By Steve Habel/Associate Editor
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But even though the Longhorns have improved, they’re still not good enough to beat the likes of a seen-it-all-before team like the Sooners.
Oklahoma, whose offense was stymied for all but seven minutes spanning the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarters, still made enough of the opportunities provided by Texas. The Sooners won thanks to touchdowns on a kickoff return and an interception return — two plays that tipped the scales before a capacity crowd of 92,100 on the grounds of the State Fair of Texas.
The Longhorns (2-4 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 Conference play) did everything but beat their most-hated rivals, amassing more than double Oklahoma’s offensive output (482 yards to the Sooners’ 232) while running 34 more plays than OU.
Texas even got a more-than impressive showing from sophomore quarterback Tyrone Swoopes. Swoopes passed for a career-high 334 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 50 yards and another score on 11 carries.
The Longhorns, however, made too many mistakes. They had a season high 11 penalties that cost the team 85 yards; one holding penalty turned a 73-yard Swoopes scramble into a meager 11-yard gain. Texas had another fumble near the goal line — the third time this season a miscue inside its own or its opponent’s 5-yard line cost the Longhorns points.
“I love the way we competed and fought in this game, but we made too many mistakes,” head coach Charlie Strong said. “We can’t give away opportunities when we have a chance to make plays. We have to continue to build on the good things we did here and work to get better.”
Even with all those issues, the Longhorns gave themselves the chance to win. Swoopes led a final drive that ended with his 12-yard touchdown run (with 4:57 to play) that cut the Sooners’ lead to 31-26. A two-point conversion run by the quarterback failed, leaving Texas needing a defensive stand and a touchdown to pull off the upset.
But Oklahoma (5-1, 2-1 in Big 12) held the ball for all but the final 18 seconds, converting its only third down of the game (it was 1-for-11) when it needed to the most, and held on for the win.
“We were confident we could make the plays to stop Oklahoma on that final drive and get the ball back to our offense but we didn’t get the job done,” linebacker Jordan Hicks said. “We have to learn to capture the moment there, in the times when the game is on the line. But we’re getting closer.”
The game started just as Texas prescribed. The Longhorns drove 64 yards on 13 plays on their opening possession before settling for a 28-yard Nick Rose field goal.
Then the game switched at the drop of a hat. On the ensuing kickoff, Oklahoma’s Alex Ross’ nearly untouched 92-yard return for a touchdown gave the Sooners a 7-3 lead before their offense even got on the field.
That play, unfortunately, was a sign of things to come in the first half for the Longhorns.
The Sooners pushed their advantage to 10-3 early in the second quarter when they took advantage of a short field created by a punt and a personal foul penalty, driving to Michael Hunnicutt’s 44-yard field goal.
Then Swoopes, being pressured on a rollout to his right, had his pass intercepted by Oklahoma’s Zack Sanchez, who returned the pick 43 yards for a touchdown and a 17-3 OU lead.
The Longhorns’ offense responded, putting together their best drive of the half, moving 75 yards in seven plays. The drive ended with a 38-yard scoring pass from Swoopes to John Harris. The touchdown came as Swoopes stood tall in the pocket and delivered an on the mark throw over an Oklahoma linebacker to Harris cutting across the field.
Texas crept closer on its final possession of the first half, moving from its own 28 to the Oklahoma 3-yard line before a wild snap on third down bounced off Swoopes facemask and was recovered by M.J. McFarland. Rose banged home a 20-yard field goal a play later and the score was 17-13 with a half to play.
The Longhorns outgained Oklahoma 278-29 in the first half and had 14 first downs to the Sooners’ 1. But Texas also had five penalties for 80 yards (OU had just one for 10 yards) and had two crucial breakdowns in the kicking game.
Oklahoma’s offense had its best stretch of the game late in the third quarter, crisply driving 63 yards on five plays to a 24-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Knight to Sterling Shepard that gave the team a 24-13 lead. The Sooners then added to their advantage early in the fourth quarter when Samaje Perine waltzed into the end zone from 13 yards out to seemingly cement the game.
Swoopes and the Longhorns fought back, moving 75 yards in 12 plays and scoring on a dead-on touchdown pass to Harris in the back corner of the end zone to cut the Oklahoma advantage to 31-20. That set the table for a final Texas score, but ultimately, it was too little, too late.
Texas returns to action Oct. 18 when it hosts Iowa State. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Darrell K Royal-Memorial Stadium.
1. How has the Texas offense moved forward?
The Longhorns dominated Oklahoma for most of the game and moved the ball well against a stout, nationally-ranked Sooner defense. Texas rushed for 148 yards on 40 carries, led by Malcolm Brown’s 78 yards on 19 totes. Swoopes hit on 27 of his 44 passes for 334 yards, almost three times as much yardage as Knight, the Sooners’ ballyhooed dual-treat signalcaller.
Swoopes continues to look more confident in the pocket and is better at looking at defenders to set up his second or third passing option. The Longhorns’ offensive line — buoyed by the move of Taylor Doyle to starting center this week — is also becoming a more cohesive unit. Despite the loss, the offense looked worlds better than it did just a few weeks ago.
