Texas kicker Bert Auburn nearly cost team CFP semifinal trip with two critical field goal misses

Longhorns fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Texas narrowly escaped the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl with a win in double overtime over Arizona State, 39-31, and punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff semifinal despite kicker Bert Auburn missing two late-game field goals that could have prevented such dramatics from being necessary. Auburn missed two of his three field goal attempts on Wednesday, with the second appearing as though it could have been the most costly for the Longhorns. Tied at 24 with just two seconds left in the game, Auburn had what should have been an easy 38-yard attempt lined up to win the game. The odds were in his favor as well since he had been a perfect 9-for-9 this season in field goal attempts under 40 yards and 42-for-46 during his college football career. However, the field goal attempt went left and struck the left upright, keeping Texas from winning the game at that moment.“Upright denies him!” Joe Tessitore said on the call.“Sparky’s got life! Off the left upright!” The missed kick left Texas fans stunned as the ESPN cameras quickly found the shocked fanbase throughout Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. That miss followed one that had occurred a minute and 42 seconds earlier when Auburn missed a 48-yard attempt that went wide right to keep the game even at 24 a piece. The Longhorns went on to win the game after Gunnar Helm caught a 25-yard touchdown pass in the second overtime period and then got the two-point conversion on a pass from Quinn Ewers to Matthew Golden to put themselves up 39-31. They capped the win by forcing an interception on Arizona State’s final drive of the game The Sun Devils had trailed by as much as 16 in the fourth quarter when they mounted a miraculous comeback scoring two TDs with the arm and legs of running back Cam Skattebo in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 24.Texas awaits the winner of Wednesday’s Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon in the CFP semifinals in the Cot...