Oklahoma Falls to Texas: Everything You Need to Know

The Sooners were routed by the No. 1-ranked Longhorns on Saturday in their debut as SEC members.

Texas Longhorns devensive back Derek Williams Jr. (2) celebrates a fumble recovery during the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. / Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

DALLAS — Oklahoma had a great plan to start the game against Texas.

The Sooners moved the football on offense and dominated the Longhorns on defense in the early stages of the first quarter.

But then Texas adjusted, and the OU coaching staff had no answers.

In a rout that resembled the ‘Horns’ 49-0 victory in 2022 — a game in with the Sooners didn’t even have a functional quarterback — Texas put its foot down in the second quarter and Oklahoma was badly outclassed as the Longhorns coasted to a commanding 34-3 victory at the Cotton Bowl.

This Red River Rivalry was special, as it was their first matchup as members of the Southeastern Conference.

Texas, it turns out, is SEC-ready. Oklahoma, clearly, is not. Texas improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in SEC play, while OU fell to 4-2 and 1-2.

Texas is ranked No. 1 for a reason. The Longhorns are coming off their first playoff appearance and have a mature, dynamic and experienced roster. 

They also have a coaching staff that makes uncanny in-game adjustments, and that advantage stood out Saturday on a hot day at Fair Park.

OU came out running and throwing the football well, exploiting the edges of the Texas defense with a clever mix of counter action and draw plays in the run game and Michael Hawkins screen passes and quick throws to Brenen Thompson and Zion Kearney in the wide areas. Hawkins was a weapon both running and throwing and the offensive line was getting a its best push of the season.

Meanwhile, the OU defense owned the interior of the defensive line and bullied the Longhorns into one negative play after another — keyed by Billy Bowman’s interception on the third play of the game. Texas QB Quinn Ewers was confused and harried and wildly inaccurate.

In the first quarter alone, OU had 54 yards total offense, six first downs and three points, compared to 13 yards, no first downs and no points for Texas.

But in the second quarter, Texas started attacking the edges of the Oklahoma defense, making them chase and then redirecting the football, and finally capitalized on the OU secondary’s tendency to give up big completions, hitting the Sooners for a 44-yard pass on a short slant to Ryan Wingo and then getting back-to-back big runs by Tre Wisner, who reached the end zone one time and fumbled into it another, where his teammate Silas Bolden recovered.

What was a 3-0 OU lead quickly turned to 21-3 — and could have been worse as the Sooners fumbled on their last two possessions and Texas missed a wide-open halfback pass for a touchdown and kicker Bert Auburn missed a 44-yard field goal.

In just the second quarter, Texas had 222 yards to OU’s 53, had eight first downs to OU’s three, and produced 21 points and the game was essentially decided.

The second half continued OU’s misery as Hawkins was made to run for his life and the stout Sooner defense simply couldn’t hold up.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Sooners’ loss to the Longhorns:

Today’s Star

Let’s be honest. There isn’t one. But Michael Hawkins comes close. He finished 15-of-23 for 116 yards, plus 27 rushing yards on 20 carries.

Play of the Game

After Texas had taken a 7-3 lead earlier in the second quarter — a drive keyed by a third-down conversion throw by Quinn Ewers — Ewers hit Ryan Wingo on a quick slant across the middle and Wingo broke four tackles on his way to a 44-yard gain. On the next play, Tre Wisner broke free around the left side headed for a sure touchdown. But OU safety Robert Spears-Jennings chased him down and forced a fumble at the 2-yard line — a fumble that bobbled in the end zone for a few seconds before Texas wideout Silas Bolden hopped on it for a UT touchdown. If the ball had gone out of bounds or if OU had recovered, the Sooners would probably trailed 7-3 at half. Instead, it created a sense of panic, and Michael Hawkins and Taylor Tatum fumbled on back-to-back possessions.

Stock Report

Jovantae Barnes: UP — There wasn’t much room for him to run the football, but Barnes was both physical and elusive. On one third-and-short, he dragged two tacklers for a first down. On a couple of first-and-10 runs, he got past the first defender at the line, then popped outside and made more Longhorns miss.

Eli Bowen: UP — The Sooners’ true freshman cornerback made his first career start and was solid in both coverage and a handful of one-on-one tackling situations. Midway through the third quarter, it was Bowen who led the Sooner defense with five tackles. Late in the third quarter, he repelled a throw into the end zone to Wingo, breaking up the pass in man-to-man coverage and forcing a field goal. 

Lewis Carter: DOWN — Carter missed two tackles in the second quarter that allowed the Texas offense to come to life, including one on a short throw to Gunnar Helm that should have gone for 3 yards but instead went for 21.

Makari Vickers: DOWN — With a chance to inherit some more snaps at corner, Vickers had two defensive errors on the Longhorns’ second drive that led to the 44-yard catch-and-run by Wingo and then missed a run fit as Texas used that series to take control of the game.

Zion Kearney: UP — True freshman contributed two catches through the first three quarters, which tied for the team lead, for a team-high 25 yards. 

Michael Hawkins: VOLATILE — Hawkins had some success early, but he was under constant pressure from the Texas front seven and seemed to lose confidence. When he did, his quick decision making was negated, and he struggled — not know where to go with the football on passes and not reading who should get it on run options. Also, credit the Texas secondary for sticking to the OU receivers, forcing Hawkins to hold the football longer than he wanted to.

Special teams: VOLATILE — OU’s field goal unit again wasn’t ready to kick, although this time it was probably on the head coach for making the decision to kick, instead of go for it on fourth-and-short, too late in the play clock. That delay hurried Tyler Keltner through his routine as holder Josh Plaster was frantically calling for everyone to speed it up. Keltner missed wide right. Then the punt team was flagged for two false start penalties on the Sooners’ next possession. Late in the third quarter, freshman Devon Jordan fielded a kickoff in the end zone, ran to the goal line, hesitated, then got smashed at the 11-yard line instead of taking a touchback that should have put the ball at the 25.

Brent Venables: DOWN — In addition to the indecision that disrupted the field goal team on Tyler Keltner’s miss, Venables and his staff clearly were unable to re-adjust to Texas’ in-game adjustments. Texas’ Steve Sarkisian was essentially toying with the Sooners with his play-calling — getting the hungry and ticked off OU defense to chase one way and then cutting back with misdirection. A map to OU’s early success on offense was taken away by Texas’ defense, and OC Seth Littrell either had to go away from the plays that had been working or just decided not to call them any more. Venables’ OU teams have now been outscored 113-37 by Sark’s ‘Horns.

Injury Report

LB Dasan McCullough made his season debut and looked mostly good although at times seemed naturally rusty.

Kicker Tyler Keltner is back from his appendix procedure, and went 1-for-2 on field goals in the first half.

Taylor Tatum also returned from an apparent concussion, but lost a fumble on his only carry of the first half.

The Sooners were again without their top five receivers in Deion Burks, Jayden Gibson, Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson and Andrel Anthony.

Crazy Stat

After starting out 4-of-6 throwing the football for 35 yards, Oklahoma QB Michael Hawkins netted minus-5 yards passing over the next two quarters.