History Shows That One Big Defensive Play Can Be the Difference for Oklahoma Against Texas
DALLAS — To state the obvious, Oklahoma needs steady play out of its quarterback in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday.
A productive running game would help. Letting loose that posse of talented receivers would be big. And of course, the defense not giving up 60-yard Longhorn touchdowns on the regular could be considered a step in the right direction.
But if Oklahoma — now a 9-point underdog — is going to shock the world and upset the Longhorns and end a two-game losing streak and maybe save its season, history shows that the Sooners might need a defensive star to burst onto the scene.
OU doesn’t need a dominating, shutdown, 60-minute performance. The Sooners don’t need five turnovers or 11 sacks or anything that would conjure comparisons to 2000 or 2003 or 2012.
The Sooners might just need one timely, completely unexpected play — even if it’s from an unexpected player.
“There’s countless examples from the first part of the season, certainly in fall camp or even in two defeats the last couple weeks, where our guys are doing things well,” said head coach Brent Venables.
Big defensive plays are the norm in the Red River Rivalry — and most of them over the past two decades seem to happen for the team from north of the river.
- In 2007, it was defensive end Auston English who chased down Colt McCoy twice for momentum-swinging quarterback sacks.
- In 2010, Jeremy Beal sacked Garrett Gilbert twice on third down, once early and once late, to keep the Longhorn offense down.
- In 2011, David King, DeMontre Hurst and Jamell Fleming all returned Texas turnovers for touchdowns in what became a blowout.
- In 2014, Zack Sanchez stepped in front of a Tyrone Swoopes pass and ran it back 43 yards for a second-quarter touchdown to set a 10-3 game onto a more comfortable path to another OU victory.
- In 2019, both Kenneth Murray and Jalen Redmond both delivered timely sacks of Sam Ehlinger to end Texas drives and give OU room to hang on down the stretch.
- In 2020, in a 53-45 overtime shootout, both Woodi Washington and Tre Brown collected end zone interceptions that stemmed a Texas comeback.
They were all good players. They all had played well ahead of their Cotton Bowl heroics. Most of them went on to enjoy future exploits, both in Norman and/or in the NFL.
But it was their big plays in Dallas to beat Texas that created a lasting legacy for each of them.
Will it be Reggie Grimes bringing the pain to Quinn Ewars on third down? Will it be Danny Stutsman knocking the football out of Bijan Robinson’s grip, or David Ugwoegbu reaching the end zone with it? Will it be Key Lawrence jumping a throw to Xavier Worthy and bringing it back for six?
A high scoring shootout seems unlikely. This Oklahoma team isn’t equipped to blow out Texas — not this time. Big plays can happen on special teams, but those are impossible to predict.
What the Sooners really need this year is some defensive magic.
It hasn’t happened yet — in fact, the opposite has occurred far too often — but then again, the Sooners haven’t played Texas yet.
Funny things happen in the Cotton Bowl in October.
“I know this,” Venables said. “If you keep your head down and you don’t get influenced by noise and seeds of doubt and discouragement, that we’ll pull ourselves right back out of it. I know that without question. But we’ve gotta go do it. It’s easier said than done.”
