Game Recap: Texas

"OU hasn't played anybody." "OU can't run the ball."

"Texas beat Alabama, OU doesn't stand a chance."

"OU doesn't have the talent to beat Texas."

All those things were said around the country coming into Red River week. Only the Sooner faithful believed in OU to win this game. Many Texas fans thought 49-0 would be a mercy for OU this year. Keeping all that in mind, let's talk about this game, quarter by quarter.

Photo credit to OU's X page.

1st Quarter

Instead of starting with a breakdown of the offense to start this quarter's breakdown, we will begin with the defense. Texas ran the exact same play to Xavier Worthy they ran on the first play of the game in 2021. The result in 2021? A 75-yard touchdown on a WR screen. The result in 2023? Knocked out of bounds for a loss of two. Next play? Gentry Williams interception. On the next defensive drive, Texas found some rhythm and went down the field, but a massive hit from Billy Bowman to Ja'Tavion Sanders as Sanders tried to make the catch, the ball went straight up, and Kendal Dolby picked it off. Talk about a great start on defense. Quinn Ewers started 5-9 for 13 yards and two interceptions. What a start for the defense. On top of all this, we shut down the lethal Texas ground attack. This was a tremendous defensive quarter for Oklahoma.

The OU offense was come and go in this quarter. We started with a rushing touchdown off the Gentry Williams interception, but Dillon Gabriel started the game pretty slowly. After that first drive, it wasn't until Gabriel hit a bomb to Jalil Farooq late in the first quarter before we crossed the 50-yard line. On top of this, the run game began to come to life. OU had a breakout game on the offensive line against the run, and we will talk about it more throughout this recap. Tawee Walker looked dominant against the Texas defense by refusing to go down easily. The offense struggled a little in this quarter but controlled the game well.

Score at the end of this quarter: 7-7 tie game (blocked punt TD for Texas).

2nd Quarter

The offense scored on every drive this quarter, including a drive that started in the first quarter. OU continued to run the ball right down the field against that stellar Longhorn defensive line, and Dillon Gabriel found a rhythm. Jalil Farooq established himself as the most reliable receiver on the team. The offensive line bullied Texas. Offensively, this was about as good of a quarter as we could've hoped for. Tawee Walker ran it in for a touchdown on one drive and dropped a sure-fire walk-in touchdown on the final drive of the half, leaving two seconds on the clock. Not a great quarter, but not a bad quarter for Walker by any definition. Gabriel didn't take any shots down the field in the second quarter, but he didn't need to. The run game was playing well, and he was tearing up the defense with short passes.

The defense didn't have their best quarter. After shutting out the Texas offense in the first quarter, they let Texas move down the field. On one play, the defensive line would get a sack or a tackle for loss and leave a receiver wide open for 15-20 yards on the next. Despite a couple of blown coverages (one resulting in a touchdown), our defense didn't play horribly. Throughout the entire first half, the OU defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. Texas was unprepared for the Oklahoma defensive line or Jordan Kelly (good for him, but who saw him coming?). Venables did a lot of work with the defensive line and made Texas work for every yard.

Score at the end of this quarter: 20-17 OU.

3rd Quarter

The third quarter started with an absolute beauty of a drive. 13 plays, 75 yards, and an even display of passing and rushing efficiency. The drive ended with a walk-in touchdown for Tawee Walker from the Texas one-yard line. After this, our offense went stale for most of the rest of the half. Texas has been excellent in the second half this year and continued to show good defensive adjustments. The rest of the quarter, we went three and out and had a turnover on downs. The Oklahoma offense needs to work on this when we have challenging games as the season progresses.

Texas also made nice offensive adjustments at halftime, but the defense came ready. Peyton Bowen forced Quinn Ewers to fumble on third and long to give OU the ball back. Texas had a nice drive that ended with a field goal on their next drive, but the OU defensive line continued to be too much for the Texas offense to handle. OU's defense in this quarter was the epitome of "bend but don't break." For the third quarter in a row, OU's defense escaped without allowing a single deep ball from a QB who thrives throwing the deep ball. That said, the Longhorn offense began to show signs of life and caused nervousness across Sooner Nation.

