College Football Playoff

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ATLANTA, Georgia - With Arizona State one play away from pulling off a comeback for the ages in the College Football Playoff, Quinn Ewers delivered a throw to Matthew Golden that saved the season for Texas.

Then it was left to Andrew Mukuba to finish off Cam Skattebo and the gritty Sun Devils.

If the Longhorns go on to win the national championship, they’ll long remember how they kept their hopes alive in this Peach Bowl quarterfinal classic.

Ewers passed 28 yards to Golden for a touchdown on fourth-and-13 to force a second overtime, and Mukuba's interception clinched a 39-31 victory after Texas squandered a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter and missed two field goal attempts that could've won it in regulation.

“The one thing that I know about our group is when our backs are against the wall and when our best is needed, our best shows up time and time again,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “The resiliency that these guys showed today was something that as a coach makes you really proud.”

Skattebo put No. 10 Arizona State ahead for the first time all day with a 3-yard touchdown run to start overtime against No. 4 Texas, the capper on a brilliant performance that wasn't quite enough to knock off the Longhorns.

The Sun Devils — a two-touchdown underdog, according to Sportsbook — had the game in their grasp before Ewers spotted Golden breaking free behind two defenders to haul in the tying score.

“That's just a testament to how mature this team is and just taking advantage of every single opportunity that we have,” Ewers said.

After moving to the opposite end of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Ewers threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm on the very next play, followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Golden.

The Longhorns (13-2) finally put Arizona State (11-3) away when Mukuba picked off Sam Leavitt’s pass at the 3 to end the game.

“We gave everything we had,” Skattebo said. “We never stopped.”

After a bunch of lopsided results through the first five games of the expanded 12-team playoff, the format finally produced the sort of thrilling game that supporters envisioned.

It sends Texas back home for a Cotton Bowl semifinal against No. 1 Oregon or No. 6 Ohio State, who were facing off Wednesday in the Rose Bowl.

Despite being dominated on the stat sheet most of the game, the Longhorns had a seemingly comfortable 24-8 lead after scoring two early touchdowns and getting a 5-yard scoring run from Ewers with just over 10 minutes remaining.

But Skattebo and the Sun Devils were just getting warmed up.

The running back who calls himself the best in the nation, Skattebo backed up his bravado by displaying every facet of his all-around game.

First, he took a pitch on fourth-and-2 and heaved a 42-yard touchdown pass to Malik McClain that gave the Sun Devils a chance when they made the 2-point conversion.

Then, Skattebo broke loose down the sideline and hauled in a 62-yard throw from Leavitt — getting his helmet ripped off at the end of the play, which seemed like the only way to bring him down.

That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by the bowling ball of a back, and it was only appropriate that Skattebo also powered in for the 2-point conversion that tied the game at 24 with 5 minutes remaining.

Texas had a pair of chances to win in regulation, but Bert Auburn was wide right on a 48-yard field goal attempt and clanked one off the left upright from 38 yards away as time expired.

“We weren’t at our best and it felt like an NCAA March Madness basketball game with the swings of emotions and things,” Sarkisian said. “I'm just proud of these guys because not every game is going to be pretty and not every game is just going to go exactly how you want it to go.”

In the final minute of the third quarter, Texas led 17-8 even though Arizona State had a commanding 303-128 lead in total yards and had held the ball nearly three times longer than the Longhorns, 32:49 to 11:30.

Arizona State finished with 510 yards to 375 for the Longhorns.

Despite vomiting on the sideline before the start of the fourth quarter, Skattebo rushed for 143 yards, made eight catches for another 99 yards and, of course, had that one big completion.

It wasn’t quite enough.

Ewers threw for 322 yards, with Golden making seven receptions for 149 yards.

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SCORING SUMMARY

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