WHAT THE RED RIVER JUST HAPPENED?!

In the highest scoring Red River Showdown ever, the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners overcame their largest deficit in series history to stun the No. 21 Texas Longhorns (4-2, 2-1), 55-48. With the win, OU improves to 6-0 on the season and 3-0 in Big 12 play.

It was déjà vu for Spencer Rattler inside the Cotton Bowl. In this game last season, the star QB was briefly benched after struggling to take care of the ball, but came back in to start the second half and lead Oklahoma to a win in quadruple overtime. Amazingly, the same thing happened once again, only this time Caleb Williams came in and immediately took command of the offense. Going forward, there’s a true quarterback controversy in Norman, but that’s a debate for another day.

Texas got the fireworks started early as OU’s Jaden Davis missed a tackle on a screen that led to a 75-yard touchdown by UT’s Xavier Worthy. To make matters worse, Oklahoma’s offense went three-and-out with the quickness, and on the subsequent punt attempt, Michael Turk’s punt was blocked. The Longhorns took over inside the five yard line, and two plays later, Bijan Robinson found the end zone to put his team up 14-0 less than two minutes into the contest.

Facing a two score deficit, Rattler and company responded right away with a methodical drive ending in a two-yard TD run by the redshirt sophomore QB to make it a 14-7 game halfway through the first quarter.

After a promising stop by the Sooner defense, Rattler took over once again, but a miscommunication with Austin Stogner resulted in an interception to set up Texas near midfield. A few plays later, Thompson found Joshua Moore for a 10-yard TD reception. Next, OU would stall on offense, and the Longhorns responded with an 80-yard drive in six plays to go up 28-7 with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter.

On fourth and inches to start the second quarter, backup QB Williams housed it 66 yards to cut the Sooners’ deficit in half. The Oklahoma defense rose up on the next possession to force UT into a three-and-out, and the OU offense capitalized on its momentum by adding a 39-yard field goal from Gabe Brkic to make it a 28-17 ball game.

Following a Rattler fumble, Bijan Robinson made the OU defense look silly on an electrifying 50-yard run to set up the Longhorns for an eventual score by Jared Wiley. After the ensuing kick-off, Riley would make the call to replace Rattler with Williams. The true freshman phenom led Oklahoma on a solid drive that resulted in another Brkic FG. As the half ended, Texas would respond with a field goal of their own to take a 38-20 lead into the break.

In the third quarter, both teams traded field goals for a 41-23 game. Kennedy Brooks then put the team on his back and broke off a massive 65-yard run to set up Williams and the OU offense in the red zone. On a broken play, Williams found Marvin Mims in the corner of the end zone to slice further into the Longhorns’ lead.

Oklahoma continued to surge in the fourth quarter. After yet another Brkic field goal, Williams connected with Mims once again for an incredibly acrobatic 52-yard TD reception. Rattler would then come back into the contest to find Drake Stoops for the game-tying two-point conversion.

On the ensuing kick-off, Texas’ Worthy brought the ball out of the end zone for an ill-advised return, and old man Caleb Kelly made one of the plays of the day by stripping and recovering the ball in one swift motion. On the very next play, Kennedy Brooks gave his team the lead on an 18-yard run. OU would go ahead, 48-41.

Steve Sarkisian’s offense wasn’t finished just yet, as Thompson and company drove back down the field to tie the game up at 48. With just over a minute left in regulation, it was in the Sooners’ hands to either seal the deal or play more football in overtime.

Fortunately, Brooks completely stole the show in Dallas down the stretch. His consistent rushes eventually bubbled into big plays that changed the tide of the game. On 25 total carries, the redshirt junior racked up 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including this insane game-winning 33-yard run.

What a game. What a win.

Caleb Williams’ final line of the day was mighty impressive for the situation he was thrust in. The true freshman racked up 212 passing yards and two passing touchdowns on 16 of 25 attempts. He also rushed for 88 yards and another score on four carries. Simply put, the young man has proven himself as the real deal, and it’ll be interesting to see what Lincoln Riley does regarding the QB position over the next week.

Up next, Oklahoma will return to the Palace on the Prairie to host TCU (2-2, 0-1) on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Sooners have won their last seven overall meetings with the Horned Frogs, including a 33-14 outing in Fort Worth last season. A kick-off time and broadcast details for this contest are still to be determined, but expect either an 11 a.m. or 6:30 p.m. CT start on either FOX or ABC.

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DALLAS – No. 6/4 Oklahoma (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) responded after trailing 38-20 at halftime to No. 21/23 Texas (4-2, 2-1) to earn the 55-48 victory over the Longhorns in the 117th edition of the AT&T Red River Showdown on a 33-yard rushing touchdown with two seconds remaining by Kennedy Brooks.

