Big 12 Football Championship is won by No. 7 Football after defeating No. 18 Oklahoma State.

With Quinn Ewers’s career-best passing efforts, Texas wins its first conference title since 2009 and its 29th overall.

Texas’s Arlington The University of Texas football team won a conference championship to kick off its 28-year Big 12 Conference run. And the Longhorns, who defeated No. 18 Oklahoma State 49-21 on Saturday afternoon, will end their time in the league by winning the conference’s most recent football championship, which will be the program’s fourth Big 12 trophy and first since 2009.

 

Similar to its 1996 debut, No. 7 Texas (12-1) wasted little time in outpacing its opponents. Adonai Mitchell and Quinn Ewers connected for a 10-yard scoring completion, Mitchell’s 10th touchdown reception of the year and tied for sixth on the program’s single-season record, completing a four-play, 39-yard drive in just 1:29 of play time. AT&T Stadium hosted a record-breaking 84,523 spectators for the game, and millions more watched it on television.Mitchell received the third pass from Ewers, who had started the game a personal-best 12-for-12.

 

In that time, Texas jumped ahead 14-0 thanks to a 24-yard pass from Ewers, who would later be named the game’s Most Outstanding Player. Oklahoma State (9-4) then crossed midfield for the first time. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound signal caller continued his scorching start, getting a 2-yard scoring play in the end zone with defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat late in the first quarter, even after the Cowboys had scored halfway through to cut the Longhorns’ lead in half.

 

After CJ Baxter’s 10-yard scoring run on the Longhorns’ first drive of the second quarter, Texas blew the lead to three touchdowns.

 

Again, Ewers responded to an Oklahoma State touchdown with an 8-yard pass from Jaydon Blue, making the Texas quarterback the first player to record four passing touchdowns in one half of play in the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship. The Longhorns scored 422 yards on offense, which is the most in any half of a Big 12 Football Championship game over the previous 20 seasons, including the 8-yard play.

 

When Ewers returned to the field in the second half, he passed Sanders for four yards to surpass the record set against Washington in 2022, having, in the first half, gone close to tying his career single-game high of 369 passing yards.

 

When the Longhorns’ second offensive drive of the third quarter got underway, Ewers and Sanders found each other again for a record-breaking play that went eight yards. At the end of the game, Ewers had 458, surpassing Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford’s record of 384 passing yards in a Big 12 Football Championship game against Missouri in 2008. Bishop had set the previous record for Kansas State’s single-game total offense record (442 yards) against Texas A&M in 1998.

 

With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Keilan Robinson’s 57-yard touchdown run sealed a six-play drive that covered 79 yards and cost 3:07 in total time. This play also increased Texas’ lead to 42-14. With an 11-yard scoring run less than five minutes later, Robinson put the Longhorns ahead 49-14. This was the first time in his career that he had rushed for multiple touchdowns in a single game.

 

Midway through the fourth quarter, a third touchdown from Oklahoma State preceded the decision by Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian and his coaching staff to bench their starters and send in additional Longhorn student-athletes to experience the game’s final moments, including running back Johnathon Brooks, who took the field for the game’s final kneel down.

 

Despite Arch Manning’s 1-yard loss on a kneel down to end the game, Texas’ offense broke Oklahoma’s record of 627 yards against Missouri in 2008 with 662 yards of total offense, setting a new record for a Big 12 Football Championship game.

 

The Texas Longhorns will now wait to see if they advance to the postseason at the College Football Playoff Selection Show Presented by AT&T on Sunday, December 3 (11 a.m. CT / ESPN / ESPNU). The 2023 Big 12 Football Championship trophy is currently en route back to Austin.