Oklahoma Game Recap
The Texas defense couldn’t get a stop when they needed to at the end of the game. Photo: LM Otero, Associated Press
So I was wrong.
Oklahoma did in fact field a much better team on Saturday than I had anticipated. They played a great game - (golden) hats off to them. Texas, for its part, did not play their best game - and still fought back and held a 3 point lead with just 1:17 to play. That’s when it all came crashing down for Horns fans. The undefeated season, the Golden Hat, all of it.
Now, this isn’t the end of the road for the Texas Longhorns in 2023. Far from it. This is a group that still controls its own destiny back to the Big 12 title game in Arlington - a place the Horns haven’t been in 5 years. The margin for error is just slim to none the rest of the way. In order to get another crack at the Oklahoma Sooners, in all likelihood, Texas will need to focus on the opponents in front of them and not drop another game. All but 2 of them, by the way, currently sport a losing record - and the 2 that don’t will travel to Austin to face the Longhorns at DKR in front of the 100,000+ burnt orange and white faithful.
As for this game, it was a wild back-and-forth affair. Texas fans may have realized very early on that this wouldn’t be like last year. Right off the bat, it appeared Sark had called for some razzle-dazzle as Savion Red fielded the opening kickoff, looked to throw back across the field to Worthy, and instead chose to eat the ball - resulting in him being brought down inside the 20 (with a blatant missed face mask penalty). And with Texas backed up in its own territory to start, a blown up screen (that’s really becoming a pattern - maybe we could change up our opening play call??) followed by a Quinn Ewers INT thrown into double coverage, and the Horns were already on the back foot. Dillon Gabriel and OU made quick work of the short field.
The Texas offense responded nicely, driving right down the field into the Oklahoma red zone. Until disaster truly struck. Ewers threw his 2nd pick of the opening 5 minutes on a ball slightly out of Ja’Tavion Sanders’ reach tipped up in the air, to be caught be a Sooner defender. Good grief.
A quick stop by the Texas defense however, had Oklahoma punting from its own end zone - which was blocked by Kitan Crawford and immediately pounced on by Malik Muhammad for a Texas touchdown!! What was happening??
It appeared that after a year off, Red River was back to its usual tricks and craziness. The game was somehow tied despite 2 bad interceptions thrown in the opening minutes from Ewers. The game didn’t get any more normal after that, as Texas then erased a defensive stop with a running into the punter penalty, leading to an OU field goal. I didn’t even mention a fake punt by Texas converted by Jordan Whittington for a 20-yard run, and a pass from wildcat QB Savion Red to TE Gunnar Helm on another 4th down play that was a fumble, then it wasn’t. Both offenses traded blows for a few drives, and Oklahoma led 20-17 at half. Yep, the Red River Shootout was back.
The final Red River Rivalry game played in the Big 12 conference largely lived up to the wackiness that the conference has identified with for years. Photo: Jeffrey McWhorter, Associated Press
The main thing I was wrong about was the ability for Texas to control the line of scrimmage. I did mention in my game preview that the only path to victory I saw for Oklahoma was a flurry of Texas turnovers - which, unfortunately, did happen and the Sooners didn’t turn the ball over once. What I didn’t see coming was the Longhorns getting out-rushed by a team that was very middle of the pack in the run game going up against our studly front seven. Not only that, Texas gave up 5 sacks on Ewers on the day while only generating a single sack on opposing QB Gabriel. We simply got beat in the trenches - injuries or not, it is almost impossible to win this game when that happens.
Still, the Texas offense began to click and it felt like a matter of time before we would take over the game, as had happened on multiple occasions this season. But the defense gave up another touchdown as Gabriel and company marched right down the field after halftime, and Texas trailed by 10, its largest deficit of the season.
During a stretch of the game where Ewers completed 19 consecutive passes after the horrid start, Texas began to look like themselves again, and scored the game’s next 13 points - taking a 3 point advantage with 1:17 left in the game.
Too much time. All too much time.
That’s not even to mention the earlier goal line stand by OU on 3 consecutive runs from the 1 with the Longhorns’ jumbo package, followed by a screen attempt to Worthy that was stopped just short. The Sooners marched right down but missed a field goal, and gave Texas life - which we took advantage of by scoring the game’s next 10 points.
Oklahoma has 365 days to celebrate 34-30 much like Texas did for 49-0. But will there be another chapter written before that? Photo: LM Otero, Associated Press
With 1:17 left and no timeouts, Dillon Gabriel led one the easiest drives you will ever see.
5 plays, 75 yards. Touchdown. Pain. Burnt orange dreams crushed.
The dream of a final Big 12 title (and even possibly more) is not dead, however, and there is still much to play for in the development of Steve Sarkisian’s program in its 3rd year. For now, it’s a couple weeks off to heal minds and bodies before facing the first of two new Big 12 foes.
Final score: 34-30 Oklahoma
Hook ‘em. OU still sucks.
