How the Texas Longhorns graded out in their 37-31 CFP loss to Washington in the Sugar Bowl

We felt a Texas vs. Alabama rematch in the CFP championship game would be must-see TV. But we also knew a Texas vs. Michigan pairing would a great one, too. As it turned out, the Longhorns will get neither following their 37-31 loss to No. 2 Washington in the Sugar Bowl.

Yes, the Longhorns looked rusty. And sluggish, especially on offense. But the Huskies are 13-0 for a reason, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. carved Texas up for the second straight year and in the end, Texas' inability to get anything going in the third quarter and those two second-half fumbles were too much to overcome in the end. Literally.

How the Longhorns graded out in their CFP loss:

Quarterbacks: B-

Quinn Ewers was rocking a C- in the first half and a C entering the fourth quarter, but rallied in the end — kind of like the Longhorns nearly did. After a 9-of-18 performance for 70 yards in the first half, Ewers finished 24-of-43 for 318 yards and one touchdown, his fourth-quarter scoring toss to Adonai Mitchell preserving his streak of 13 straight games played with a touchdown pass. As strong as Ewers looked in the Big 12 championship game, he slogged his way through three quarters Monday night until catching fire late, his 41-yard connection to Jordan Whittington on third-and-long in the final minute nearly bringing Texas back from the dead. It was his fifth-best game of the season in terms of yards and he had a career-high 54 rushing yards, too. Had he found Mitchell in either of his two end zone shots at the end, we'd be talking a different grade. And game result.

Golden:Too many mistakes spoiled Texas' shot at playing for a national championship

Go figure: Ewers finished the season No. 7 on Texas's all-time passing touchdowns list, with 37.

Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A+, Wyoming C, Baylor A-, Kansas A, Oklahoma B, Houston B, BYU B, Kansas State C, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B, Oklahoma State A+, Washington B-)

Running backs: B

The two fumbles — one from CJ Baxter in the third quarter, one from Jaydon Blue in the fourth — were real killers, especially Blue's. Both came as they were on their way down to being tackled after a big gain, too. Neither back sniffed the 100-yard barrier as runners, but then neither had double-digit carries and if you add what they did in the passing game, Baxter had 103 yards and Blue had 104. Baxter (9-64-1) and Blue (9-59-1) averaged 7.1 and 6.6 yards per carry.

Go figure: Baxter and Blue both scored a touchdown for their third consecutive games.

Season average: B+ (Rice C, Alabama C, Wyoming A-, Baylor A-, Kansas A, Oklahoma B, Houston B+, BYU B+, Kansas State A-, TCU B+, Iowa State A-, Texas Tech A-, Oklahoma State B+, Washington B)

Wide receivers: C-

Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell were non-factors in the first half, which made the 21-21 score at the break a puzzling one. They were targeted 19 times but finished with only six catches for 77 combined yards. Mitchell's touchdown in the fourth quarter made it a 34-28 game with 7 minutes left, and Ewers threw it to him three times in the end zone on Texas' final drive, including on two of his final three throws. Whittington's 41-yarder in the final minute was the catch of the night. Give credit to Washington's defense, or to the Huskies' cornerbacks, for keeping Ewers' top two targets in a relative funk: Mitchell didn't catch his first pass till the 6:25 mark in the third quarter and Worthy was lined up in the slot on that third-and-10 at the end that went Whittington's way.

Go figure: Including his four CFP games with Georgia, Adonai Mitchell has now caught a touchdown pass in all five of his career playoff games.

Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A, Wyoming B, Baylor B, Kansas A-, Oklahoma B, Houston B, Houston B, BYU B-, Kansas State B-, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B-, Oklahoma State A, Washington C-)

Bohls:Texas had no sacks, not enough stops and very little luck in loss to Huskies

Tight ends: B

Ja'Tavion Sanders led all Texas pass catchers with six grabs for 75 yards. There were gains of 14, 15, 21 and 20 yards, but it was his 7-yarder with 54 seconds left in the first half that may have been his best of the night. It came on second-and-7 from Washington's 44, and as he was starting to go down, he turned to stretch the ball over the final one or two yards for the first down. It set up the Longhorns at Washington's 37, and they ended up scoring a touchdown to tie the game 21-21 at the break. It was a heads-up play from the veteran tight end.

Go figure: Sanders became Texas' all-time career receptions leader among tight ends with 99.

