The 2024 Sugar Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played at the

Caesars Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, on January 1, 2024. The 90th annual

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

was one of the semifinals of the 2023–24 College Football Playoff (CFP) and featured two of the four teams selected by the CFP Selection Committee—the third-ranked

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

of the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

and the second-ranked

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

of the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. The game began at approximately 7:45 p.m. CST and was aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. The Sugar Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. Sponsored by insurance company

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...

, the game was officially titled the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Washington advanced to face the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

, winner of the Rose Bowl, in the

CFP National Championship The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football seaso ...

game on January 8.

College Football Playoff

Teams

The game featured Washington, undefeated champion of the

, and Texas, one-loss champion of the

. This was the sixth all-time meeting between Washington and Texas, with Texas leading the overall series, 3–2. The game was a rematch of the 2022 Alamo Bowl, in which Washington defeated Texas, 27–20.

Washington

Washington went undefeated in their 12-game regular season, including a win over

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

at home, 36–33, in Week 6. During the regular season, they won each of their last eight games by a margin of 10 points or fewer, and their perfect conference record set up a rematch with Oregon in the

2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game The 2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was a college football game played on December 1, 2023, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada. It was the 13th and final edition of the Pac-12 Footbal ...

. Washington won the rematch by the same margin, 34–31. Washington's 13–0 record earned them the second seed in the final

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

(CFP) rankings. The Huskies' appearance was the first (and only) time a Pac-12 team appeared in the Sugar Bowl.

Texas

Texas went 11–1 in their 12-game regular season. The Longhorns earned a marquee win over

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

in Week 2 by a margin of 34–24. In their second game of Big 12 play, they lost to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in the

Red River Rivalry The Oklahoma–Texas football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between border rivals Oklahoma and Texas. The two teams first played each other in 1900, and the rivalry has been renewed annually and uninterrupted since 1929 for a tota ...

, 34–30. Texas won each of their next six games, earning them a berth in the 2023 Big 12 Championship Game against

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. Texas won the game, 49–21, behind a record-setting 452 passing yards from

Quinn Ewers Quinn Tucker Ewers (born March 15, 2003) is an American football quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. Ewers attended Ohio State University in 2021 before transferring to Texas in 2022, where he became their starter. He is noted for being the fir ...

. Texas earned the third seed in the final CFP rankings, and entered the Sugar Bowl with a record of 12–1.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Washington Huskies bowl game navbox

Sugar Bowl Texas Longhorns football bowl games Washington Huskies football bowl games