- NCAA. Deion Sanders controls the NFL Draft and plans to engineer Shedeur's move to an unexpected team
- NCAA. Tom Brady sticks his beak in and could change Bill Belichick's NCAA future
Just two wins, 120 minutes of football, separate the Texas Longhorns from their ultimate goal: a national championship, which would be the program's first since the 2005 season and confirm their return from the NCAA football wilderness. Those hopes grew after Texas defeated Arizona State on New Year's Day, winning a double-overtime thriller at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia.
As the fifth-seeded Longhorns prepare to take on the #8 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl on Friday night, the focus is not so much on Texas' potential advantage playing at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. With the Longhorns closing in on an appearance in the national championship game -- which would require a return trip to Atlanta -- the focus remains on quarterback Quinn Ewers, the redshirt junior who could bring home a title...or return to Austin disappointed.
Is Ewers contemplating a transfer?
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Ewers did little to silence speculation that he may return to college football in 2025 despite being draft-eligible for the NFL. In effect, Ewers has issued a sort of warning: he might well push to stay at Texas next season, even if the team is going to move forward with redshirt freshman Arch Manning under center.
"I'm just not worried about all that stuff," Ewers said. "I mean, people can say all they want to say, but, you know, I'm just focused on focus on Friday at this point in time."
The Peach Bowl saw both the best and the worst of Ewers. He was responsible for four touchdowns -- including a miraculous ing touchdown to Matthew Golden on the final play of the first overtime -- but he threw a critical interception in the fourth quarter that helped Arizona State rally from a 24-8 deficit. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has stuck by Ewers no matter what, and the Ohio State transfer will remain his QB1 against the Buckeyes on Friday.
But Ohio State enters the Cotton Bowl on a high after thrashing #1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes are healthy 5.5-point favorites to beat Texas, even though the crowd could be pro-Longhorns. Yet Ewers is making it clear that he is here to win, and he'll think about the future another day -- maybe after Texas has secured its first national title in 19 years.