Longhorns Notebook: Quinn Ewers Impresses, Defense Struggles in Alamo Bowl Loss

Three key takeaways from the Longhorns' Alamo Bowl loss to the Huskies.

The Texas Longhorns looked to end their season on a high note with a win over the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl. 

This game was a defensive slugfest out of the gate, as the Longhorns' defense was able to stifle the potent Huskies' offense in the first quarter, holding them to only 10 points. However, while the defense was dominant the offense simply couldn't get it going. 

After taking a 13-3 deficit into the half, the Longhorns came out of the locker room with a quick touchdown drive to cut it to 13-10. It wouldn't be enough, though, as the Longhorns' comeback attempt came up just short in a 27-20 loss. 

Now, here are three key takeaways from the Longhorns' loss to the Huskies. 

No Bijan or Roschon, big problems

It was not hard to guess that the Longhorns' rushing attack would struggle without Bijan Robinson or Roschon Johnson, but nobody saw them as being as bad as they were. Simply put, the Longhorns essentially had no rushing attack. 

The Longhorns only managed to rush for 49 yards on a mere 2.9 yards per carry which haunted Texas throughout the game. As a result, the Longhorns were unable to capitalize on an impressive performance from quarterback Quinn Ewers in a tough loss to swallow. 

Ewers impresses despite the loss

No, there are no moral victories in sports, especially when they come in a loss. However, after Ewers struggled mightily down the stretch of the regular season, his ability to bounce back in the setting that he did is encouraging for the Longhorns heading into the offseason. 

Ewers finished completing 31-of-47 passes for 369 yards and a touchdown but could have had two touchdowns if not for an egregious drop from Xavier Worthy in the third quarter on a potential walk-in touchdown. All-in-all, though, Ewers bounced back against the Huskies and showed he can be a quarterback Sarkisian can build around.

Third down struggles

There were plenty of areas of trouble for the Longhorns against the Huskies, but their third-down struggles were chief among them. On offense, they were an uninspiring 6-of-15 on third down attempts, with the aforementioned Worthy drop the most painful on what would have been a seemingly walk-in touchdown. 

On the defensive side of the ball, it was not better at all. The Longhorns' defense allowed the Huskies to convert 11-of-20 and were simply unable to get off the field when they needed to. This has been an area of concern for Texas all season, and one it must address in the offseason.

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You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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