AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s the biggest game for the Texas Longhorns football program since the 2005 BCS National Championship Game, and it’s one Monday night that could lead to another title game appearance.
The No. 3 Longhorns take on the No. 2 Washington Huskies in the 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl, one of the College Football Playoff semifinals, scheduled to kick at 7:45 p.m. CT from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Bevo XV in his pen before the 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl on Monday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The Longhorns face off with the Washington Huskies. (KXAN photo/Roger Wallace)
It’s the sixth time the programs have met and just the second time they’ve played in back-to-back seasons. The Huskies topped the Longhorns 27-20 in last year’s Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, but Texas played the game without star running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson who opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft. The Longhorns hold a 3-2 series lead over the Huskies.
Washington enters the game with the best passing offense in FBS, averaging 343.8 yards per game through the air and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has been sensational this season. He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting and can air it out as well as anybody in the country. He led FBS in passing yards with 4,218 going into Monday’s bowl games and has thrown 33 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
90th Allstate Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Texas Longhorns vs. No. 2 Washington Huskies
7:45 p.m. CT, Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, La.
As great as Penix has been for the Huskies, Texas has been more productive on offense this season. The Longhorns are No. 9 in FBS with 475.9 yards of offense per game to Washington’s 469.1.
In tight games like this one is expected to be, special teams become magnified. The Longhorns are better positioned in terms of returning punts, averaging 16.73 yards per return led by All-American returner Xavier Worthy. Defensively, the Longhorns are better than the Huskies in just about every statistical category, led by their third-down defense. Texas allows teams to convert third down about 26% of the time, which is No. 2 in FBS, but the Huskies have a great third-down offense. They earn a new set of downs around 48% of the time, No. 11 in FBS.
Texas freshman defensive back Derek Williams can’t play in the first half of the Sugar Bowl due to a targeting penalty he was flagged for in the Big 12 Conference championship game, and Worthy said his ankle wasn’t 100% earlier in the week, but he’s expected to play.
There will be live updates during the game in the X thread below
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