Total Play For Texas And Washington

Texas vs. Washington, 8:45 ET

New Year's Day is always filled with hope and excitement. As many of us start to put together resolutions and plans for how we will better ourselves for the next year, I'm sitting here evaluating a college football game. The only way I want to get better is by winning more games this year than I did last year. Today also brings us the College Football Playoffs and I'm excited to share a play on the game between Texas and Washington.

The Longhorns have put together quite a campaign for themselves this year. They came into the season with big hopes and while that has been true in previous seasons, this one came to fruition. The only loss that Texas suffered this season was at the hands of Oklahoma. That was a tight contest as well - they took the lead with about two minutes to go and it was too much time left as the Sooners marched downfield and scored a game-winning touchdown. The Longhorns are down their leading rusher, Jonathan Brooks, as he tore an ACL a little more than a month ago, but they haven't really missed a beat since he went down. Their quarterback, Quinn Ewers, is very talented and has put together some great games this season for Texas. Ewers faced Washington last season and threw for 369 yards in a loss. The Huskies passing defense has some holes and I think Ewers can exploit them. The biggest question is if the Longhorns defense can string together some stops. I think that ultimately is what the game will come down to who can put together a few stops in a row.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 1: Michael Penix Jr. #9 of the Washington Huskies looks for an open receiver during the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks at Allegiant Stadium on December 1, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images)

Washington has had a very strong year - their quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. was the runner-up in the Heisman voting, they had to beat Oregon twice, and they had to overcome a defense that has allowed a lot of points this season. If the plan is to just outscore the Longhorns, I'm not sure it will work. Washington's offense is very good and can attack you in a variety of ways, but the defense will need to step up as well. They are ranked 120th in passing yards allowed. In PAC-12 games, the Huskies were in tight contests. Seven of those games were one-score contests. The goal is to win games, not destroy people, so they got the main goal accomplished. But, in their last three contests, they won the games by three, three, and two points. Maybe that is good for them if this game goes down to the wire. For all the shots at the defense I'm taking, I should point out they forced a punt against Washington State late in the game before they won on a last-second field goal. They also forced a turnover on downs against Oregon State which sealed the game.

This should be a fun game not only because of the competition but because we should get a lot of offense. I'm not really expecting this to become an over though. The total is 63.5 for the game and I think it is a bit too high. I expect both teams to play with reasonable pace and have firepower, but there will be some stops and all we need is one quarter that has a low score to keep this under the total. Neither team has been a monster in terms of going over totals this season either. I'll take under 63.5 in this one.

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