Oklahoma vs. Texas: Overview and what we learned

Oklahoma vs. Texas: Overview and what we learned from each team

Overview

The State Fair of Texas was rocking saturday morning as the Sooners and Longhorns kicked off for the 109th time.  The crowd roared first as the Texas Longhorns came out of the Tunnel in White and next as the Sooners came out in Crimson, “Texas Fight” and “Boomer Sooner” were battling against each other, 90 thousand fans, half Texas in Burnt Orange, half Oklahoma in Crimson.  Oklahoma won the toss and chose to kick off, the Longhorns got off to a fast start as they were picking away the Sooners defense.  After driving all the way down into Oklahoma territory, the Sooners made a big third down stop and forced Nick Rose and Texas to a 28 yard field which he made and the Longhorns settle for 3 points (0-3).  On the Texas kick-off, Oklahoma’s Alex Ross (leads the NCAA in kick-off returns and average yards on returns) sped past the Longhorns on a 91 yard touchdown return for 6 (7-3).  Toward the beginning of the second quarter Texas made a big stop and forced Oklahoma’s Michael Hunnicutt to 44 yard field goal which he makes (10-3).  On Texas’ next drive, Oklahoma’s Zack Sanchez picks off Tyrone Swoopes and takes it 43 yards to the house to make it 17-3.  Tyrone Swoopes then slings a Touchdown pass to John Harris on third and long to put the longhorns back in the game, 17-10.  After multiple 3 and outs from both teams, Texas drives down the field and Nick Rose nails a 20 yard field goal toward the end of the second quarter to make the score 17-13 with Oklahoma still on top.  The third quarter was very slow with back and forth 3 and outs, nearing the end of the third quarter, Trevor Knight hit Sterling Shepard on a 24 yard touchdown pass for the Sooners first offensive touchdown.  The score at the end of the third quarter, Oklahoma 24- Texas 13.  The Sooners once again stopped the Longhorns and start off the fourth quarter great with a 13 yard touchdown run from the massive true freshman Samaje Perine.  Sooners 31- Longhorns 13.  It was looking like Bob Stoops and the Sooners were going to finish out this game, but Tyrone Swoopes was not done, he lead the Horns to two quick touchdowns.  The first was a 6 yard touchdown pass from Tyrone Swoopes to John Harris (31-20) and the second was a 12 yard Tyrone Swoopes rushing touchdown, they attempted a two-point conversion and the Sooners defense stuffed it at the goal-line.  The score was now 31-26 with Oklahoma still on top.  The Sooners got the ball with around 4 minutes left and with a few hard-fought first downs, the clock was run down to about a minute.  Punting to Texas, the exhausted Oklahoma defense stepped up and didn't allow anything from the Longhorns and the Sooners hung on and won the Classic Red River Showdown 31-26.

What did we learn from each team?

Texas-

Even though their record might not show it, Texas can flat out play.  Offensive Penalties killed the Longhorns yesterday, but you would expect that coming from a very young and immature offensive line.  Looking forward, Charlie Strong needs to balance the Run and Pass game and attack the middle of the field with their dangerous wide receivers.  Tyrone Swoopes needs to look for John Harris and Jaxon Shipley more this season, Harris is an all around great receiver and Shipley can catch anything you throw at him.  Let Tyrone Swoopes run the ball, yesterday he burned up the Oklahoma defense with his legs, if he shows a run/pass threat he will be 10x more scary.  We know that Texas always has good running backs, if the offensive line can make bigger holes, than Johnathan Gray and the squad will have no problem making big plays.  The Texas defense played outstanding, the scoreboard wouldn't show it though.  Everyone expected Samaje Perine to run all over the Horns defense, but they shut him down all game.  The Texas defense only gave up 2 touchdowns and a field goal, the longhorn defense has a lot of potential and will only get better.  Charlie Strong is doing what people expected this season, the talent that he has, and has coming is unreal, look for a huge turnaround for the Texas Longhorns coming in the near future.

Oklahoma-

For the Sooners… they might have a little bit of a problem.  The offense for Oklahoma was below average on saturday, to say the least.  Starting with Trevor Knight, he looked absolutely awful, horrible decisions on read options, passes and runs.  I don't think we'll ever see a Sugar Bowl performance from him again, that was a one and done thing.  Trevor Knight should receive a little bit of slack because of the horrific play calling from Josh Heupel, running a screen on third and 20?  I think that it is time for him to go and start fresh, Jay Norvell could be Offensive Coordinator on his own and run the offense great.  The Sooners running game struggled on Saturday because Texas was ready for it, Sooner fans should not be worried because Keith Ford will be returning soon and Ford, Perine and Ross are a wicked trio.  Sterling Shepard is really the Sooners only threat at wide receiver, I think they need to give some other guys a shot, K.J Young dropped two crucial passes.  On the defensive side of the ball, the Sooners are golden.  I understand Texas scoring points because of Tyrone Swoopes was explosive and the defense was on the field for way too long.  Mike Stoops has the Oklahoma Defense rocking and is coaching one of the best defenses in the country.  The Sooners special teams is doing great, having the NCAA leading kick returner helps.  There were many good things and bad things from the Sooners, I think Oklahoma has potential if Heupel and Norvell can figure out the offense and fix Trevor Knights problems

After this game, looking at the stats and overall effort I would give the edge to Texas.  Even though they lost, they showed so much potential and played a lot harder than Oklahoma.  Another great Red River “Showdown” in the books at the Cotton Bowl, I really enjoyed watching and being at the game and I can not wait until next years game between these two classic programs.