It was the play of the game, and for Texas and star quarterback Quinn Ewers, it was enough to help the Longhorns survive and advance against a tougher-than-expected Arkansas team that was licking its wounds after being knocked around by Ole Miss two weeks ago.
With 2:15 to play in Texas’s Week 12 game against the Razorbacks, the Longhorns faced a fourth-and-2 situation from the Arkansas 30-yard line. Holding a 20-10 lead, coach Steve Sarkisian could have tried a 47-yard field goal or a short pooch punt. Either way, he risked giving Arkansas the ball back with enough time for a miracle finish.
Instead, Sarkisian gambled on a fake handoff and a keeper for quarterback Quinn Ewers, who had been uneven all day. It worked–barely.
Ewers took the ball to the left side on the zone read after the fake handoff and had to put his head down into Arkansas linebacker Junior Worth and drive forward for the first down.
Worth wrestled Ewers down, but only after he’d gotten the two yards he needed to convert the first down and allow Texas to salt the game away for the 20-10 win.