ATLANTA -- The national championship drought has stretched nearly 20 years at Texas, not that anyone needs to tell quarterback Quinn Ewers. Somewhere in his childhood home, his mom still has a Longhorns hat he wore when he was 3, and 4 and 5, refusing to let anyone take it off his head. He's been thinking about a Longhorns national title since he took that hat off. And, for a time, he was sure last season would finally be when that drought came to an end.
Texas had won its first Big 12 championship since 2009 and advanced to its first College Football Playoff appearance behind Ewers, who had made his literal childhood dream come true when he decided to play for the Longhorns.