We have hit a point in the College Football Playoff where every team remaining that is in a conference was a contender to win it late in the season, and that championship quality will be put to the test when Big 12 champion Arizona State squares off against SEC runner-up Texas in the Peach Bowl quarterfinal. 

The Longhorns, the No. 5 seed in the bracket, advanced out of the first-ever CFP first round with a 38-24 win against Clemson, and in doing so received the privilege of advancing to the quarterfinals and playing in the Peach Bowl against the tournament’s No. 4 seed, Arizona State. The Sun Devils have been off since claiming the Big 12 title back on Dec. 7 in Dallas in a rout of Iowa State. That’s allowed Big 12 Coach of the Year Kenny Dillingham some time to reset after the whirlwind 11-win season and get the team focused on what it will take to extend the program’s first-ever CFP appearance by another game. 

The matchup itself will be just the second-ever meeting between Texas and Arizona State, with the previous game being a 52-34 win for the Longhorns in the 2007 Holiday Bowl. It’s also an unfamiliar bowl location for both programs. Texas has never played in the Peach Bowl and Arizona State’s only previous Peach Bowl experience came in 1960, a 48-26 win against North Carolina to cap an 11-0 season. 

Follow along with LIVE updates as Texas battles Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. 

Where to watch Peach Bowl live

Date: Wednesday, Jan 1 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Atlanta, Georgia
TV: ESPN | Live stream: Fubo (Try for free)

Texas vs. Arizona State: Need to know

Steve Sarkisian has Texas peaking: It took a little bit for Sarkisian to get things rolling at Texas, but we’ve hit a point where we can correctly identify that the storied Longhorns program is operating close to peak efficiency. Texas is 25-5 in its last 30 games, and those five losses have all been against top-12 opponents. The Longhorns are competing for championships (winning the Big 12 last season, finishing as the runner-up in the SEC this season), have made the College Football Playoff two years in a row, and have done all this while losing a ton of production off last year’s team only to replace it in 2024 without seeing the standard drop. 

From projected worst to finishing first: Arizona State was projected to finish 16th of 16 teams in the newly expanded Big 12, with the expectation that a roster with 60 newcomers and a program that just went 3-9 was not set for a successful debut in a new conference. But Dillingham and the Sun Devils exceeded expectations at nearly every turn, putting themselves in position to compete for — and ultimately win — the Big 12 with a 5-0 performance in November to close out the regular season. Running back Cam Skattebo led the way and currently sits just a couple of scores away from being the new program leader in rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns; he enters the Peach Bowl with 19 rushing scores and 22 total touchdowns on the season. 

Stellar in close games: The Big 12 was loaded with competitive games in 2024, making Arizona State’s rise to the top of the standings even more impressive. But the Sun Devils did so by exhibiting some version of the clutch gene, going 5-0 in games decided by seven points or less and 6-1 in one-score games overall. Six wins in one-score games ranks third nationally among FBS teams, and while that tendency to deliver in close games wasn’t a factor in Arizona State’s lopsided win against Iowa State in the Big 12 title game, it could certainly play a factor in the second half against an opponent like Texas. 

Peach Bowl prediction, picks

Arizona State’s ability to win at the margins has been a key to their success this season, and I think it will be the path to keeping things close against a Texas team that has a tendency to leave points on the table in the red zone. Thanks to key playmaking from Cam Skattebo and timely stops from a defense that has put together a good stat profile against the pass, the Sun Devils should be able to keep the game tight.  Pick: Arizona State +13.5 

SportsLine’s proven computer model is calling for 10 outright upsets during college football’s bowl and playoff season. Visit SportsLine now to see them all, plus get spread picks for every game from the model that simulates every matchup 10,000 times.