Red River stakes feel bit higher for Horns
DALLAS — Saturday morning, No. 22 Texas and Oklahoma will both arrive at Fair Park for the Big 12’s regular-season showcase.
It’s a rivalry that began back when only 45 stars occupied the national flag, and neither program has to be all that good heading into the Red River Showdown for fans to get worked up.
But it’s rare these days for the Longhorns and Sooners to both ride into the State Fair of Texas — canceled this year due to COVID-19, though a drivethru experience remains — on such shaky ground. UT has hobbled into the meeting far more often this century, but Oklahoma has almost always been ranked and viewed as the conference front-runner. Not so much in 2020.
Texas (2-1, 1-1 Big 12) is coming off a 33-31 home loss to TCU. Oklahoma (1-2, 0-2) dropped its first two league games — to Kansas State and Iowa State — for the first time since 1998. A loss will be devastating, potentially season-killing, for whichever team suffers it.
The stakes feel higher for Texas at the Cotton Bowl, which had eyed 2020 as
the burnt-orange breakthrough every fan has been pining for since Mack Brown stepped down.
Oklahoma at least can make the case for this as a rebuilding year after five straight conference titles by pointing to the growing pains of redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler, confounding play from a veteran offensive line and a spate of preseason opt-outs and injuries to key players.
But there’s no time for excuses on either side. Both programs spent this week trying to “fix,” “clean up” or “address” the numerous problems that
have plagued them through three games.
“I think these last two games definitely told us a lot that we didn’t know,” UT coach Tom Herman said. “Our players came in very accountable and extremely eager to go back to work and fix the problems. And nobody in this building is panicking one bit. This program has overcome much more difficult odds than losing its third ballgame.”
Losing Game 4 might be impossible to overcome, though, at least for a Texas team that’s Big 12-titleor-bust. And falling to OU for the fourth time in five years would mar senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s legacy and turn the heat up on Herman, though don’t expect any changes given his exorbitant buyout and the budgetary restraints stemming from the pandemic and resulting economic downturn.
But UT has to like its chances this year, even as a 2-point underdog.
Rattler (977 yards, 10 touchdowns, four interceptions with a 73.4 completion percentage) looks like the next great Sooners QB, the type who might challenge for a couple of Heismans. But he’s never played in this game and has made some classic rookie mistakes playing behind an offensive line that has been erratic in two losses.
“We’re making progress,” Longhorns defensive coordinator Chris Ash said. “To some people it may not look like that, but we’re just not consistent. We have really good stretches of football, but it’s the occasional lapse or big play that we gave up that costs us. Great defenses don’t do that. They can play consistently throughout the game and that’s our challenge.”
Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has struggled to get the most out of his unit, which last week allowed Iowa State to score twice in the final eight minutes of a 37-30 loss. That letdown came just one week after OU allowed 24 unanswered points in a 38-35 loss to Kansas State.
Ehlinger and his receivers should be able to exploit some mismatches with the Oklahoma secondary, which has already surrendered five passing plays of at least 65 yards. And if Jordan Whittington (meniscus) and Joshua
Moore (femoral contusion) are both full-go, Ehlinger will finally have a full cast of UT receivers to play with.
Being able to attack through the air will be key to beating Oklahoma, which owns the conference’s No. 1 run defense and could get back junior defensive end Ronnie Perkins, a second-team All-Big 12 selection in 2019.
Ehlinger just has to hope the stern message he’s spent all week hammering home to his teammates got through. If not, 2020 is going to feel even longer for the Longhorns.
“Wehave to have guys step up in every area on offense and defense,” Ehlinger said Tuesday. “And I think this week, we’ll see who steps up and takes ownership and responsibility for doing everything right all the time and never taking a lazy step and being attentive to details.”