2024 Allstate Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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College Football Playoff Semifinal 90th Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | January 1, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Caesars Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
MOP | Michael Penix Jr. (QB, Washington) Bralen Trice (DE, Washington) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Texas by 4.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Ron Snodgrass (Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 68,791 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN ESPN Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | ESPN: Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Greg McElroy (analyst), Molly McGrath and Katie George (sidelines) ESPN Deportes: Ciro Procuna (play-by-play) and Ramiro Pruneda (analyst) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nielsen ratings | (18.4 million viewers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2024 Sugar Bowl (officially known as the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2024, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game was the 90th annual playing of the Sugar Bowl, one of the semifinals of the 2023–24 College Football Playoff (CFP), and was one of the bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game began at approximately 7:45 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It featured two of the four teams chosen by the selection committee to participate in the playoff: the third-ranked Texas Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference and the second-ranked Washington Huskies of the Pac-12 Conference. The winner qualified through to the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship against the winner of the other semifinal, hosted at the Rose Bowl.
Washington entered with an undefeated 13–0 record, while Texas entered with a mark of 12–1. Both teams were champions of their respective conferences: Washington defeated Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship and Texas defeated Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship. It was the sixth meeting between Washington and Texas, and the Longhorns led the overall series 3–2 entering the game. This was Washington's second CFP appearance, after their selection to the 2016 Peach Bowl, and the game marked Texas's CFP debut.
The game's first score came after four minutes on a 2-yard Dillon Johnson touchdown rush and Texas tied the game four minutes later. Each team scored two touchdowns in the second quarter: Johnson and Ja'Lynn Polk scored for the Huskies and Byron Murphy II and CJ Baxter scored for the Longhorns. Washington took their largest lead of the game after beginning the second half with thirteen unanswered points from a Jalen McMillan touchdown and two field goals by placekicker Grady Gross. Texas scored a touchdown with fewer than eight minutes left in the game on a 1-yard pass from Quinn Ewers to Adonai Mitchell, pulling them within six points, and they remained there after the teams traded field goals with 2:40 and 1:09 remaining in the game. After a Washington punt, Texas drove down the field but ultimately failed to convert a fourth down play as time expired, giving Washington a six-point win and a bid to the national championship game.