The Craig Way Show
Quinn Ewers and Jahdae Barron react to double-overtime win over Arizona State
(upbeat music) Back to the Craig way show. Connect with Craig through the text line by texting Texas to 81530, followed by your message. Standard message and data rates may apply. Yeah, please text in and let us know your thoughts on yesterday's game between Texas and Arizona State text, the word Texas to 81530, followed by your message or leave us a message on our iHeart Radio app using that red microphone button, Texas fans, how you feeling and how you feeling about next week. Quick update on the Georgia Notre Dame Allstate Sugar Bowl College Football playoff quarterfinal match up right now, the Bulldogs. It will look at the ball back after Notre Dame punt. Moving into Notre Dame territory. Gunnar Stockton with two pretty good throws, but right now the Bulldogs are facing third in short in Notre Dame territory will keep you updated on that. Okay, back to more sound from Steve Sarkeesian and this Texas team and he was asked about the bend but never break mentality that we've seen from the Longhorns over the past two seasons. - I think one thing that happens is as a team, you grow through adversity, as long as you handle adversity the right way. And I said to these guys a year ago today, there was a lot of tears and a lot of frustration because we weren't able to close out the semi final and then get to the national championship game. And that started it. And I think the way they responded to that, to all the things that we went through this offseason, the summer into fall camp, losing a critical piece to this team and Cedric Baxter, one of our team leaders to Quinn getting injured earlier in the season to losing Kelvin Banks, to lose a lot of different players right along the way, Isaiah Bond, so on and so forth. But the next guy steps up, you know, and the moment doesn't ever feel too big for our guys is critical as a moment might be as maybe we're not playing our best football. The one thing I know, their resolve is that they know how to really lock in and get focused and be at their best when their best is needed. - It won't count as a one score victory because sacks of a win, actually, I'm sorry, it will, eight points. So they have not had many one score victories this season. Their closest win before the game came against Vanderbilt, that three point victory, 27, 24. But looking at one score games coming in, I think they were just one in one. So not a lot to look at to know whether or not this team, how they perform in one score games, especially it became down to the final quarter or quarters in we saw Texas against Georgia, lose that game in overtime in the SEC championship, but I think a little bit of a confidence boost for this team to be able to, you know, losing a lead is one thing, but to be able to come back and then pull out the win. You really saw that bend, but not break mentality. The fourth down throw mentioned it with Craig Way. There's been some huge fourth down plays in Texas history. Offense and defense. Of course, everyone thinks about fourth and five. How about the fourth and 17 the year before Kansas? In fact, we've kind of heard people talk about it, that there is no Texas national championship without Finch Young converting that fourth and 17 in Lawrence, Kansas the year before that, in which as Craig describes it, and he took three long strides and boom, got the first down, Texas would win that game. They would end up qualifying for the rolls ball. It would beat Michigan and then going to the next season as a top ranked team. And of course, we all know what happened. Well, Quinn Ewers had his own fourth down moment yesterday. First overtime, trilling by a touchdown, season on the line, Quinn Ewers stepped up and delivered a strike to Matthew Golden to tie the game up and then would come back and deliver another strike to Gunnar Helm to end up winning the football game. So, Sark was asked about that throw Quinn made him fourth down. - Yeah, I thought there was a couple of things that were impressive. One, I thought it was a great job of preparation by our coaches in relaying that to our players. We actually practiced that play versus that exact defense during the week. And there were some moving parts to that, to where Quinn had to change the protection on the play. And he did, he got us to a max protection. But even at that, there were some intricacies that handled the pressure the way it was coming inside. And so, the protection, him changing it to them getting the protection. And then Matt understanding why that route was gonna be there predicated on the coverage. And I thought Quinn's ability to stand in the pocket and deliver the ball the way that he did. It was a real strike. So, there was layers to the whole thing. We guessed a little with the call, thinking they might come after us and we guessed right. And he did a great job of getting the protection right and making the play. Yeah, Matthew Golden knew I ran that fake to the outside and then cut inside on the Arizona State safety, put