Season average: B- (Rice A-, Alabama A, Wyoming D, Baylor A-, Kansas D, Oklahoma B, Houston C, BYU B-, Kansas State B, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B)

The offensive line: B

Like most of the rest of the Longhorns, the offensive line looked rusty from the start. Right tackle Christian Jones completed his late-season swoon with one particularly bad drive in the first half when he was beaten for a sack at the front end of the drive and then sabotaged a 20-yard pass play to Baxter near the end of it with a holding penalty; that created a third-and-27 and Texas ended up punting. Ewers was sacked twice on the night. The running game clicked thanks to the front line's efforts, though, but there were enough false starts to drive head coach Steve Sarkisian batty.

Go figure: Texas rushed for at least 100 yards in all 14 games this season.

Season average: B (Rice C, Alabama A, Wyoming B-, Baylor B, Kansas A, Oklahoma C, Houston B, BYU B, Kansas State A, TCU B+, Iowa State B, Texas Tech B, Oklahoma State B, Washington B)

The defensive line: B

Tough grade. How Texas' defensive front, led by Outland Trophy winner T'Vondre Sweat, would fare against Washington's offensive line, which won the Joe Moore Award as the nation's best front, was one of the key matchups heading into the game and the storyline did not disappoint. In short, the Longhorns controlled things in terms of the running game but could not impact Washington's No. 1-raned passing attack. Michael Penix Jr. dropped back 38 times but wasn't sacked once. Still, it was a good night for individuals, including Ethan Burke and Byron Murphy II, who scored his second offensive touchdown of the season but also stopped Dillon Johnson short on a fourth-and-1 try at Texas' 14.

Go figure: Murphy became the first defensive player in UT history to have a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same season.

Season average: B+ (Rice A, Alabama A, Wyoming B, Baylor A, Kansas B, Oklahoma C, Houston B, BYU A, Kansas State A, TCU B+, Iowa State A-, Texas Tech A, Oklahoma State B+, Washington B)

Linebackers: C+

In his final game, Jaylan Ford was statistically all over the place, finishing with a game-high 10 tackles. But if there's such a thing, they were a quiet game-high 10 tackles. He and fellow 'backers Anthony Hill Jr. and David Gbenda were short on big plays save for Gbenda stopping Dillon Johnson for a small loss on third-and-1 from Texas' 14 in the second quarter. That play set up Murphy's fourth-down heroics. Texas really could have used a Ford fumble recovery or interception, or a Hill sack, to stunt Penix's momentum. None of those ever happened.

Go figure: Six of Ford's 10 tackles were solo stops.

Season average: B (Rice B, Alabama A-, Wyoming C+, Baylor B+, Kansas B, Oklahoma C-, Houston B+, BYU B, Kansas State B+, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech A, Oklahoma State B+, Washington C+)

Defensive backs: D

Penix picked apart the secondary with pinpoint precision. All night. It started on Washington's first drive with a 77-yard pass that was perfectly placed to Ja'Lynn Polk over the coverage of Terrance Brooks. But then few were spared the quarterback's masterful accuracy. Ryan Watts, who was an injury concern, also was victimized a time or two by Penix and his blocking penalty to open the second quarter set up the Huskies' second touchdown. Jahdae Barron's big hit on third down prevented a Huskies pass catcher from reaching the first down marker; it may have been Texas' biggest hit of the night. But in the end, Penix finished with 430 yards and we graded the Horns just like we would have graded Oklahoma State's secondary after watching what Ewers did against it in Arlington. The quarterbacks' two performances were that effective.

Go figure: Ford's 10 tackles were one off his season-high 11 stops he had against BYU.

Season average: B (Rice A, Alabama A, Wyoming A-, Baylor B, Kansas B, Oklahoma C, Houston C, BYU A, Kansas State C, TCU B, Iowa State B-, Texas Tech A-, Oklahoma State B+, Washington D)

Special teams: B

Besides Whittington's big 41-yard catch and Mitchell's fourth-quarter touchdown, the fumbled punt recovery by Morice Blackwell Jr. in the first half was one of Texas' highlight moments. It set up Texas' second score and a 14-14 tie. But beyond that, the special teams were quiet. Worthy was taken off punt returns in the fourth quarter, Bert Auburn's 25-yard field goal cut the Hoosier's 37-28 lead to 37-31 with 1:09 left to play, but that's as close as Texas got.

Go figure: In his final game as a Longhorn, punter Ryan Sanborn averaged 47.5 yards per kick.

Season average: B (Rice A, Alabama B, Wyoming B+, Baylor D, Kansas D, Oklahoma B, Houston B+, BYU A, Kansas State A, TCU B, Iowa State B, Texas Tech A+, Oklahoma State B, Washington B)

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football vs. Washington report card: How UT graded at Sugar Bowl