Oklahoma's One Big Thing Might Be Too Big to Overcome Against No. 1 Texas

COLUMN

Texas is making a habit out of this.

That’s bad for Brent Venables and Oklahoma.

More than that, while the Longhorns have beaten OU three of the last four seasons with elite quarterback prospects, it wasn’t the Texas QB that beat the Sooners.

It was the Longhorn defense.

And that’s a pill that must just stick in Venables’ throat.

While his teams have fielded mostly fearsome defenses, Venables’ Sooners have famously failed to score a touchdown in each of those three losses.

Texas quarterbacks have played just OK for head coach Steve Sarkisian. Arch Manning made a couple of big-time plays that mattered in last year’s victory, but wasn’t special. And Quinn Ewers delivered a handful of nice throws in going 2-1 against OU but lost the only game in which he was asked to do anything important, and threw four interceptions in the Cotton Bowl.

Meanwhile, on the crimson side, shaky QB play in their annual rivalry at the State Fair of Texas has resulted in an inability to score the football, move the football, or even protect the football.

One of those, Dillon Gabriel warmed up but missed the game after sustaining a concussion the week before at TCU. After Gabriel rallied the Sooners with a last-second touchdown pass to Nic Anderson in 2023, Michael Hawkins took Jackson Arnold's job and became the Sooners’ first-ever true freshman to start in the Red River Rivalry — and he played like it. Then last year, John Mateer threw three interceptions just 17 days after thumb surgery and the Sooners faded in the second half.

Now Mateer is back for OU, but the Texas defense has been better than ever — especially in the second half, where Will Muschamp’s unit went into shutdown mode to beat No. 2 Ohio State and No. 13 Tennessee in Knoxville.

In a 24-23 win over Ohio State in Austin, the Horns rallied from a 23-10 deficit thanks largely to their defense. In the second half against Texas, the Buckeyes had just 28 plays in the second half and produced 139 yards. Of those, 36 came on the opening drive, and 43 came on the next possession and produced a field goal. Ohio State’s final four possessions went like this: three-and-punt, three-and-punt, seven-and-missed field goal, two-and-pick.

In a 20-17 win at Tennessee two weeks ago, the Texas defense was even better, allowing just 3.4 yards per play. That included a fourth-quarter touchdown drive of 80 yards on 10 plays — but that was the Vols’ only score after halftime. Four of their other six drives failed to produce even 10 yards.

Two games, two elite opponents, two dynamic offenses — and Texas’ defense allowed just 10 points combined after halftime.

Muschamp’s squad had 10 quarterback sacks last week and ranks No. 4 nationally in that category. They also stand No. 12 in the nation in fewest points allowed — but have been largely pedestrian in most other statistical categories.

Those are all bad markers for an OU offense that turns it over in the passing game, can’t run the ball and can’t protect the quarterback — a quarterback who has simply lost his confidence.

One open date is a short amount of time to fix all that.

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