ATLANTA — The national championship drought has stretched nearly 20 years at Texas, not that anyone needs to tell quarterback Quinn Ewers. Somewhere in his childhood home, his mom still has a Longhorns hat he wore when he was 3, and 4 and 5, refusing to let anyone take it off his head. He’s been thinking about a Longhorns national title since he took that hat off. And, for a time, he was sure last season would finally be when that drought came to an end.

Texas had won its first Big 12 championship since 2009 and advanced to its first College Football Playoff appearance behind Ewers, who had made his literal childhood dream come true when he decided to play for the Longhorns. Everything felt as if it was coming together for a storybook ending headed into their semifinal game against Washington in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2024.

Though Ewers struggled for long stretches, he rallied Texas in the fourth quarter. Down 37-31 with 41 seconds left, Ewers had a chance to lead a game-winning drive. All he had to do was take Texas 69 yards for the score.

He got inside the Washington 15 and then had four tries to score. On the final attempt, Ewers dropped back and lofted a ball for Adonai Mitchell in the end zone. Elijah Jackson batted the ball away.

Ewers was reduced to tears, his red-rimmed eyes speaking for him during the postgame news conference.

That night in the Sugar Bowl stuck with him for a year. Now, Ewers has delivered Texas back to the semifinal, a date with Ohio State — his former school — looming in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. And his goals have not changed in the year since the Sugar Bowl loss.

He still wants to be the quarterback to deliver the first Texas national title since 2005.

“It definitely was tough just to go back and watch what happened,” Ewers told ESPN during a quiet moment in the locker room after a 39-31 win over Arizona State in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. “It feels you’re like an inch away from going to the national championship. It’s a hard pill to swallow.

“I mean, I can tell you, I probably didn’t sleep for two days after that game.”

Nine days after that Sugar Bowl loss, Ewers announced he would return to Texas. Ewers had endured plenty in 2023, beyond the gut-wrenching ending to the Sugar Bowl. Though he was entrenched as the starter after transferring to Texas in 2022 from Ohio State, Texas had just signed freshman phenom Arch Manning, nephew of Peyton and Eli. Nothing Ewers did seemed good enough for the fan base. Whispers followed every bad play, every average performance.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian never stopped believing that Ewers was his guy. And Ewers and Manning maintain that their relationship is strong. But the lasting image from that Sugar Bowl may very well be the snapshot of Ewers, sitting alone on a dais at media day, looking behind him at a large crowd gathered to talk to Manning.

Despite everything he has done to bring Texas back to national relevance, he’ll be the guy some fans have been waiting on to leave for two years.

Unless he wins two more games.

Of course, there were those who did not expect him to stay for 2024. The natural assumption was that Ewers would leave after last season and that Manning would finally take the starting quarterback job. Instead, that loss in the Sugar Bowl solidified Ewers’ decision to come back.

This year, Texas became his team more than ever. As Texas worked to make it back, Ewers said, “That is just a testament to my teammates and how much trust everybody has in me, and I feel like it helps me be a better player.”

Manning played more this year, starting two games after Ewers sustained an abdominal injury in September and seeing spot duty in situational run packages, especially after Ewers sprained his ankle late in the season. But even in games when Ewers struggled to move the offense, Sarkisian stayed loyal to his starter.

Ewers is comfortable leading this offense. With him, it knows how to win. His teammates believe in him. Ewers will end his Texas career as one of the all-time greats in program history. As it stands, he ranks No. 3 in career passing yards and touchdowns thrown for the Longhorns; he has thrown a touchdown pass in 26 straight games, the longest streak by a Texas QB since Colt McCoy from 2007 to 2009. Only McCoy has more 300-yard passing games than Ewers.

In 35 career starts, Ewers is 27-8. Five of those losses came in his first year as a starter in 2022. Two came to Georgia this season, and Ewers’ performances in both losses gave his critics plenty of fodder to hold against him. His play might look downright clunky at times, but when he delivers, he shows off playmaking ability that made him the No. 1 recruit in the country out of high school.

Like when Ewers delivered two perfect passes on the first two plays of the Peach Bowl against Arizona State. Then nothing for two quarters. The fourth quarter was the typical yin-and-yang Ewers experience. His 5-yard touchdown run put Texas up 24-8 and brought out a rare show of emotion, as he flexed his arms to punctuate the score.

Arizona State answered with a touchdown. Two plays into the ensuing drive, Ewers threw an interception with 5:45 to play, leading to the game-tying score. From there, though, Ewers was locked in — going 8-of-10 for 105 yards on the last two drives of the fourth quarter — putting Texas in field goal range both times. Bert Auburn missed both attempts.

In overtime, Texas was down to its final play: fourth-and-13 from the Arizona State 28. Though it was not identical to the situation in the Sugar Bowl a year ago, it was close enough.

It was on Ewers to make a throw to save the season.

Texas got to the line, and Ewers sent a player in motion. That is when he says he saw Arizona State tip its defensive playcall, because sometimes Texas motions and then snaps right away. Ewers changed the protection to account for the defensive play — where the Sun Devils planned to bring their safety and linebackers and rush six. With the safety now rushing the passer, Ewers knew he would have Matthew Golden down the field wide open.

Touchdown, Texas.

“I think everybody sees the throw and the catch,” offensive coordinator Kyle Flood said. “I don’t know if you saw him change the protection. I knew we were going to be protected. We’re going to be clean. And now it’s just a matter, hopefully we can get open. He makes the right throw.”

“Quinn’s got a clutch gene, and he came through,” said Texas edge player Ethan Burke, who stood on the sideline waiting for the final play.

In the second overtime, Sarkisian called a play Texas often runs during spring and fall camp for tight end Gunnar Helm in overtime situations. “We have a really solid defense, so most of the time it gets covered up,” Ewers said. “Even if he wasn’t one-on-one, I was going to give Gunnar a shot, and if that wasn’t there, I knew I had Tre [Wisner] in the flat. So, just so cool to see that play come to fruition.”

Indeed, as Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron cradled the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Defensive MVP trophy in one arm while answering a question about the defensive performance, he stopped midsentence.

“Big shoutout to Quinn,” Barron said. “He doesn’t get the love that he should get from others, but it doesn’t matter. He knows he doesn’t need that love. We love him.”

Barron, Ewers and the other players who felt the sting after the loss in the Sugar Bowl in 2024 now have their second chance to advance to the national title game.

“I don’t think any of them forget being in New Orleans at the end of that game last year, and I don’t think any of them forgot all offseason long, and the obsession that they’ve had with getting back to this stage, I think is one that has fueled us through a fair amount of adversity that has gotten us back here,” Sarkisian said.

“That is definitely accurate,” Ewers said. “This game is my life, and this game is this whole team’s life, and for us to go as far as we did, and the amount of time that we put in was definitely hard, but [we’re] just so thankful that we have another opportunity to go win and a game that we lost last year.”