All eyes are OU and Texas as the 117th edition of the Red River Showdown kicks off.

Head on down to the comments section to give us your thoughts on the game and everything else throughout the day!

At long last, college football’s greatest rivalry is finally here as the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners (5-0, 2-0) are set to tangle with the No. 21 Texas Longhorns (4-1, 2-0) in the 117th edition of this storied series. Divided by the Red River, OU and UT will soon take center stage inside Dallas’ historic Cotton Bowl. Folks, it doesn’t get any bigger than this.

The floor is yours, Toby.

Time & TV: Saturday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. CT on ABC

Commentary: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe

Streaming: Watch ESPN

Line: Oklahoma -3.5 (as of Saturday at 9 a.m. CT)

O/U: 65

OU-Texas Game Primer

Allen Kenney is joined by Bomani Jones to discuss OU-Texas and more

Allen Kenney looks at why OU’s offense hasn’t produced big plays like it used to

C&C Machine’s Red River Q&A with Burnt Orange Nation’s Gerald Goodridge

Jack Shields previews the new food options at the State Fair of Texas

My Gambling Picks

Ohio State -21.5 vs Maryland

Rutgers +4.5 vs Michigan State

Ole Miss -5 vs Arkansas

Vanderbilt +39 at Florida

Auburn +15 vs Georgia

BYU -6 vs Boise State

Wake Forest -6 at Syracuse

SMU -13.5 at Navy

Iowa -2 vs Penn State

Nebraska +2.5 vs Michigan

Notre Dame (EVEN) at Virginia Tech

Kentucky -2.5 vs LSU

Texas A&M +18 vs Alabama

San Diego State -19.5 vs New Mexico

Final Thoughts

Year after year, it’s next to impossible to accurately predict how this game will unfold, but once again I’ll give it the old college try. I see Lincoln Riley leaning on the short passing game early, mixing in just enough runs to keep the Texas defense from breathing down Spencer Rattler’s neck.

On the other side, UT’s offensive line will find it difficult to contain the likes of Nik Bonitto and Isaiah Thomas, but Alex Grinch’s defense will continue to struggle to get off the field on third and fourth down thanks to Casey Thompson’s craftiness and Bijan Robinson’s excellence. I expect this contest to be a back and forth, high-scoring affair with neither team pulling away or holding onto momentum for very long. However, the Sooners will impose their will on the ground down the stretch, keeping the Longhorns from mounting a successful comeback.

A statement is made on the final drive, culminating in the victory formation as OU takes a few knees in the red zone to drain the clock. As the game ends, Oklahoma players take turns hoisting the Golden Hat for the third season in a row. Boomer!

Prediction

Oklahoma 41, Texas 38

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Opponents in 2021 have forced OU to be a more methodical team on offense.

What’s wrong with the offense?

This being the week of the Red River Showdown against the Texas Longhorns, I’ve been asked that question about the Oklahoma Sooners’ recent power outage somewhere between a dozen and 200 times already this week. I think people expect me to say “Spencer Rattler” and leave it at that. Maybe give them something like “Lincoln Riley has lost his touch.”

I wouldn’t throw any possible explanations out, but I’m also not convinced the offense has serious problems.

OU’s game with Nebraska a few weeks ago offered a preview of what some defenses would try to do to hold back the Sooners. Kansas State also went that direction against Oklahoma last week, playing three down linemen and three high safeties to minimize the damage the Sooners could do with big plays. Here’s an idea of what that looked like on first down with OU in 12 personnel (one running back and two H-backs):

Note that two of KSU’s three high safeties bailed even deeper on the snap in this case.

After five games, we’re starting to get some clarity as to how this kind of defensive strategy is affecting the broad contours of the offense. For example, take a look at OU’s passing statistics on first down for the last seven seasons. Since Riley took charge of the offense, the Sooners historically have done serious damage to opposing defenses here:

• 2015 – 12.1 yards per attempt
• 2016 – 11.8 YPA
• 2017 – 12.4 YPA
• 2018 – 11.6 YPA
• 2019 – 11.9 YPA
• 2020 – 10.1 YPA
• 2021 – 6.5 YPA

From 2015 to 2020, OU essentially averaged between 10 and 12.5 yards every time it threw the ball on first down, a scenario in which defenses are more likely to key on run than the pass.

Compared to the previous six seasons, 6.5 yards per pass attempt on first down in 2021 looks piddling. The completion percentage on first down, 74.7%, is in line with previous seasons. That naturally leads to the conclusion that the Sooners aren’t getting the explosive plays to which they became accustomed when throwing on first down.