him in the blender. He knew the safety was not gonna be back there. So, fantastic decision by Quinn Ears to the check in the max protect, deliver the thrill. There's a lot of things that I don't think Quinn Ears gets credit for. We've heard multiple times this season about Quinn's ability at the line of scrimmage to check in the plays or to audible. And they end up leading in the huge plays. Was the Jaden Blue touchdown run? Was that one that Quinn Ears checked into, right? So now, there's decisions like the interception throw that are not good, right? He has his moments, there's good and bad. But he's had a lot of good during his time at Texas and now is back-to-back college football play. I said my final appearances. Now let's hear from Quinn Ears on the comeback. His thoughts on it, what he was thinking, all of that. - Well, I think just first off, that's just a testament to how mature this team is. And just taking advantage of every single opportunity that we have, whether it be fourth and 15 or first and 10, whatever the situation is, just taking full advantage of the opportunity that's thrown our way. And I'm just so proud of the way that the entire team stayed poised and composed through the entire game, especially through overtime. And it definitely feels a lot better to be on this end of the win and overtime at the same spot for sure. - Yeah, no doubt about that one, Quinn. How about the ability, his ability, his ability, and the team's ability to stay calm in the big moments? - I think that we all stay calm. And for all of us to stay calm, it kind of starts with me. And I just try to be that calm within the storm for all the guys. And I think that my relationship with Jesus has helped me in that specific way of knowing that no matter what happens, that he's gonna be there for me, he's still gonna love me. And the reality of it is, that's the reality of it. - Yeah, I think outside of the Georgia game, I haven't really seen Quinn, well, hold on, move back up. The last two years outside that Georgia game have not really seen Quinn get rattled right now. His first premiere at Texas, Oklahoma State, yeah, there was some moments. The last two years, I think he's been very calm in big moments. I think back to Alabama at Bryan Denny Stadium, right? He was very calm in that huge win over a top ranked Alabama team, I think even against Washington in that comeback, right? Texas came up short in that game, but I mean, he brought Texas all the way down to the red zone to almost win that game, right? If not for two fumbles from the Texas running backs, who knows what happens in that season in this season, right, in that game? You know, he led Texas down twice, twice the in a regulation. And unfortunately, Brett Auburn continues to struggle kicking the football. But, you know, he put Texas in a spot to win that game twice and then ultimately did it with his arm in double over time. He was asked what was set in between the overtime possessions, you know, after the strike to Matthew Golden, the tied up, and then his touchdown passed to Gunnar Helm on the very next play that put Texas in front for good. - It was pretty short and simple. You know, just let's go do it again. And Coach Clark called it a great play that we run pretty often. It gets our own defense in a hit kind of similar. So it's funny how things work. - Yeah, we talked about the beginning of the show, that it was a look, a play that Texas had practiced before, and they had practiced it against that same exact defensive look, that six-man blitz from Arizona State in Texas, Quinn, Matthew Golden, the protection. Everybody executed it perfectly to tie that game up. Now, the team's confidence in Quinn. This is a response from Steve Sarkeesian and Shiny Baron. I think you think about two guys in this Texas team that no matter what, through the ups and downs have backed up their quarterback. It's been Steve Sarkeesian and Shiny Baron. - Quinn's a G, man. Like, I know he doesn't always exude that, like in his body language and his demeanor, because I say it about him about this all the time. Like he's a steady seed. He never gets really high. There's flashes of that emotion. He never gets too low. Sure, there's moments of frustration that we all have, but the guy recalibrates so quickly. And he's so calm that it allows me to lean on him. The most critical moments, especially tonight, and then the run game was tough. And we didn't want to get behind the sticks, and we went in overtime thinking, we got to throw it to win. As much as I wanted to run to win, as these guys I tell you, I was telling them last night, I felt like in that moment, we had to throw it to win, and we had to get the ball in the end zone. I just didn't want to settle for another field. We had to go score. - I mean, Quinn's the leader. I mean, he's been leading us this whole time. I mean, shoot me, Quinn used to be rumors. He used to bully me. Tell me, don't take out the trash. Like scream, have you go to sleep? But I mean, just Quinn, you know, he just strives to be perfect, but he wants everybody else to be perfect. But again, you know, he knows the Lord is his creator, and he can give everything to him. He just go play fast. He just literally go out there and just play fast. We're all blessed to be here. We're all blessed to play again, and we love. But at the end of the day, you can't make a mistake in God's eyes. - I think one of the biggest players on Texas offense this season has been the Houston transfer, Matthew Golden. He's had a fantastic season, had a fantastic game, 149 yards against Arizona State. Seven receptions, one touchdown, including the game tying touchdown in overtime. 