washington-Texas games: October 5, 1974 • Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas #19 TEXAS 35, WASHINGTON 21 Washington traveled to Austin for the fourth and final game of the non-conference schedule in what would turn out to be the final season for UW head coach Jim Owens, who had replaced Royal back in 1957. Both teams came into the game with 2-1 records. Washington grabbed the early lead on a 40-yard pass from Chris Rowland to Robin Earl, but by halftime, the home team had compiled a 21-14 lead. In the second half, the strong Texas ground game took over as the Longhorns, behind Roosevelt Leaks and freshman Earl Campbell, racked up 367 rushing yards for the game, 300 more than the Huskies. Campbell, already an emerging star four games into his career, finished with 125 yards on just 16 carries. Rowland led the Huskies, passing for a solid 328 yards and two scores, with Scott Phillips compiling 133 receiving yards. The Longhorns would go on to finish 8-3, before falling to Auburn in the Gator Bowl. Washington went 5-6 and, after winning the Apple Cup, Owens stepped down.
September 20 • Husky Stadium, Seattle, Wash. #8 TEXAS 28, WASHINGTON 10 Just one week after the UW’s first game under new head coach Don James (a 35-12 loss at Arizona State), the Huskies welcomed 8th-ranked Texas to Seattle. In a manner similar to the previous year’s game in Austin, the Texas wishbone offense, and its talented stars, proved too much for the Huskies. Now a sophomore, Campbell had another outstanding game, rushing for 198 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries, while quarterback Marty Akins ran for 140. The Longhorns finished with 440 rushing yards to go with just 23 through the air. Washington split time with quarterbacks Rowland and JC transfer Warren Moon, who combined to pass for 128 yards.