INSIDER: E-Newsletter Game 6 – Oklahoma

 

5 Questions

BY STEVE HABEL

For all of the Texas fans that may have been nervous heading into this weekend, the Longhorns showed up to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and dominated Oklahoma from start to finish.

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When Texas waylaid Oklahoma, 36-20, in the 108th edition of the Red River Rivalry, those of you who backed the Longhorns since the beginning of the season didn’t need persuading. Instead, this game and the way Texas won, was a retort for the doubters and naysayers, the bandwagon jumpers and those who claimed Texas as an afterthought on the national football scene.

With one glorious performance on Oct. 12, the Longhorns showed they could stand toe-to-toe with Oklahoma. For the first time in the history of the game Texas had two running backs–Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray– rush for over 100 yards. And while silencing its critics, Texas was able to leave the state fairgrounds the better team.

The Longhorns proved that they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Mack Brown and his assistants showed that they can still coach and prepare the team for a big game. The players demonstrated that they can block, tackle, run, pass and catch.

And, as a result, the fans can believe again.

Texas took the game right to the Sooners and beat Oklahoma at the line of scrimmage for the first time in years. The Longhorns dominated both sides of the ball and were just tougher than Oklahoma.

“This is probably as physical as we’ve been against them since 2005,” Brown said.

The Longhorns (who struggled to win 10 days prior against Iowa State) racked up 445 yards of total offense, including 255 on the ground. Texas’ defense surrendered just 263 yards — one less yard than it allowed on passing only to Iowa State — and limited Oklahoma to three plays or less on five of the Sooners’ 12 possessions.

“We knew Texas is a talented team, and if we weren’t at our best that they could beat us,” Oklahoma center Gabe Ikard said. “Texas outplayed us. They got us today.”

The win snapped a three-game losing streak to Oklahoma and elevated the Longhorns (4-2, 3-0 Big 12) to the top of the league standings. The victory put the team in position to begin working towards its stated goal to the win the Big 12 title and to earn the conference’s BCS bowl bid.

Quarterback Case McCoy, starting for his second straight game instead of the injured David Ash, was brilliant against the Sooners (5-1, 2-1 Big 12). He threw for 190 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Longhorns with his combination of moxie and confidence. McCoy’s second-quarter, 59-yard scoring strike to Marcus Johnson was flawlessly executed against a defender in tight coverage.

His 38-yard touchdown pass to Mike Davis in the waning seconds of the third quarter was the play that wrapped up the game. The moment that Davis’ foot touched the end zone, the Oklahoma half of the stadium’s 92,500 fans headed for the State Fair to find a heartburn to pair with the heartbreak of losing to the Longhorns.

“I came to Texas to play in this game, as did a lot of the seniors,” McCoy said. “We haven’t played well [against OU] the last couple years, so this will be one that the other seniors and I will remember for a long time.”

Texas set the pace for its victory with a 15-play, 61-yard opening drive that culminated in a 31-yard field goal by Anthony Fera, his first of three on the day. The Longhorns ran the ball 10 times on the drive and converted three third downs — both harbingers of things to come.

When Texas scored, the Longhorn Network tweeted that the field goal marked the first time in 1,457 days that Texas had led Oklahoma.

Oklahoma responded with a field goal its own (by Michael Hunnicutt from 34 yards) and tied the game at 3-3.

At that point in the game, an offensive showdown seemed to be in the works, but the Longhorns’ defense changed the course of the game in Oklahoma’s following series.

Texas ran a zone blitz that placed its defensive tackles in pass coverage and Sooners’ quarterback Blake Bell didn’t recognize the change in time. Bell, with pressure coming from safety Adrian Phillips, was intercepted by Chris Whaley who rumbled his way 31 yards for a touchdown.

The Longhorns added the McCoy-to-Johnson touchdown pass and a career-long 50-yard field goal by Fera to push its lead to 20-3. Oklahoma then took advantage of Roy Finch’s 73-yard kickoff return with a five-play drive that netted a 3-yard touchdown run by Damien Williams. Texas answered, moving 64-yards in six plays with just one timeout to Fera’s 43-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

Texas’ 23-10 advantage at intermission marked its first halftime lead in the Red River Rivalry since 2005.

Oklahoma came back after halftime with some momentum. The Sooners cut into the Longhorns’ lead with a 37-yard field goal by Hunnicutt on its opening drive of the second half.

But then Texas got the big special teams play that it had been looking for all season. Daje Johnson avoided a potential tackler right after fielding a punt and sliced his way through the sea of white-clad defenders for an 85-yard return touchdown.

