Texas bows out of Big 12 with first conference title since 2009 - ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas ended its Big 12 tenure the way it began in 1996: With a conference championship.

The No. 7 Longhorns ended a 13-year conference title drought — the longest in the program history — with a 49-21 win over Oklahoma State behind the right arm of Quinn Ewers. The sophomore quarterback completed his first 12 passes en route to setting Big 12 championship game records for most yards (452), tied the mark for touchdown passes (4) and threw for the most yards (346) in the first half by any player in a half in any conference championship game in the last 20 years, putting on a show for the College Football Playoff committee, watching 20 miles away in Grapevine. Ewers exited the game in the fourth quarter and gave way to Maalik Murphy and later, Arch Manning, after completing 35 of 46 passes.

The Longhorns' title-clincher was the culmination of a breakthrough season for Steve Sarkisian, who won five and eight games in his first two seasons in Austin before going 12-1 this year, eclipsing 10 wins for the first time in his decade as a head coach and putting Texas in contention for a CFP berth.

From the beginning of the season, Sarkisian told the Longhorns to «embrace the hate» on the way out the door before heading to the SEC next season. His team responded, beating every team they're leaving behind, suffering the one loss at the hands of SEC-bound Oklahoma, which drove 75 yards in 1:17 left to beat Texas 34-30 on Oct. 7.

In three of the next four weeks, the Longhorns survived tight games at Houston (31-24), home against Kansas State (33-30), and at TCU (29-26) before a 10-point win on the road over Iowa State. But last week, Texas demolished Texas Tech 57-7 and now followed it up with a dominant win over the