Five quick thoughts: Red River Shutout
There were a lot of murmurs in the final day and moment before this game about what was coming. Oklahoma tweeted Dillon Gabriel in his “drip” for the bus ride to Dallas on Friday and dressed him out in full uniform to take first team reps in warm-ups.
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It was a lot of visible steps to go through in order to try and convince someone (Texas) their starting quarterback would actually be playing a week after being knocked unconscious on live television. The Sooners had some other subterfuge planned as well, including a fake field goal and a lot of different Wildcat formations and looks with multiple trigger-men.
All of their attempts yielded one of the most lopsided Red River Shootouts I can ever remember… and I’ve seen a lot of lopsided games in this contest. Texas played a complete game and didn’t fall for it. Steve Sarkisian dialed up a million ways to carve up Brent Venables’ defense putting up 585 yards and the Longhorn defense wasn’t fazed by any of the desperate attempts from the Sooner offensive staff (195 yards for the Sooners).
And here we are, at a likely inflection point in this series.
Quick thought no. 1: A complete performance
When you get your fourth and fifth string running back reps in a rivalry game it’s a sign of a game gone really well or horribly wrong. In this case it was one of the biggest beatdowns this series has ever seen.
For all the vicious beatdowns Bob Stoops administered to Mack Brown teams over the years, they never managed to land the combination “big offensive score/shutout” double whammy.
Some standout stats:
- Oklahoma managed a single first down in the second half.
- Texas out-rushed the Sooners 296 to 156.
- This was only the second shutout in the series this century.
- Oklahoma averaged 3.7 yards per play to Texas’ 7.2.
- Texas had 36 first downs to 11 for Oklahoma.
- Oklahoma is now 0-3 in Big 12 play.
- It was the biggest margin of victory since the 2003 game.
Bijan Robinson had a nice game despite getting iced early in the contest. He turned 22 carries into 130 yards at 5.9 ypc with two rushing touchdowns and caught two balls (one spectacularly) for 15 yards. Oklahoma did a pretty good job of keeping Xavier Worthy under wraps but at the predictable expense of yielding a combined 10 catches for 168 yards and two (shoulda been three) touchdowns to Ja’Tavion Sanders and Jordan Whittington.
Quick thought no. 2: Oklahoma played not to lose big, and yet…
Despite their struggles in the package each of the last two weeks, Oklahoma stuck with their flyover defense for this game. Three deep safeties before the snap and three down linemen (two ends and a tackle) thus inviting a heavy dose of runs from the Longhorns. This package helped them keep the Longhorns in front of them and made the game a question of whether Texas could run the ball and hit routes underneath with enough consistency to score.
Well, Quinn Ewers was 21-31 for 289 yards at 9.3 ypa with three touchdowns and a single interception. Texas ran the ball 50 times for 296 yards at 5.9 ypc with three more touchdowns and they were 10-15 on 3rd down.
The interception was indicative of the game. Quinn Ewers missed a wide open Jordan Whittington for what would have been a walk-in touchdown then committed what Sark joked afterwards was “the worst interception of all time” when the ball slipped from his hand while Ewers was trying to throw it away. It was the only time they foiled a red zone opportunity, going 6-7 otherwise. In other words, it was a bad mistake which took points off the board for the Longhorns and had zero impact whatsoever on the outcome.
The Sooner gambit Texas wouldn’t be able to consistently execute their way down the field, or at least not well enough to inflict an embarrassing loss, blew up in spectacular fashion. Instead Texas controlled the game from start to finish.
Quick thought no. 3: The Sooner offense is broken
What happens when you run an uptempo spread offense designed to use the pass to set up the run but then don’t have a functioning quarterback depth chart in a big rivalry game?
You get 9-17 passing for 39 yards at 2.3 ypa with zero touchdowns and two interceptions.
One interception came at the end of an otherwise solid drive by Oklahoma with the Wildcat where running back Eric Gray tried to throw it up for tight end Brayden Willis only for Jahdae Barron to find it. The other came on the only occasion where quarterback Davis Beville tried to push the ball down the field and was picked by D’Shawn Jamison on a post route where the throw was late and behind the receiver.
Texas’ safeties sat on the run game all day and limited the damage from the Wildcat until the Horns were able to adjust and completely shut down the package in the second half. The Sooners could or would not do anything to resolve the issue. They never tried General Booty at quarterback despite Beville looking completely overwhelmed and turned to freshman Nick Evers only at the very end of the game with the outcome no longer in question.
The losing drive for Oklahoma was probably the second drive of the game. Venables, knowing they’d need points and that their Wildcat gimmick would eventually be solved, called in a fake field goal (success) and went for it on 4th-and-2 from the Texas nine (stuffed). To have a 14-play, 67-yard drive and score zero points was brutal. To then surrender an eight-play, 92-yard drive touchdown drive from Texas to erase the field position edge was basically it.
Quick thought no. 4: Rivalry game moments
Jordan Whittington came to make the most of his last chance in this game, throwing some spectacular blocks including one on the early score by Keilan Robinson on a swing screen which ended with a Sooner pancaked.
This 3rd-and-6 catch by Bijan Robinson is when I knew there was no way the Longhorns were going to lose this game. They weren’t leaving the door open for another miraculous turnaround.
A possible Heisman highlight for Bijan and simply a “oh man, these boys have it today” moment for the offense in general. Ewers’ willingness and ability to push the ball down the field into tough windows, exemplified on this JT Sanders touchdown…
…made the Sooner defensive gameplan a DOA strategy.
The Texas offensive line played a really clean game overall to clear the pocket. There were repeated plays where I noted down “Ewers has forever” as the Sooner pass rush completely failed to pressure him. It wasn’t long into the contest before they were getting real push in the run game as well.
It wasn’t a particularly hard game for Texas, honestly. That’s in part because they were undoubtedly super prepared and also because the Sooners were so decrepit on offense this week without Dillon Gabriel, but this was their easiest win of the year after the ULM contest. That said, it will surely help them build confidence heading into the meat of the conference schedule in a wide open league.
Quick thought no. 5: Onward to Arlington!
The Longhorns are playing good defense this season, the offensive line is starting to gel with young players, they have a ton of NFL talent at the offensive skill positions, and now they have their starting quarterback back with a confidence-building win over the rival under his belt.
It should be well within the realm of possibility for Texas to run the table from here on out. They can afford to lose a game and still probably make the Big 12 Championship Game, which is good given their inexperience at quarterback and on the offensive line, but they will probably be favored in every remaining game.
The Longhorns get Iowa State in DKR next week, a tough road game to Stillwater against Oklahoma State, a bye week, and then the final four of at K-State, TCU, at Kansas, and Baylor. Texas has a chance to flip the power dynamics in this conference on their way out, finally toppling the Sooners and taking their place as the perennial league champion just in time to retire with the belt and depart for the SEC. It’d be a terrific “revenge tour” style narrative to write, now to go act it out.
