Texas was dormant for almost all of the first half.
Then, the Longhorns finally woke up in the waning seconds of the second quarter of the Cotton Bowl — with a little help from Arch Manning.
But Ohio State only let Texas revel in its excitement for a brief spell.
Held scoreless for almost the entirety of the first 30 minutes, Texas finally scored with 29 seconds left in the second quarter after Arch Manning helped extend the drive with a quarterback keeper on a fourth-down play.
With the ball at midfield and one yard to gain for a new set of downs, Manning entered at quarterback for Quinn Ewers and took a designed quarterback keeper to the far side of the field for eight yards and a fresh set of downs.
Ewers then re-entered, completing two of his next three passes, the latter of which went for an 18-yard touchdown to Jaydon Blue, knotting the game at 7-7.
One play after the ensuing kickoff, though, Ohio State answered emphatically when quarterback Will Howard threw a short screen pass to running back TreVeyon Henderson, who did the rest with a 75-yard catch-and-run to put Ohio State up by seven to enter the first half.
It was a crusher for Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal after looking like it had a chance to go into the half all tied up.
