OU's third-quarter drive wears down Longhorns
DALLAS — In the Sooners' first three games of the season, moving the ball on the ground was difficult.
The offensive line that was expected to be the strength of OU's offense struggled. Backs Seth McGowan, T.J. Pledger and Marcus Major had little room to work and even when they did, success was fleeting.
Spencer Rattler had flashed moments of being able to run himself, but it hadn't been a big part of OU's offense.
The Sooner shad av eraged just more than 122 yards per game on the ground and hadn't rushed for more than 130 in any game.
By comparison, OU had just three games with fewer than 130 rushing yards combined in the two previous seasons.
Early in the season, Theo Wease had yet to play a major part of the offense.
Wease was one of the three five-star receivers the Sooners signed in the 2019 class but had just eight catches as a freshman and had just seven through the first three games.
But in the third quarter against the Longhorns, the offensive line, the running game and Wease all came together to create a drive that looked at the time like it broke the Longhorns' spirit, at least on defense.
It's easy to forget with the way the last two hours went, but the offensive line, the running game from both running backs and Rattler and Wease came together in the third quarter for a drive that would've looked much more at home in the Big Ten — or 1954.
The Sooners wore down Texas with a 17-play, 87-yard drive that took 8:07.
They did it with 10 rushing plays and seven passes — five complete.
The longest play was Rattler's 16- yard run on a draw play late in the drive.
Outside of that, the Sooners carved up Texas with a series of short but steady runs and throws underneath that softened things up in the middle for the running game.
Pledger had six carries for 19 yards on the drive while Major had two carries for seven yards.
“They had some really tough runs. They made some bigtime plays,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said. “They are two young guys who are going to continue to grow and get better and better.
“Obviously we took some big steps in the run game and still feel like we left a little bit out there. I'm proud of their fight.”
Pledger f i ni s hed with 22 carries for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Before Saturday, he hadn't had more than 13 carries of 91 yards and had j ust one t ouchdown i n hi s first two full seasons with the Sooners plus the two games he'd played in 2020.
Wease caught four passes, two on third down, to keep the drive churning.
Throw in a tough Austin Stogner catch over the middle, where the tight end flipped and landed hard on his back just outside the goal line but managed to hold onto the ball, and it was a recipe for an offensive drive unlike any other t he Sooners had put together since Riley's arrival as offensive coordinator in 2015.
The 8: 07 the Sooners ate up was the Sooners' longest touchdown drive since Riley's arrival and the second-longest scoring drive of any kind in the last six seasons. In 2016, OU had a drive that lasted 8:35 against Baylor but it ended with a field goal.