Score at the end of this quarter: 27-20 OU.

4th Quarter

Except for the game's last drive, the Texas defense shut down OU's offense in the fourth quarter. Every yard and point earned this quarter was on Dillon Gabriel, who put the team on his back with determination to win the game. He had a tremendous 44-yard run followed by a missed field goal. But. THAT drive. It is getting its own paragraph after the defensive breakdown.

The defense had an amazing goal-line stand against Texas in the fourth quarter but didn't look too great the rest of the game. The entire defense was gassed and exhausted, and Texas was having their way. In the goal-line stand I mentioned, Texas ran four plays from within the two-yard line (first, second, and third down were all from the one), and OU's defense shut them down on all four plays. After that, the defense couldn't control the game like they had. They gave up a long touchdown run to Jonathon Brooks, the first touchdown run OU has allowed this season, and then allowed Texas to put together a long, methodical field goal drive to take the lead with 1:17 to go. Despite the defense collapsing in the fourth quarter, their work in the first three-quarters of the game paid off big time.

With 1:17 to go in the game and no timeouts for the Sooners, Dillon Gabriel and the offense took the field at their own 25-yard line, losing 30-27. Texas had come all the way back to take the lead. This was OU's last chance to avenge the 49-0 blowout from 2022. The drive started with a dart to Drake Stoops for 11 yards and a first down. After that, Dillon Gabriel threw a pass a long way to the sideline, only about 7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, to Jalil Farooq, who broke a couple of tackles and ran out of bounds after a gain of 16 to the Texas 48-yard line. On the next play, Drake Stoops came wide open for a 28-yard gain to the Texas 20-yard line. Gabriel tried a shot for the end zone on the next play, called pass interference on the defense, and the ball placed at the 6. A QB draw for a gain of two to the Texas four-yard line. After hurrying to the line, Gabriel took the snap and, under a major blitz, found a wide-open Nic Anderson in the back of the endzone for a touchdown with 15 seconds left. Texas tried getting a game-winning touchdown, but Key Lawrence knocked it away.

Final Score: 34-30 OU.

Observations

• OU's offensive line has finally come together. I have no trouble believing they'll dominate when the Sooners play again in a couple of weeks against UCF.

• Dillon Gabriel is the toughest quarterback in college football right now, and this game proved it.

• Jalil Farooq is a future NFL receiver. The work Emmett Jones has done with him is unheard of. Best hands on the team.

• This is the best defensive line OU has had in years. I'm talking at least 15 years since we've had a defensive line this good.

• The secondary still has a lot of problems. They left more than enough Texas receivers wide open today.

• You do not want to be on the receiving end of a Billy Bowman hit.

• Gentry Williams might be one of the best CBs in the country by the time his OU career is done.

• OU is one of the most physically dominant teams in the country.

Key Players

• Dillon Gabriel: 23-38, 285 yards, one touchdown pass. 14 runs, 113 yards, one rushing touchdown.

• Jalil Farooq: Five receptions, 130 yards.

• Jaren Kanak: 13 tackles, seven solo, one sack, one tackle for loss.

• Ethan Downs: Three tackles, all three were solo, two sacks, two tackles for loss.

• Gentry Williams: One tackle (solo), one interception, one fumble recovery.

Other Stats

• Offense: 23-38, 285 yards, 7.5 yards per pass, one touchdown. 43 runs, 201 yards, 4.7 yards per carry, three touchdowns. 5-14 on third down, 0-1 on fourth down, 28 total first downs.

• Defense: 5/14 on third down, 3-4 on fourth down, allowed 9.7 yards per pass and 3.9 yards per run—25 total first downs.

This is likely not the last time we will need to face Texas this year. OU and Texas are the top two teams in the Big 12 and will likely have a rematch in the Big 12 championship. Not only do we need to be ready for that, but now that the season is halfway over (and we are bowl-eligible), we must dominate the remaining teams on our schedule. This could end up being a really special season. Boomer Sooner!

All stats above courtesy of ESPN.