Later, Davis hauled in his touchdown catch from McCoy to expand the Longhorns’ lead to 36-13. Oklahoma got a final touchdown when defensive tackle Geneo Grissom intercepted McCoy and pulled a Whaley, returning the pick 54 yards for a score.

“Texas executed a great game plan and made the big plays,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said afterward. “When you give up an interception for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown, those are always difference-makers in the game. We didn’t have any big plays that way. In each part of the game I thought Texas outplayed us.”

1. What was different on offense?

Texas has struggled to rush the ball against the Sooners in the past three years, combining to just 267 yards on the ground in 2010-12. This season, the Longhorns ran over, through and around Oklahoma.

Johnathan Gray (123 yards on 29 carries) and Malcolm Brown (23 totes for 120 yards) spearheaded the ground attack.

“We ran the ball much better than we have in the last two years. We also stopped the run better than in the past,” coach Brown said.

For the first time ever, Texas had two 100-yard rushers in a single game against Oklahoma.

“This was a game that called for us to have that balance between two backs,” offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said. “[Gray and Brown] had 52 carries combined — that’s a lot for one guy. Those guys have to be able to share that load.”

Perhaps playing against the Sooners and the setting of the Red River Rivalry brought out the best in Gray and Brown.

“I told [running backs coach] Larry Porter during the week that ‘this is a man’s game so find your two that are going to roll,’” Applewhite said. “This [game] isn’t for little kids. So find the players you trust and the players that will take care of the ball and put them in those spots. We knew we were going to have to run the ball and take some pressure off Case.”

Consider that mission accomplished.

2. How has the defense improved under Greg Robinson?

Robinson has a particular disdain for the Sooners and he dialed up all kinds of plays — safety and corner blitzes, zone blitzes, stunts and tight man-to-man coverages — to find a way for the Longhorns to make the most of their talent on the defensive side of the ball.

“We have good players that are getting better and systematically, we’ve found some things that we can do and we stuck to them,” Robinson said. “The improvement comes from a lot of things. It’s the Xs and Os, hard work, discipline … it’s being unselfish. We know it’s just a matter of getting it all pulled together and getting on the same page.”

Texas’ defense toughed out the Sooners this time around. Whaley’s play made a huge difference.

“I didn’t dream about a pick six, but I did dream about making a big play and it came through,” Whaley said. “We knew we had to come out and punch [OU] in the mouth the whole game and that’s what we did. We came out with the mindset that we’re going to leave it all out on the field, no matter what.”

3. Did Oklahoma want to punt to Johnson?

The Sooners took a 5-yard delay of game penalty before Johnson returned the punt for a touchdown. Oklahoma’s goal was to give Jed Barnett room to get the ball toward the sidelines, pinning the Longhorns deep rather than kick it into the end zone and get a touchback.

But Barnett didn’t get the directional punt he wanted and Johnson, eschewing a fair catch with the Oklahoma coverage bearing down on him, made the first defender miss. The rest, as they say, is history.

“I don’t like my teammates telling me ‘you could’ve taken that one back,’” Johnson said. “I decided that I was returning every punt. It felt great.”

When told the Sooners purposefully took the penalty to give them more room to kick, Johnson was succinct in his response: “They made a mistake.”

4. Are the Longhorns better with McCoy at quarterback?

Texas clearly brought a swagger and confidence into the game against Oklahoma and — after the way he and the team played — McCoy had reason to be boastful. Instead, he accepted his accolades and credited the team’s overall performance as the deciding factor in the victory.

“Case played extremely well today, and we’re all proud of him and the toughness that he showed,” Jaxon Shipley said (who led the Longhorns with five catches for 59 yards). “The composure that he showed was unbelievable. He’s always confident, and his confidence kept building as the game went on. It’s a big time game with crazy fans, and for him to be able to keep a level head just shows the kind of player that he is.”

Brown said about McCoy: “This is his team now. And he knows that.”

After the game, the senior quarterback put things into perspective.

“We have to continue to keep playing like we can,” McCoy said. “We proved not only to everyone else, but also to ourselves that we can play with the best of them. That’s where we are at right now, and we’re excited to get some time, get healthy and then move on to the next one.”

5. Speaking of the next one, what’s next for Texas?

With Texas playing its best football of the season, the team gets a final bye week this Saturday before traveling to Fort Worth to play TCU on Oct. 24.

Defensive end Cedric Reed said the Longhorns are focused on getting even better and growing from the game against Oklahoma.

“Our seniors are mature and we have great leadership,” Reed said. “It especially shows when we have guys stepping in successfully as the starters get injured. We’ll be ready to move forward correctly. We want to get going early next game and keep pushing.”

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