The second semi-final of the College Football Playoff will feature Washington vs Texas tonight in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Texas comes into this game as the Big 12 Champion and a 12-1 overall record. Their lone loss came to Oklahoma in a 34-30 thriller. To some extent, many view them as playing in the College Football Playoff as a reward for beating Alabama early in the season. Some believe that their win over Bama and Bama’s later victory over the Georgia Bulldogs put the CFP Committee in a tough spot of having to put Texas ahead of them, resulting in Florida State being left out.
Washington out of the Pac 12 ran the table including beating their Oregon twice, once at home and later in the Pac 12 Championship game. The Huskies also had impressive wins against Arizona, Utah, Oregon State, and USC. Their closest game came in a head-scratching game against Arizona State which required a late pick-six to seal the game.
Players Not Playing in the Bowl Game
For once in these previews, this section won’t be a long laundry list of names of players leaving. However, the players that will be missing could end up being significant. Both players will be without their primary backup quarterback. Both teams hope that this doesn’t become a Washington vs Texas backup battle for either team.
Texas’ Maalik Murphy stepped in twice this season for the injured Quinn Ewers. Murphy started against BYU and Kansas State throwing for 418 yards and three touchdowns. Murphy was a proven backup who the Longhorn’s felt comfortable going with if needed. Instead, Texas Football is going to have to rely on the arm of Arch Manning, a promising, but unproven backup. That certainly didn’t stop the press from focusing on him however during media availability.
Nah this photo is CRAZY https://t.co/E6o6h6vR4Y pic.twitter.com/vMbUxx3pbU
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) December 30, 2023
Washington will not have backup Dylan Morris. Morris didn’t play a lot this year, only throwing the ball 14 times, but he was the starter back in 2021 and threw for nearly 2,500 yards. He wasn’t the most effective quarterback, but he was experienced, and if a backup is needed for any reason, Washington will with they had him available.
How to Watch:
Monday January 1st, 8:45PM ET on ESPN and ESPN+
Prediction for Washington vs Texas Football
This should be a fantastic game. Both teams have plenty of experience dominating in games, and both teams have shown they know how to win a tight game. Washington was 6-0 in one score games, while Texas was ale to put together 3-1 record in one score games. This suggests that if the game is close, Washington has an edge, but Texas also shows they know how to deal with adversity.
Another factor, albeit not as significant, is that this isn’t the first Washington vs Texas bowl game we’ve seen. Many of the players are different, but the quarterbacks and many of the key skill players were in that game. Washington won the game 27-20, but Texas as 8-4 coming into the game while the Huskies were 10-2.
Both teams also tend to score around 36 points per game. The difference is Texas’ defense only gave up 14.7 points per game while Washington gave up 23.6. With this, I believe that both defenses will hold each other their season average, but with Texas giving up less points in a high scoring Big 12 tells me it will likely be the deciding factor.
Final Score Prediction for Washington vs Texas: Texas 33, Washington 31