By Steve Habel
DALLAS, Texas — If there is one thing that is a constant in college football, it’s the Texas-Oklahoma game, a contest that delivers plenty of bang for its considerable buck every year, even when one team wallops the other.
But Saturday’s 112th edition of the Red River Showdown proved this rivalry’s mettle once again, as the 12th-ranked Sooners outlasted the never-say-die Longhorns, 29-24, before a capacity crowd of 93,552 rabid, loud and, ultimately, wrung out fans in the venerable Cotton Bowl on the grounds of the State Fair of Texas.
Texas (3-3 overall, 2-1 against Big 12 opponents) rallied from a 20-point [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]deficit in the first half to take a 24-23 lead on freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s 8-yard touchdown run with 8:01 to play.
But Ehlinger’s effort — 278 yards passing with a touchdown and a gutsy 106 yards on the ground on 22 bone-crunching carries — wasn’t enough this time around, thanks to a 59-yard scoring pass from Austin native Baker Mayfield, the Sooners’ erstwhile Heisman Trophy candidate, to Mark Andrews on the possession immediately after the Longhorns forged a lead for the first and only time.
Oklahoma’s defense denied Texas on its final two drives, snuffing out the last real hope for Longhorns by stopping Ehlinger’s desperate fourth-down pass under pressure at the OU 34 with 1:52 to play.
Yes, the Sooners (5-1 overall, 2-1 in Big 12 play) won this time around, but anyone who witnessed this game would be hard-pressed to stand before a judge and swear that Oklahoma was the better team.
“To be down, 20-0, against one of the best teams in the country and battle back to take the lead in the fourth quarter says a lot about this team and where we are headed,” Texas coach Tom Herman said after the game. “Again, there are no moral victories, especially when it’s against (Oklahoma) but our effort was great. It definitely hurts a little more because of who this loss is to. We are not going to deny that.”
Oklahoma outgained the Longhorns, 518-428, after dominating Texas through the first quarter of the game. The Longhorns ended up with more first downs (23-20) than OU, held the Sooners to 5 of 15 on third-down conversions and ran 82 plays to just 67 for Oklahoma.
“Obviously we all wanted this really bad,” Ehlinger said. “This is a big game — a rivalry game. In the second half we did a great job up front getting the push and the receivers had great downfield blocking. We just ran our offense, got comfortable and started doing what we do.”
Oklahoma dominated the first 17 minutes of the game, rolling to a 17-0 lead with limited pushback from the Longhorns. But there was no way Texas was going to make this easy.
The Sooners scored on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield to Jeff Badet and followed that with a six-play, 62-yard drive that produced a 25-yard field goal by Austin Seibert that expanded their lead to 10-0. On its third possession, which bridged the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarters, Oklahoma marched 80 yards in nine plays to a 15-yard touchdown run by Rodney Anderson and a 17-0 lead.
At that point, the Longhorns had 19 total yards and just one first down and looked dead in the water.
After the Sooners added to their lead on another Seifert field goal, this time from 28 yards, Texas finally showed some signs of life. UT’s Kyle Porter returned the ensuing kickoff 41 yards and was hit late out of bounds, giving Texas great field position at the OU 42-yard line.
Two snaps later, Ehlinger was brought down with an illegal horsecollar tackle by the Sooners’ Emmanuel Beal while scrambling for a first down, sending the Longhorns all the way to the OU 16. Ehlinger then avoided a jailbreak rush from the Sooners long enough to find Porter for a 16-yard screen pass touchdown that brought Texas back to 20-7.
The Longhorns’ John Bonney intercepted Mayfield, who threw for 302 yards and two touchdowns, on fourth down on the following drive with 59 seconds remaining in the first half.
Texas, using a series of quick passes to Reggie Hemphill-Mapps and Lil’Jordan Humphrey, advanced to the OU 17 before settling for a 34-yard field goal by Joshua Rowland that cut the Oklahoma lead to 20-10 at halftime and gave the Longhorns some modicum of momentum heading into intermission.
The Sooners owned a 342-139 edge in total offense over the first two quarters, with a 103-26 advantage in rushing yards. Oklahoma was hurt by five penalties for 49 yards — Texas had just one for five yards in the half — and a 2-for-7 third-down conversion rate.
Oklahoma added to its lead on the opening possession of the third quarter, driving 56 yards to a third Seibert field goal, from 36 yards away. Texas responded with a 13-play, 75-yard march that culminated with Chris Warren III’s 1-yard touchdown run that cut the OU advantage to 23-17. Ehlinger should get partial credit for the touchdown after helping push the 250-pound running back through a tackle and into the end zone.
By the fourth quarter, Texas had battered Mayfield, grabbed the momentum and were in a position to win. That’s when UT took the lead, as Ehlinger’s you-can’t-stop-me scoring run on what looked like a broken play sent the burnt orange-togged half of the old stadium into a frenzy that shook it to its foundation.
Mayfield and Andrews, however, had the final say, allowing the Sooners to post their second straight win in the series and own the right to possess the coveted Golden Hat trophy for one more year.
For UT, there is no rest for the weary, as the Longhorns return to play at home Oct. 21 against No. 14 Oklahoma State.
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