After cutting the deficit to a single possession late in the Valero Alamo Bowl, No. 21 Texas saw its onside kick attempt recovered by No. 12 Washington, effectively sealing the victory for the Huskies.

The Longhorns ultimately got the defensive stop it needed to give themselves another slim chance to tie, but it was futile. Washington defeated Texas, 27-20, in the Alamodome on Thursday. 

“We got work to do to get over the hump,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “To beat good teams, you have to play good football and we didn’t play good enough tonight.”

During the first half of the Alamo Bowl, Washington’s advantage in third downs helped give the Huskies their two possession lead. When redshirt junior quarterback Michael Penix Jr. commanded Washington to convert five out of its ten third down chances, the Longhorns mustered just two out of its eight attempts in the first half.

Although it is common for teams to struggle with third downs when facing long distances, the majority of Texas’ third down tries in the first half were four yards or shorter.

“I think that’s something we need to address in the offseason, our own ability to convert third downs,” Sarkisian said. “That needs to improve and our ability to get off the field on defense on third downs needs to improve.”

While Texas found rhythm towards the end of the game, its 13-3 halftime deficit was too much for the team to rebound from. For instance, redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers completed ten of his 12 passes that occurred on first and second down but only half of his third down passes in the first half. 

Promising drives for the Longhorns would fizzle out, which is why the team only scored three points in the opening half. 

“I felt like we really harped on about winning on first down this week to put ourselves in position to win on third down,” Sarkisian said. “Unfortunately in the first half we had three third and shorts we didn’t convert on.”

When junior running back Bijan Robinson and senior running back Roschon Johnson opted out of the bowl game, the responsibility of being the catalyst of the Texas offense shifted to Ewers, who normally had the ability to rely on his backfield as a young quarterback.

Supported by only 45 combined rushing yards from Thursday night’s running backs, Ewers wasn’t able to produce enough in the passing game to overcome the offense’s late start. 

However, the quarterback didn’t perform poorly in the loss. The former five-star recruit, who had failed to reach 200 yards in his last four starts, threw for 369 yards, the most he’s thrown as a Longhorn. 

“With our offense, once we get rolling it’s hard to stop us,” Ewers said. 

With the defeat, Texas ended its football season with a loss for the first time since 2016. Although the bowl loss will leave a bitter taste in Texas’ mouth, it has the chance to serve as motivation for improvement in the offseason.

“The most heartbreaking heartbreaks are when you become the best version of yourself,” senior offensive lineman Christian Jones said. “I know everyone in the locker room will overcome it, that’s the type of people that we are.”