The lack of explosiveness on first down is a microcosm of what is playing out for the entire offense through five games. So far this year, the Sooners rank 111th nationally in IsoPPP and 112th in Marginal Explosiveness, two of the opponent-adjusted measures used by ESPN’s Bill Connelly for explosiveness. A year ago, OU ranked ninth and 26th, respectively.

So the chunk plays are coming far less often for OU. That doesn’t mean the offense is ineffective. It’s just effective in a different way.

Instead of covering vast amounts of territory one shot at a time, OU is moving the ball methodically. Through five games, the Sooners have raised their offensive efficiency from levels that were already high a year ago. For example, their Success Rate on offense has climbed from 49.4%, which ranked 15th overall in 2020, to 53.5% this year. That puts them fifth nationally.

Meanwhile, OU’s Marginal Efficiency has doubled, up from 3.8% to 7.6%. That represents a similar move overall from 12th to fifth. The Sooners have also held steady on their percentage of three-and-out drives, which have decreased slightly from 19.2% a year ago to 18.5% this year.

The improvement from 2020 to 2021 in Success Rate and Marginal Efficiency holds up across metrics for rushing, passing, standard downs and passing downs. In application,

In sum, think of a defense playing three deep safeties or loose zone coverage as the inverse of stacking the line of scrimmage to stop the run. Just like slamming your running backs repeatedly into a loaded front, it doesn’t do an offense much good to ask the quarterback to keep trying to hit downfield targets when the defense is flooding its back end with coverage players.

At some point, fixating on explosive offensive plays becomes counterproductive when generating them means passing up easy yardage. OU’s efficiency to date in 2021 suggests the Sooners can keep winning for now without worrying too much about breaking off big gains.

Bomani Jones of ESPN and HBO joins the podcast to talk about this year’s Red River Showdown.

Blatant Homerism Podcast host Allen Kenney is joined by Bomani Jones for their annual Oklahoma-Texas show leading up to the Red River Showdown. Bomani gives the inside scoop on his new TV show, “Game Theory,” which is coming to HBO in 2022. They also discuss:

• OU and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC;
• The new world of recruiting in college football;
• Texas A&M’s angst over renewing their relationships with the Longhorns and Sooners;
• Bomani’s early assessment of new Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian; and
• The Sooners’ lack of pizzazz this season.

Make sure to subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice! We’re now on ITunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher. If you enjoy the podcast, make sure to give us a five-star rating on ITunes, as it will help it reach more listeners. You can also catch the episodes live each week on Facebook and Twitter.

We talk about Bijan Robinson, Casey Thompson, fair food and more.

As the Oklahoma Sooners try to beat the Texas Longhorns for the 10th time in 13 tries, we’re joined by Gerald Goodridge of Burnt Orange Nation to talk about the current state of the UT football program, the move to the SEC, fair food and more!

Let’s start with the best player on the field. Texas has had some great backs in my lifetime (Ricky Williams, Cedric Benson and Jamaal Charles to name a few), but is Bijan Robinson the most talented back you’ve seen at UT in your time following the program?

That’s hard because I am older than I look and I was one of the lucky people that was on campus for both Cedric Benson and Jamaal Charles. Watching those dudes live was absolutely insane. I was on-hand for the 35-7 comeback where Cedric Benson ran for five touchdowns against Oklahoma State and when Jamaal Charles basically ran for 300 yards against Nebraska as a junior, so my perception of those guys is very skewed. Benson was a force basically from the second he walked on campus, which I honestly am curious if we could say the same thing about Bijan had he seen the field more early last season. Bijan is such a unique mix of talents and it’s really fun to watch. He has flashes of Jamaal’s ability to put a foot in the dirt, change direction and take off, while he also flashes incredible physicality like Cedric and Ricky. It’s hard to say if he’s the most talented, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone that says that he is.

In what ways has the UT offense changed since Casey Thompson was inserted as a starter?

I’ve said it before, but the biggest difference between Casey Thompson and Hudson Card in this offense is decisiveness. The weirdest thing to me in the change is that the things that called for the change are normally good things in a quarterback, Hudson Card wants the ball in his hands and he wants to make a play. However, Steve Sarkisian’s system really rewards decisiveness and knowing the matchups – which is where Thompson excels. He progresses quickly through his reads and seems to make a quick decision when it’s time to take the easy yardage of a check-down or a four-yard scramble – both are winning plays on Saturdays. The biggest thing to me, however, is seemingly how the players have responded to him. The biggest indicator on who the starter should be is who the players rally around and following the switch Bijan Robinson and Xavier Worthy, the two most-talented players on offense were vocal in their support of Thompson.

