Dominant Longhorns Defense Crucial In Red River Rivalry Win

The Texas defense has kept opponents from scoring over 10 points four times this season.

Texas Longhorns defensive back Michael Taaffe (16) celebrates with fans after beating Oklahoma Sooners 34-3 in the Red River Rivalry Football at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, TX on Saturday Oct. 12, 2024. / Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Indeed, Oklahoma did not score a single touchdown in the 2024 Red River Rivalry.

Though the Sooners started the game with the lead after a first quarter field goal, the scoring would end there. While a big reason for this was the Oklahoma offense's own mistakes, including several fumbles, the Texas defense knew exactly how to take advantage of the poor moments from its rivals.

"It feels good as a defense to know they never scored a touchdown," safety Michael Taaffe said.

In the first quarter, when the Longhorn offense struggled, the defense showed up through short fields.

"They kept putting out fires," head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "Our defense has assumed a swagger about them, in the way they play and a real confidence about them. We do a sudden change drill once a week, so they know what to expect when that stuff comes. Nobody panics. They just go take the field and they keep playing."

Sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. led Texas in tackles with 11, seven solo and four assisted. Hill's performance accounted for over twice that of everyone else's. The second leader in tackles was freshman Collin Simmons, who recorded five total.

Despite Hill or Taaffe getting a lot of the credit for leading the back and the front line, Sarkisian praised the unity of the defense.

"What I love about our defense is that it's not about one or two guys," Sarkisian said. "There's 11 guys out there that played really well together. We rotate really well, and everyone has confidence in the next guy that's going in. I think that allows us to stay fresh."

The Texas defense hasn't allowed a team to score more than 10 points in four games this season. With this game marking the halfway point of the season, there is much to reflect on, but a statistic like that says a lot about a team's quality.

However, it looks like we haven't seen the best yet and after the rivalry win celebrations, it's back to work.

"Our best ball is yet to come," Taaffe said. "We only let three points up today but we're gonna go look at that film and we're gonna see some run fits that I missed, or some other people missed, and we're gonna clean those up...The best is yet to come."