OU DENIES UT IN RED RIVER RIVALRY.
Like previous foes, Sooners run all over porous UT defense
DALLAS — Somewhere amid all of the effort and activity, it became clear Texas was trying to accomplish something. There was lots of running around, a few gasps, some shouting, and a brief moment when it looked like it might actually work out.
But when that final frenzied play of Saturday’s wild Red River shootout ended, after six frantic laterals that put everyone watching through a wringer of emotions, the Longhorns were farther away from their destination than when they started.
And if that doesn’t sum up the state of UT football in the wake of a 45-40 loss to No. 20 Oklahoma, nothing does.
Just like he’d done 16 times before with the Longhorns, coach Charlie Strong did his best to insist this defeat didn’t change anything. It just proved, he said, that UT needs to keep working harder, playing smarter and coaching better
But in losing a third consecutive game, this time with a beleaguered defense that didn’t show any improvement even after Strong demoted his coordinator and took control of the unit himself, Strong once again faced questions about where exactly his team is headed.
Are the Longhorns getting closer to breaking through? Or are they, like on the last play Sat- urday, tossing the ball back and forth while sliding in the wrong direction?
“It’s not desperate,” Strong said when asked to summarize his outlook after his team plummeted from a No. 11 national ranking a month ago. “We just want to win.”
Didn’t he especially need to win this one?
“Oh,” Strong said, “I need ‘em all.” Defense not fixed
The Longhorns (2-3, 0-2 in the Big 12) at least gave themselves a chance Saturday. They showed moderate defensive improvement during a first half in which both offenses misfired when given scoring chances, and UT went into the locker room trailing only 14-13. But the Longhorns entered the game 0-13 in games when trailing at halftime under Strong, and that streak didn’t end Saturday. This time, instead of a stalled offensive attack, UT was done in by a defense that let OU’s Samaje Perrin (214 rushing yards, two TDs) and Dede Westbrook (232 receiving yards, three TDs) run amok.
OU (3-2, 2-0) reached the end zone on each of their first four possessions of the second half. So even though the Longhorns’ of-fense also came alive with three Shane Buechele TD passes and a late scoring run by D’Onta Foreman, it wasn’t enough.
Saturday marked the fourth time in five games UT allowed at least 45 points. And Strong, who took the coordinator duties from Vance Bedford on Monday, didn’t have much better luck getting his players to tackle, as the Sooners racked up 672 total yards.
“We haven’t fixed it,” UT linebacker Malik Jefferson said. “Sixhundred and seventy-two yards. That’s not fixed.”
Once again, the Longhorns’ defense couldn’t keep up with the opposing receiver everyone knew was a threat. Just like they kept letting California’s Chad Hansen and Oklahoma State’s James Washington get loose in previous losses, UT was overwhelmed by Westbrook, who set an OU singlegame record for receiving yards.
“We let him run free,” UT safety Dylan Haines said. “We knew he was the guy to stop, and just couldn’t do it.” Missed opportunity
Westbrook’s performance helped the Sooners and quarterback Baker Mayfield (390 passing yards) atone for their stunning loss to the Longhorns last year.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Mayfield said of his enthusiastic planting of OU’s flag in the middle of the Cotton Bowl during the postgame celebration.
Still, Mayfield nearly gave the game away. With UT out of timeouts and trailing by five, OU ran a third-down play from midfield more than a minute left. But Mayfield inexplicably kept the ball on a bootleg, holding it loosely enough to let it slip away. Multiple Longhorns scrambled after it – a recovery would have given UT possession near midfield with at least 60 seconds remaining -- but the Sooners wound up with it.
“I slid right past it,” UT defensive tackle Chris Nelson said, shaking his head. And after the Longhorns were forced to try their six laterals on a last-second play following an OU punt, they were left expressing a familiar lament.
“We’re better than that,” Jefferson said.
They’re running out of time to prove it.