Three Thoughts - OSU Leaves Texas Behind
At moment of truth, the Longhorns hopeful run to a title comes up a play or two short.
Three Thoughts is our signature way to summarize a noteworthy game we want to cover during the 2024 college football season at #Sturmstack. We grab one game most weekends – featuring Texas or Texas A&M – and bringing our notebook to see what jumps out at us in a brief recap that we do in memory of the man who did this first before his untimely demise, the late Grant Wahl…
Presented without an editor, so please forgive the grammar.
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What a game and what a two-day gift of national semifinal games between traditional college football powers that provided 60 minutes of glorious, grinding drama. All four teams were beaten-up and exhausted and all four teams will feel like they could have done much better. Two teams advance, however, to play for it all in nine days time. But, two other teams – in this case, Penn State on Thursday and now Texas on Friday – will think about the moments and opportunities that eluded them forever. You don’t get this close very often, so when you do, the haunting memories of that one more yard or that one more block might feel like the real difference between winning it all and the gutting feeling of guts spilling all over the floor.
It is truly the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
For the second consecutive year, Texas came really close to the top of the college football mountain. This year, you could argue that they were an even better team and perhaps better positioned to find those last two wins.
2023 ended in the red zone, but always felt like they were chasing the game against Washington. This year, against a heavily favored Ohio State side, Texas grew into the game in such a way that they withstood the best punch the Buckeyes could throw and as the game went to the 4th Quarter, you began to see the Horns grow in confidence and belief.
They were good enough to win this game – and by extension, good enough to win the national title. And that is why this outcome, Ohio State’s 28-14 win, will be tough to shake. They were right there. They were one-yard away from tying the game with four cracks to make that happen. That would not finish the job, but at that point, you might lean in their direction if forced to choose.
But, we will never know what might have happened next, because it didn’t. The dreams and many Longhorn playing careers ended deep in Ohio State territory at AT&T Stadium as a stunned team that believed their destiny would take them to Atlanta found out this was the end of the road.
That is a tough pill to swallow, because they proved they could play with those Buckeyes. But, they did not prove they could beat them with everything on the line. And, unfortunately, that is what matters this morning.
It was another classic game that we shall not soon forget. And these are My Three Thoughts: