Texas was breaking out all the stops in the Big 12 title game on Saturday afternoon.
Already up 7-0 in the first quarter over Oklahoma State at AT&T Stadium, the Longhorns were in prime position for another score when they whipped out an impressive flea flicker for a second touchdown.
With the ball at the Oklahoma State 24-yard line, Quinn Ewers took the ball out of the shotgun with running back CJ Baxter to his left.
The signal-caller handed the ball off to Baxter, who scurried to his right to flip the ball over to wide receiver Adonai Mitchell in what appeared as a reverse play.
But instead of running toward the opposite direction of the field with the ball in his hands, Mitchell flipped the ball back to Ewers.
Before the pressure got to the quarterback, he threw up a pass down the far sideline to a wide-open Ja’Tavion Sanders, who waltzed into the end zone untouched, helping Texas go up by two scores early before it pulled away with a 49-21 blowout win to take the Big 12 title.
Ewers added a third touchdown in the first quarter when he faked a handoff in heavy formation at the goal line before finding a wide-open T’Vondre Sweat — who is a Longhorns defensive lineman — in the end zone.
The sophomore finished the first quarter against the Cowboys going a perfect 11-for-11 for 167 yards (15.2 yards per completion).
By the time the game was over, the star signal-caller set a Big 12 title game record with 452 passing yards while throwing for four scores.
Ewers came into the game having thrown for 2,709 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions this season.
His big-game ability now has Texas on the edge of making the College Football Playoff as it now awaits its ultimate fate.
Before the game, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Ewers is leaning toward coming back in 2024, something that has “increased exponentially in the past few weeks.”
With the way Texas offense plays with his abilities, the Longhorns should be a national title threat next season if he does indeed make a return.