Texas Longhorns Defense 'Out of Character' or Exposed vs. Oklahoma Sooners?

The Texas Longhorns defense made some key plays against the Oklahoma Sooners but ultimately didn’t look like themselves when it mattered most.

DALLAS, Texas -- The Texas Longhorns have prided themselves on the defensive side of the ball this season en route to becoming the No. 3-ranked team in the country, and rightfully so. The burnt orange defense has been arguably the biggest reason the Longhorns had won all five of their games by double digits headed into Saturday’s meeting with the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl.

But though Saturday's 34-30 loss to the Sooners in Dallas was a result of various miscues and missed opportunities, it was the Texas defense that ultimately crumbled in the final stages of the game in somewhat surprising fashion considering what they’ve shown so far this season. 

“You know, some of it was a little frustrating because it was just out of character for us,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “That’s the hard part as a coach that I have to drill back down into of how do I make sure that I have our guys really ready to go play and I felt really good about it, I really did.”

So was this just an “out of character” day for the Longhorns defense or did the Sooners find the key to beating what has been one of the country’s top overall defenses so far this season? 

Oklahoma Sooners QB Dillon Gabriel runs for a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns / USA TODAY

For starters, it’s important to note how strong Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski's group played for much of the second half on Saturday despite giving up a handful of chunk plays. After Oklahoma took a 27-17 lead to open up the third quarter, the Sooners were held scoreless for nearly the rest of the game. Up 30-27 with 1:17 to play, the Longhorns defense had to have one final stop to complete the double-digit comeback. 

Instead, the Sooners marched down the field with an ease that they hadn't had all afternoon. Surrounded by an incoming pass rush, Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel found receiver Nic Anderson for a game-winning three-yard score with 15 seconds left to end all hope for Texas. 

“The last one I think is a busted coverage, I got to exactly look at the tape but I think we didn't guard the guy,” Sarkisian said. “So that's unfortunate when you just don’t guard him. They took advantage of mistakes.”

Regardless of record or rank, the Longhorns are under the national spotlight almost every season, so naturally their performance can get overly ridiculed or overly praised. Despite a 5-0 start, the jury was still out on a Texas defense that had more to prove headed into Saturday. 

So, is the Oklahoma offense and the Texas defense elite? Both things can be true at once, as it’s hard to imagine the Longhorns having a more up-and-down performance on that side of the ball than what happened on Saturday especially when taking a look at the numbers. 

Headed into Saturday, the Longhorns had yet to allow a red zone rushing touchdown and allowed just one passing touchdown. In total, Texas' defense was surrendering a score in the red zone just 50 percent of the time, which was second-best in the country headed into the Red River Rivalry. 

But the Sooners completely flipped this script, going a perfect 6 of 6 in the red zone with four touchdowns. It certainly didn’t help that the Texas defense also failed to force a turnover for the first time all season.

“Exposed?” Many classic Texas haters on social media will certainly be throwing that word around over the next few weeks. But Saturday was a combination of an elite Oklahoma offense making big plays against an arguably equally-elite defense that definitely didn’t look like itself. Something had to give, and it was the Sooners who prevailed. 

The Longhorns now have a loss on their record and know they’re far from invincible. Now headed into the bye week, they have every motivational reason to eliminate anymore “out of character” performances moving forward.