The road to the 2023 Big 12 Championship runs through Oklahoma after the Sooners avenged last year’s 49-0 loss with a 34-30 victory over the Texas Longhorns in another instant classic at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on Saturday.
After Texas rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to take a 30-27 lead with 1:17 remaining, quarterback Dillon Gabriel led Oklahoma on a 75-yard touchdown drive in just over a minute, connecting with wide receiver Nic Anderson on a three-yard pass to take a 34-30 lead.
Oklahoma seized momentum early in a crazy first quarter, intercepting Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on the Longhorns’ first two possessions. The first gave Oklahoma the ball in the red zone, and Gabriel got his team on the board with a nine-yard scamper into the end zone.
Texas responded to the Sooners’ second interception with a defensive stop and scored a touchdown on a blocked punt to tie the game as both teams continued to have trouble hanging onto the football.
Oklahoma added a field goal early in the second quarter to go up three after a running into the punter penalty on Texas extended its drive. Texas countered with a touchdown drive, as Ewers found a wide-open Gunnar Helm on 4th-and-2 for the Longhorns to take their first lead of the game.
The Sooners wasted no time responding, marching 75 yards in just over four minutes to take a 17-14 lead, and Bert Auburn converted a field goal for Texas on the ensuing drive to tie things at 17.
Oklahoma had one last drive before halftime and narrowly avoided running out of time to settle for a field goal to take a 20-17 lead at the break. The Sooners continued their momentum with a scoring drive to open a 27-17 gap in the third quarter, one of four consecutive Oklahoma scoring drives.
Texas trailed 27-20 entering the fourth quarter and drove the ball down to the Oklahoma one-yard line. Yet, the Oklahoma defense rose to the occasion, stopping Texas running back Jonathon Brooks on three straight run plays and tackling wide receiver Xavier Worthy inside the one on fourth down.
However, the Sooners did not capitalize on the stop, as the ensuing drive resulted in a missed field goal, seemingly turning the momentum in Texas’ favor.
Brooks tied the game at 27 on a 29-yard touchdown run, and the Longhorns took advantage of Oklahoma’s third-down struggles to take a late lead on a 47-yard field goal from Bert Auburn.
Oklahoma moved down the field quickly and scored the winning touchdown, and Ewers’ final heave from 44 yards was batted to the ground as the clock expired.
Gabriel led Oklahoma with 398 total yards (285 passing, 113 rushing) and two touchdowns.
Ewers threw for 346 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions, and Brooks added 129 yards and a touchdown on the ground as the Longhorns put up 527 yards in the loss.
Oklahoma jumped into first place in the Big 12, but there is a good chance both teams will make it to the Big 12 Championship in Arlington in December.
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WHAT TO KNOW
— Texas and Oklahoma met in the Red River Rivalry for the 119th time and 95th consecutive year in Dallas (86th in the Cotton Bowl). It was their last matchup as members of the Big 12 as both teams move to the SEC next year.
— Texas entered the game with its highest ranking since 2009, and both teams entered with undefeated records for the first time since 2011. Oklahoma also won that day, 55-17.
— Oklahoma improved to 6-0 on the season, taking over first place in the Big 12 and matching last season’s win total.
— Oklahoma got its 940th all-time win and now trails its series against Texas 63-51-5.
— The lower-ranked team won the Red River Rivalry game for just the 11th time since 1993.
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BY THE NUMBERS
— Texas entered the game with a +4 turnover margin this season but was -3 on Saturday with two interceptions and a lost fumble. Oklahoma had no turnovers from its offense.
— Both teams finished 5-14 on third downs, and Texas was 3-4 on fourth downs.
— Texas came into the game averaging 191.8 rushing yards per game and gained 156 on the ground on Saturday. Meanwhile, Oklahoma put up 201 rushing yards.
— The Longhorns were the first team to score at least 30 points against Oklahoma this season.
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WHO SAID
— Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables on what the win means for this year’s team: “We’re better in every area. We’re not where we want to be, but this is the next step. This team is a very determined football team.”
— Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian on the Longhorns’ performance: “The promising thing is, I know we can play better than we played today, and we will, but we need to coach better, [and] we need to play better than we did today. We need to take it one game at a time going forward now. I’m proud of the guys. Proud of the way we battled and competed, but we need to play better football if we want to be the team I know we’re capable of being.”
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NEXT UP
— Both teams have bye weeks next week and will resume their seasons on October 21.