Texas Longhorns defensive back Michael Taaffe (16) and defensive back Malik Muhammad (5) bring down Arizona State Sun Devils wide receiver Melquan Stovall (5) during the second half of a CFP quarterfinal game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Jan. 1. Texas defeated Arizona State, 39-31, in double overtime of the Peach Bowl.(Dallas Morning News)

WIRE REPORTS

The Texas Longhorns play in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Ohio State later this week (6:30 p.m. Friday, AT&T Stadium, Arlington; TV: ESPN, Radio: The Team 92.1-FM), but safety Michael Taaffe still is hearing about his controversial hit in the double-overtime win against Arizona State last week.

In the final minutes of regulation of that win, Texas’ All-American safety hit Sun Devils receiver Melquan Stovall and their helmets collided, leaving Stovall sprawled out on the turf. Officials reviewed the play for targeting, but ruled that it was a clean play, much to the chagrin of Arizona State fans and anonymous trolls on social media who have been berating Taaffe online.

“Thank God that I don’t have to have my foundation and the opinion of others, the approval of man or the game of football because the things that were thrown my way after that game on text from people that were finding my phone number, on social media, I don’t think anyone should ever have to go through,” Taaffe said Sunday. “So, thank God I don’t put my trust in what others say about me.”

Stovall was able to return to the game and was the intended receiver when Texas safety Andrew Mukuba snared an interception that ended the game in double overtime.

“I said a prayer for that guy,” Taaffe said. “It took him a long time to get up from that hit. I know it’s football, but I wanted to pray for him and I hope he’s doing OK, because you never want to see anybody go down on the football field.”

The legality of the hit still is in dispute by some, including Arizona State star running back Cam Skattebo who said a day after the game that he thought the no-call “was a little biased.”

For Taaffe’s part, he said the form of his hit, which ended with a facemask-to-facemask collision, was fundamental football.

“I’ve always been taught all my life that whenever you’re tackling, you tackle with your eyes up. If your head’s ever down, then your neck’s going to get injured,” Taaffe said. “So I always try to tackle with my eyes up, and I always try to wrap, and I think that’s what I did on that play. I had my eyes up and I wrapped, and I left it up to the officials. I’ve got to probably get my pad level down a little bit more, but I tackled with my eyes open, and I wrapped. And so when your eyes are up and you’re wrapping, that’s fundamental football, that’s what you’ve been taught since the second grade.”

— Matt Young, Houston Chronicle

Cotton Bowl preparing for wintry weather

Fans traveling to Arlington this week for the Cotton Bowl featuring Texas and Ohio State may be met with wintery weather conditions.

Weather forecasters are expecting a strong cold front in the region, which began Sunday, with high temperatures around 40 degrees and with lows in the 20s this week. Meteorologists are calling for “measurable” snow to begin falling Wednesday night on Dallas-Fort Worth. The rain-snow mix is expected to last into Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium will be the site of the College Football Playoff semifinal game between Texas and Ohio State, which kicks off Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT. Fan events are scheduled to begin Thursday.

Cotton Bowl officials said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News that they are aware of the anticipated weather conditions ahead of the game.

“We are routinely monitoring weather reports and we are in close contact with AT&T Stadium and local officials,” a Cotton Bowl spokesperson said. “We always have plans for inclement weather. Should conditions warrant it, we will communicate to everyone attending and connected with this year’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.”

The spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether the Cotton Bowl and College Football Playoff are considering postponing the game due to weather.

Just over a decade ago, AT&T Stadium had icy conditions when hosting the Super Bowl in 2011. Though snow did not fall on the day of the game in Arlington, nearly four inches accumulated the week before.

That led to a halftime show worker suing the Dallas Cowboys and stadium architects after he was injured by ice and snow falling from AT&T Stadium. The worker said he suffered a skull fracture and lasting medical problems as a result.

An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2014.

At least six people suffered a range of injuries on the Friday before Super Bowl XLV when warming weather melted layers of ice and snow on the stadium roof.

Since that Super Bowl, the Cowboys have installed a ridge-like ice guard on the stadium roof to prevent similar problems. The guard is designed to stop or slow the slide of ice and snow and break up larger chunks. The team also installed a system that pumps warmer water onto the roof to prevent build-up of ice and snow.

— Lia Assimakopoulos, Dallas Morning News

Texas AD on NFL interest in

Steve Sarkisian

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte has heard the reports of purported NFL interest in Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian and doesn’t much appreciate the timing four days before the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.

Del Conte hired Sarkisian as head coach at Texas and 51 weeks ago signed him to a four-year contract extension as the job at Alabama opened due to Nick Saban’s retirement.

But the timing of the latest reports, including from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, that NFL teams could kick the tires on Sarkisian didn’t sit well with Del Conte.

“We’ve got a game to play,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “I’m not going to comment. Somebody’s just creating fodder before our biggest game. That’s stupid.”

Texas plays Ohio State on Friday in the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns are in college football’s final four for the second consecutive year. The Longhorns lost 37-31 to the Washington Huskies in the Sugar Bowl last January.

NFL interest isn’t news for Sarkisian. He previously worked as an assistant coach with the Falcons and Raiders.

Sarkisian, in his fourth season at Texas, is under contract through the 2030 season. He received a pay increase to more than $10 million from $5.6 million annually last January, when Del Conte said Texas was “never worried” about Sarkisian bolting back to Alabama. Sarkisian was offensive coordinator under Saban with the Crimson Tide.

— Field Level Media

Quarterfinals TV ratings

The new-look College Football Playoff had an average of 16.9 million viewers tune into the quarterfinals on ESPN platforms, a 59 percent jump from the 10.6 million who watched the first-round games.

In its first year with a 12-team field, the CFP has generated plenty of buzz. The most-watched quarterfinal was the Rose Bowl, eighth-seeded Ohio State’s 41-21 drubbing of No. 1 seed Oregon, which averaged 21.1 million viewers.

Still, last year’s Rose Bowl — which was a semifinal game due to the four-team field under the CFP’s previous format — had a larger audience. An average of 27.2 million viewers watched Michigan, the No. 1 seed, edge Alabama, the No. 4 seed, 27-20 in overtime.

In this season’s Peach Bowl, fifth-seeded Texas outlasted fourth-seeded Arizona State for a 39-31 victory in double overtime while drawing an average of 17.3 million viewers. The Sugar Bowl brought in an average of 15.8 million viewers, even after it had to be postponed from Wednesday to Thursday because of a domestic terrorist attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people.

No. 7 seed Notre Dame beat No. 2 seed Georgia 23-10 in the Sugar Bowl.

Sixth-seeded Penn State’s 31-14 win over No. 3 seed Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl was the least-watched quarterfinal, with an average of 13.8 million viewers.

— Field Level Media