936 receiving yards this season, 56. It's a good chance to get over a thousand yards this year against Ohio State next week. Obviously, him and Quinn have developed a rapport over the past couple of weeks, especially this season. But also, Golden has had some big moments in some big games this season. So Quinn Ears, or sorry, Steve's occasion rather, was asked about Matthew Golden's ability to step up and deliver in the big moments. - Yeah, I think that's probably a credit to Matthew and to Quinn, you know, as a quarterback, you're always trying to find rapport and trust in a receiver, and as a play caller, you are too. And, you know, you earn trust, right? With consistency and time. And I think there's a level of consistency in Matthew's game that he's earned a lot of trust in myself and learned a lot of trust in Quinn that in a lot of critical moments, it's easy to try to find him, you know, because you know he's gonna be in the right spot, you know he's gonna be competitively tough and make those plays. And I think over time, we've, I've learned at least that the moment doesn't ever get too big for him either. You know, he remains very poised and composed in some of the bigger moments that we've had. - And taxes will need him against Ohio State next week without a doubt. In fact, in the last three games, Georgia, Clemson, Arizona State, Matthew Golden has had two 100-yard performances. 162 in the loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship game, eight catches, and then seven receptions against Arizona State yesterday, including a touchdown. He has been a huge weapon for Quinn-Yours in the Longhorns. In this fight, Isaiah Bond returning yesterday, believe what, one target? Maybe two targets in that game, looking at the stat line. He did not have a catch. And does not show how many targets he had, but of course, the one I do remember is that interception late in the fourth quarter in which Arizona State would score a touchdown off of and tie the game. If taxes can find a way, and I mean, with Isaiah Bond's injury, this may just go back to the fact that, you know, he's not been able to practice as much. So Quinn-Yours just does not have that chemistry with him, but you'd like to see Isaiah Bond kind of get involved more in the offense going forward. And even Gunnar Helm was not used as much as we thought he would against Arizona State until late in that game. Three catches, 56 yards as long as the day, that 25-yard reception. I think he had the last two catches also came in the second half before that. Taxes, if they can find a way to get Helm and Bond involved, along with Matthew Golden, it can make the offense a little bit more dangerous. But of course, a lot has to do with how they're able to run the football. And Steve Sarkeeson was asked about taxes, not being able to run the football against Arizona State, 53 total yards averaging 1.8 yards per carry. Yeah, you know, I think one kind of limited ops. I mean, we played four quarters and two over times and only ran 60 plays tonight. And that's part of the run game is finding a rhythm. And we just couldn't quite get the rhythm and the flow of the game, the way we wanted it to go. I thought they did a good job with some of their movement. I thought they did a nice job kind of on the back side of things when we were ready to make some cuts. And then you feel like maybe a gain of six, seven, eight yards, we were getting three. And it was kind of a little frustrating. But, you know, I think ultimately we got to find a way to be a little bit more efficient on first down. Four-yard runs are good for us. That's okay. I just felt like we just didn't have enough ops. And that was probably the most frustrating thing to where we could really get going, you know? I mean, I'm looking at Jane Blue only at four carries and Trey had 18. But we need to be better. And we got to analyze that. They were a quick athletic front. That did a nice job, as I said. You know, the safeties were aggressive. And they got us on the ground. You know, I give them a lot of credit. They didn't play for over 20 days. And I thought they tackled pretty good tonight. They got us on the ground. We'll hear more from CSAR Akisian and other Texas players throughout the third hour as we back to wrap up our number two here on the Craigway show.
Hear from Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and defensive back Jahdae Barron after the Horns knocked off Arizona State in the CFP Quarterfinal.