With just over two minutes left to play in the game, sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers launched a perfect pass to junior wide receiver Adonai Mitchell on third-and-12. With just over two minutes left to play, Mitchell hauled in the pass for a gain of 35 yards, sealing Texas’ victory.
Texas had no momentum after TCU scored 20 fourth-quarter points and was backed up to its own 13-yard line, a complete shift from the first half.
“I saw one-on-one to (Mitchell) and giving him a shot usually works out in our favor, and it did tonight,” Ewers said. “It was pretty cool for him to come down with that ball and to get the win here.”
In the first half of his first game back after injuring his throwing shoulder against Houston, Ewers threw for 244 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
The interception came in odd fashion when Ewers overthrew Worthy. TCU’s Millard Bradford intercepted the pass, looking for a big return. Senior wide receiver Jordan Whittington missed on his first tackle attempt but got up and chased Bradford down to tackle him from behind.
On the tackle, Whittington stripped Bradford of the ball and Texas recovered the fumble, getting the ball back in dramatic fashion.
“What a great play by Jordan Whittington to strip the ball after the interception,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “I thought that was a critical play in the ball game.”
Texas was firing on all cylinders on both sides of the ball in the first half. The offense put up 331 total yards of offense and the defense held TCU to 110 yards.
Ewers and Worthy’s connection returned without missing a beat, with Worthy catching eight passes for 120 yards in the first half. Sophomore running back Jonathon Brooks ran for two touchdowns and Ewers threw one to Mitchell for another score.
On defense, sophomore defensive back Terrance Brooks picked off TCU quarterback Josh Hoover with less than a minute left in the first half. Texas had all of the momentum going into halftime, but TCU was set to receive the second-half kickoff.
“I thought our coverage was really good,” Sarkisian said. “In the first half, we covered really well. We played the deep ball well. We broke up some plays when they completed it. We were tackling really well but as the game went on, we just didn’t tackle very well.”
Starting with the opening second-half kickoff, TCU gained control of the game. Tackling was not the only thing that Texas struggled with in the second half.
The defense gave up over 300 passing yards. The offense struggled to move the ball, only putting up 151 yards in the second half.
Worthy was only targeted three times and had two catches for just 15 yards. The only big play Texas had was the third down conversion to Mitchell.
Texas struggled to finish the game, giving up 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“Nobody wants us to play a complete four-quarter game more than I do,” Sarkisian said. And then our players do. And so as always, we got to try to find the right buttons to push in our preparation. ”
With the win, Texas is 9-1 and alone in first place in the Big 12 with two games left to play. Texas heads to Iowa State next Saturday.
