The Longhorns spent a lot of time in the Sooners backfield and kept their offense from finding any rhythm.
With the lopsided 34-3 win over the then-No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the still-No. 1 Texas Longhorns move to 6-0 on the season and extend their all-time lead in the rivalry to 63-51-5. It didn’t always seem like Texas would win this one comfortably, with Quinn Ewers’ early struggles leading to Texas’s first deficit of the year — a 3-0 hole that lasted three minutes and 50 seconds.
The Longhorns stayed in the game thanks to the defense’s performance, making the Sooners’ offense look inept in both the run and the pass. Most of Oklahoma’s offensive production came in the fourth quarter when the game was already well in hand.
Texas defense: 237 yards (89 rush, 148 passing)
Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense went beyond complementary in the game against Oklahoma, definitively carrying the team through the first quarter as Texas tried to overcome a sloppy start from the offense.
Texas opened the game offensively with an interception and back-to-back three-and-outs, which would normally spell disaster in an emotional matchup like the annual rivalry. The Longhorns defense responded by holding the Sooners to just 42 yards on 21 plays and three points, setting the tone for the rest of the game. After Oklahoma finally turned Texas’ ineptitude into points on their third chance to do so, the Longhorns offense responded with a long touchdown drive, scoring the first of 34 unanswered points.
The Sooners’ 89 rushing yards marks just the second time in the last 10 matchups that the Horns have held OU to less than 100 rushing yards. That number is aided by Oklahoma’s complete inability to keep the Longhorns out of the backfield, giving up 11 tackles for loss in the contest for 42 yards lost. Saturday’s game marks the second time Texas has had double-digit tackles for loss in the rivalry game under Kwiatkowski, joining the 2022 game with 11.
Quintrevion Wisner: 13 att, 118 yards (9.1 ypc), TD
Preseason camp questions about how Texas would handle the injuries to the running backs room lingered into the season with the Longhorns unable to find a featured back among the healthy bodies. Those questions may have been answered by Wisner’s performance in the Cotton Bowl Saturday.
The redshirt sophomore made the most of his carries and took advantage of the coaching staff’s penchant for feeding the hot hand. Wisner set a new career high with 118 rushing yards and tied his career high of 13 carries, which he set in the previous game against Mississippi State. The majority of his yardage came on two plays, the 36-yard-rush-turned fumble touchdown and a 43-yard breakaway touchdown on the next drive taking advantage of the quick change after Texas linebacker Anthony Hill forced a fumble with Wisner’s score giving Texas a 21-3 lead.
Wisner’s performance moves him into the team lead with 278 yards on the season, passing Jaydon Blue by nine yards on the list with 206 of those yards came in the last two games. It will likely take a Herculean effort from the offense to get Texas a 1,000-yard rusher and continue Steve Sarkisian’s record of having a 1,000-yard rusher in every season as a head coach.
If Wisner is indeed RB1, he will need to average 120 yards per game to reach 1,000 yards in the regular season. Since yesterday’s win marks Texas’s sixth game, Wisner needs to average just 103 yards in Texas’s guaranteed 13 games. If Texas can manage 14 games, which at this point seems like a berth in the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff, that number drops to 90.
The Longhorns’ road doesn’t get any easier in the coming weeks, as they head back to Austin to take on the Georgia Bulldogs, who would love nothing more than to knock off the No. 1 team in the country in their quest to retake their spot at the top of the rankings. Their reward for that game? Their first SEC road trip to take on Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt Commodores, who are a double-overtime thriller against Missouri away from being undefeated in SEC play.