Speaking of Thompson, which of his targets should OU fans be most aware of entering this weekend?

Easily the biggest offseason addition for Texas was snagging wide receiver Xavier Worthy. Prior to the December signing period, Worthy flirted heavily with both Texas and Sarkisian at Alabama, before ultimately signing with Michigan. The Michigan admissions office reportedly botched some paperwork with his early enrollment, which frustrated him enough to ask for a release from his NLI and he landed at Texas. There was a lack of depth at wide receiver and he is a receiver that fits the mold of what Sarkisian wants in a receiver, so it was a match made in heaven. He struggled a bit against TCU, something I chalked up to the inconsistency you see sometimes with true freshmen, but he is a player that is more physical than his frame indicates and also happens to have elite speed.

The offensive line has had an up-and-down season thus far, but where do things seem to stand for this unit entering the season’s biggest game?

The offensive line seemed to be finding its rhythm, but a season-ending injury to senior Denzel Okafor forced them to shuffle the lineup and insert sophomore Andrej Karic at right tackle. They’ve shown steady improvement, but OU will easily be the best offensive front they’ve seen since the Arkansas game so my danger meter is high. They’ve had some communication struggles that resulted in busted protections, which can turn into a nightmare against a defensive front that likes to employ movement and stunting as much as the Sooners do.

Texas has allowed 170 yards per game on the ground, but a really bad performance against Arkansas inflated that number. With Oklahoma finally getting a little bit going on the ground, does the ability to defend the run concern UT fans this week?

The defense against Arkansas is a bit of a conundrum because Pete Kwiatkowsi’s defensive system is really built to try and limit big plays through the air and try to keep players in front of you. In spite of the blown assignments against Texas Tech that resulted in a change on the depth chart at safety, Texas has done a decent job limiting receivers on big plays. I say all of that to say, the Arkansas offense is built to do the exact opposite of what the Texas defense is built to do and it seemed like Kwiatkowski was either unprepared for it or unwilling to adjust mid-game. The Texas defensive line and linebackers are honestly playing really well in space against the run and unlike in years past remember that it is fully within the rules of football to use your arms when trying to make a tackle. If Texas can limit the missed tackles we’ve seen in years past against Oklahoma, I feel cautiously ok about the run defense.

Speaking of the defense, who has been the standout performer on that side up to this point?

The guy you have to talk about when you talk about the Texas defense is linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. He was a part of that ridiculous defensive back haul in 2018 but never really materialized into what was expected from the No. 56 player in the country and I was convinced from day one it was because he was meant to be a linebacker rather than a safety. When he finally made that transition in 2020, it was shaky but with a full offseason of work behind of him he has turned into a legit player with a bonafide NFL upside. He’s got great closing speed and can make open-field tackles along the edges of the defense, but isn’t afraid to mix it up and fill a gap when necessary. He’s not only the performance leader along the defensive side of the ball, but he really is one of the guys the team looks to for the emotional current as well.

In the past, I’ve asked you about your favorite OU athlete of all time, but I’m going to mix it up. Who is your favorite OU coach of all time in any sport?

Any sport is tough. I had the opportunity to meet Lon Kruger and he was somehow nicer than I expected and I expected him to be REALLY nice. I’m also a huge softball fan and from an excellence standpoint, nobody holds a flame to Patty Gasso.

Here is the list of new fair foods (https://bigtex.com/plan-your-visit/food/new-food/). Pick your poison.

I hate the name but the idea of smoked turkey nuggets – aka Gobble Balls – sounds delicious. But really, all I need is a Fletcher’s Corny Dog and I’m good.

Other than OU and A&M, which fan base from our new conference will you loathe the most?

Arkansas has the historical rivalry that I never got to experience, so that’ll be fun. Also Tennessee. Your orange is weird and you should feel bad about it.

What’s your go-to football-watching beverage?

I’ve got two young kids and Texas is staring down the barrel of its third 11am kickoff, so iced coffee has been my life as of late.

What does Texas have to do to win this game?

As much as I’m going to sound like every person whose ever commented on a football game, this is a game that will be won at the line of scrimmage. If the Texas offensive line can give the cadre of backs room to work and keep Thompson upright, the offense will find success. This year has proven that the OU offense goes the way of the running game, so if the Texas defensive line and linebackers can limit OU’s backs, the defense will find success.

What’s your score prediction?

I suck at predicting scores, so keep that in mind. I think this one rests on the foot of either Gabe Brkic or Cameron Dicker and because I’m a Texas fan I have to pick Dicker. I say Texas wins this one, 38-35.