“The effort was certainly there [against Oklahoma],” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “We make some youthful errors at times, and that’s from a lack of experience. But they overcame those errors. We’re starting to build some resiliency that you need to become a championship program. We all know we are in a process right now, but I like what those kids did.”
Texas held the ball for almost 38 minutes, a formula it began implementing in the BYU game and has honed in the weeks since.
“Once you get your quarterback going, it’s all about rhythm,” Harris said. “Once you get into a rhythm as an offense, then you’re clicking. At the end we were clicking, so if we would’ve gotten the ball back, I think we could’ve finished it off. We just ran out of time.”
2. Why are the Longhorns so inept in the third quarter?
Texas had five possessions in the third quarter and managed just 59 yards and two first downs. Meanwhile, the Sooners found a way to add to their lead with a touchdown drive while gaining 116 yards in the quarter — almost four times as many yards as they had the entire first half.
“The third quarter is big because everybody’s a little comfortable and not as juiced as they were in the beginning of the game,” defensive end Cedric Reed said. “The crowd’s not there, everybody’s still getting into the stands. You’ve got to get yourself pumped for it. In the past, we haven’t come out worth anything in the third quarter. I think we came out a little better today.”
The Longhorns have been outscored 49-14 in the third quarter this season, and have been shutout in the third quarter in four of their six contests.
“It’s execution,” Watson said. “We had some dropped balls that could’ve kept us on the field. We didn’t get some push at times in the offensive line. It’s part of the process. Football, on both sides and both teams, is never clean. You can try and make it clean. You have to keep working.”
Halftime adjustments by a coaching staff are key to winning football games. And while the Texas staff is getting better at figuring out which buttons to push to get the most out of the team in the third quarter, the results show that the Longhorns are behind on the curve.
3. What’s Texas’ biggest weakness?
There’s no doubt that the Longhorns’ special teams play — its placekicking, punting and return and coverage teams — needs the most attention.
Against Oklahoma, the kicking/punting game either resulted in or directly led to 10 points for Oklahoma. The most glaring error was the touchdown by OU’s Ross on the kickoff return.
“We had two guys fall down,” Strong said about the kickoff return. “They have to get up off the ground and go make a tackle. [Ross] just ran right past them.”
Later in the first half, a fair-catch interference penalty cost the Longhorns 15 yards and allowed Oklahoma to set up shop at the Texas 46. From there, it took the Sooners just five plays and 19 yards to get into position for Hunnicutt’s field goal.
Then in the third quarter, Texas punter Will Russ fumbled the snap from center and chased it down just in time to salvage a 25-yard kick. That time the Longhorns’ defense stiffened, but the team’s next possession began at its own 11, allowing the Sooners to win the field position battle.
In order for the Longhorns to be successful, they need some kind of big play out of their special teams, like a blocked punt, a punt or kickoff return touchdown — something to turn the tide. Until then, Texas can’t afford to make any further mistakes on its special teams.
4. What was the key to Texas’ fourth quarter comeback surge?
The Longhorns had such an advantage in plays (84-50) and in time of possession, it allowed them to make a charge at the end against a tired Sooners’ defense — the same strategy that had been used against Texas when they lost to BYU and Baylor.
“Coach Strong and the coaching staff always tell us that it’s not over until the clock hits triple zeros, so we just have to play,” Swoopes said. “We knew we had time and we knew the defense would give us an opportunity to get back on the field, so we just kept playing. We played well and scored, but we just didn’t have enough time at the end.”
Texas might have had 40 or more additional seconds to work with in the end game had it not needed to use a timeout when determining its strategy on the failed, fourth-quarter two-point conversion attempt.
Watson said he couldn’t properly communicate the play he wanted to run with staff on the field because his press-box headset wasn’t working properly.
“They didn’t hear the personnel come out of my mouth; that’s why we started eating up clock and had to use the timeout,” Watson said. “In fact, [the headset] was in and out most of the day. I actually had to switch seats with a [graduate assistant] to get it fixed.”
5 .Can the Longhorns do enough to get into the postseason?
Strong was matter-of-fact when he answered this question.
“We’re looking at it one game at a time and not looking too much into the end,” he said. “We’re going to go to work to be ready for the next one.”
At the season’s halfway point, Texas has lost twice as many games as it’s won and will need four victories in its final six contests to become bowl eligible.
Wide receiver Jaxon Shipley said that even with the loss to Oklahoma, the team had a lot of positives to build on for the next game.
“A few plays here and there and we win this game,” Shipley said. “You don’t have time to panic when you’re in this league. You’ve got to come to play every single day. Obviously we’re disappointed but we’ve got to look at it and bounce back. You’ve got to watch your mistakes but you’ve got to also understand that there were positives.”
Texas cornerback Duke Thomas said the mood in the locker room after the loss was one of determination and expectation.
“We know what we’ve got to get to,” Thomas said. “We know what we’ve got to work toward, and everybody understands and will work to pull together. Like I said, it’s one game at a time.”
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