Longhorns fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
Texas narrowly escaped the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl with a win in double additional time over Arizona State, 39-31, and punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff semifinal despite kicker Bert Auburn missing two late-game field goals that would have prevented such dramatics from being mandatory.
Auburn missed two of his three field goal attempts on Wednesday, with the second appearing as if it might have been the most expensive for the Longhorns.
Tied at 24 with just two seconds left in the sport, Auburn had what must have been a simple 38-yard attempt lined as much as win the sport.
The percentages were in his favor as well since he had been an ideal 9-for-9 this season in field goal attempts under 40 yards and 42-for-46 during his college football profession.
Nevertheless, the sphere goal attempt went left and struck the left upright, keeping Texas from winning the sport at that moment.
“Upright denies him!” Joe Tessitore said on the decision. “Sparky’s got life! Off the left upright!”
The missed kick left Texas fans stunned because the ESPN cameras quickly found the shocked fanbase throughout Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
That miss followed one which had occurred a minute and 42 seconds earlier when Auburn missed a 48-yard attempt that went wide right to maintain the sport even at 24 a chunk.
The Longhorns went on to win the sport after Gunnar Helm caught a 25-yard touchdown pass within the second additional time period after which got the two-point conversion on a pass from Quinn Ewers to Matthew Golden to place themselves up 39-31.
They capped the win by forcing an interception on Arizona State’s final drive of the sport
The Sun Devils had trailed by as much as 16 within the fourth quarter once they mounted a miraculous comeback scoring two TDs with the arm and legs of running back Cam Skattebo within the fourth quarter to tie the rating at 24.
Texas awaits the winner of Wednesday’s Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon within the CFP semifinals within the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10
