ARLINGTON, Texas – The 28-year tenure in the Big 12 Conference for The University of Texas’ football program began with a conference championship. And the Longhorns will conclude their stay in the league by claiming the conference’s latest football title — the program’s fourth Big 12 trophy and first since 2009 — following a 49-21 victory over No. 18 Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon.
Like its arrival into the league in 1996, No. 7 Texas (12-1), in front of a record-breaking attendance of 84,523 packed inside AT&T Stadium and millions more watching around the world, did not waste time moving ahead of its competition after Quinn Ewers and Adonai Mitchell connected for a 10-yard scoring completion — Mitchell’s 10th touchdown reception on the season, tying him for sixth on the program’s single-season list — to cap a four-play, 39-yard drive that took just 1:29 off the clock.
Ewers’ pass to Mitchell was the third pass of a personal-best 12-for-12 start to the game for the Southlake native.
During the span, Ewers, who went on to be named the Most Outstanding Player of the game, tossed a 24-yard pass to Ja’Tavion Sanders to move Texas ahead 14-0, before Oklahoma State (9-4) crossed midfield for the first time in the game. Even after the Cowboys scored midway through the first quarter to cut the Longhorns’ lead in half, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound signal caller maintained his scorching start by connecting with defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard scoring play late in the first.
Texas ballooned its lead to three touchdowns following a 10-yard scoring gallop by CJ Baxter on the Longhorns’ opening drive of the second quarter.
Ewers, again, answered an Oklahoma State touchdown when he and Jaydon Blue connected for an 8-yard touchdown, which made the Texas quarterback the first student-athlete in the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship game with four passing touchdowns in a single half. The 8-yard play was part of a 422-yard offensive performance by the Longhorns, the most yards in any half of a Big 12 Football Championship game over the last 20 seasons.
After flirting with his single-game career high in passing yards (369) in the first half, Ewers took the field for the second half and surpassed the mark set against Washington in 2022 on a 4-yard pass to Sanders.
Ewers and Sanders went on to find each other for a second record-breaking play when the pair connected for an 8-yard play to begin the Longhorns’ second offensive drive of the third quarter. The completion pushed Ewers, who broke Kansas State’s Michael Bishop’s single-game total offense record (442) set against Texas A&M in 1998 by game’s end with 458, ahead of Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford for the most passing yards (384) in a Big 12 Football Championship game set against Missouri in 2008.
The play also started a six-play drive that covered 79 yards and took 3:07 off the clock and was finished by a 57-yard touchdown run by Keilan Robinson to extend Texas’ lead to 42-14 with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter. Robinson made it 49-14, Longhorns, less than five minutes later with an 11-yard scoring run, marking the first time in his career he’s rushed for multiple touchdowns in the same game.
A third Oklahoma State touchdown — coming midway through the fourth quarter — preluded Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and his coaching staff’s decision to take out his starters and send in more Longhorn student-athletes to experience the game’s closing moments, including running back Johnathon Brooks who went onto the field for the game’s final kneel down.
Despite the 1-yard loss by Arch Manning on a kneel down to end the game, the Texas offense set a Big 12 Football Championship game record with 662 yards of total offense, breaking Oklahoma’s record of 627 set against Missouri in 2008.
With the 2023 Big 12 Football Championship trophy on its way back to Austin, the Texas Longhorns will now await its postseason fate during the College Football Playoff Selection Show Presented by AT&T (11 a.m. CT / ESPN / ESPNU) on Sunday, Dec. 3.
Official Big 12 Championship gear can be found here.
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