Red River Notebook: Longhorns Throttle Sooners Behind Quinn Ewers' Near-Perfect Play
The Texas Longhorns entered the 2022 Red River Showdown against the Oklahoma Sooners with a massive dark cloud over their heads after last season's 55-48 meltdown loss.
Safe to say the Longhorns have officially moved on from that.
Despite blowing a 28-7 lead last season, Saturday's game felt over by halftime as Texas held ended up with a 49-0 shutout victory over its arch-rival.
No second-half comeback this time. If anything, the Longhorns played better in the second half en route to the most lopsided win in the all-time series between the two programs.
Let's take a look at a few takeaways from the win.
Quinn Ewers was nearly perfect
Hudson Card played some solid football while Ewers missed the last three games with a clavicle injury. But Ewers proved against the Sooners that he
He finished 21 of 31 passing for 289 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception.
Ewers was making quick decisions and some tough throws, as a clean pocket behind stout blocking from the offensive gave him ample time and room to make plays. He even added a 16-yard run on a third down, showing some agility in the opening field that fans haven't seen quite yet this season.
The near-perfect label comes from back-to-back Ewers mistakes in the third quarter including a missed touchdown throw to receiver Jordan Whittington which was followed by a bad interception that came as he was trying to throw the ball away up 28-0.
Considering how last season's game went, Texas fans likely groaned a bit after the turnover. But the Sooners did nothing with the shot of momentum that they needed, as Ewers' pick was quickly forgotten after the Texas defense stopped the OU offense once again.
Quick drives, quick scores
Six of Texas’ seven touchdown drives took up 3 1/2 minutes or less, as the offensive tempo from coach Steve Sarkisian proved to be too much for the Sooners to keep up with.
Quick snaps were followed by quick conversions, as the Longhorns were moving the ball down the field with seamless precision. Texas punted just three times but scored almost effortlessly the rest of the way.
Texas defense adjusted to wildcat and dominated from there
Without quarterback Dillon Gabriel, OU appeared to have found something in the wildcat formation behind tight end Brayden Willis and running back Eric Gray.
The Longhorns quickly adjusted and allowed OU's rushing attack to gain yardage. But the bend-don't-break cliche held true for Texas, as the Sooners failed to get points despite having three first-half-drives get into Longhorns' territory.
From there, the shutout became effortless as the Longhorns completely shut down OU quarterback Davis Beville for 38 passing yards.
Three-headed rushing attack
While it was Bijan Robinson who finished another impressive day with 22 carries for 130 yards and two touchdowns, the added presence of Roschon Johnson and Keilan Robinson
Along with nine carries for 57 yards, Johnson added a 38-yard catch-and-run, as he was grinding out strong gains to spell Bijan. Keilan Robinson also added four carries for 32 yards and a 15-yard touchdown catch that put the Horns up 21-0.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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