All Activity

Brent Venables is keeping the availability of Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer for Saturday’s Red River Shootout under wraps. When asked on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference about how the No. 6 Sooners planned to list Mateer’s status on the conference’s official injury report, Venables indicated he won’t release anything other than what the league requires coaches to divulge. “That’ll come out tonight and everybody will get it at the same time,” Venables said. Whether it’s Mateer or Michael Hawkins Jr. behind center at the Cotton Bowl, the Texas defense should hit the field hellbent on proving its run-stopping capabilities are greater than how the Longhorns held up in last Saturday’s 29-21 loss to Florida. While the Gators’ final line on the ground (159 yards on 37 carries) isn’t a glaring sign of a leaky run defense on its own, the way Texas (3-2, 0-1 SEC) was gashed in the first half was alarming. After six consecutive games (dating back to last season’s Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State) in which Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense held its opponents to under 100 net rushing yards, Florida ran roughshod over the Longhorns in the first quarter, tallying 94 yards on an average of 6.7 yards per attempt. “No reason,” linebacker Liona Lefau said on Monday when asked why the Texas defense stumbled out of the blocks in Gainesville. “We just need to do a better job of coming out and playing the best defense that we know we're capable of doing.” While Steve Sarkisian searches for ways to get the Longhorn rushing attack untracked after a forgettable SEC opener (52 net yards on 26 official attempts, including just 16 yards on 11 carries by the running backs), the defense must do its part to help Texas win the line of scrimmage battle against Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0). In the Red River Shootout, winning in the trenches is the best way to ensure a win on the scoreboard when the dust settles. The team that won the rushing yardage battle has won all but three of the last 28 meetings between the Longhorns and Sooners, including Sarkisian’s four Red River games. Texas won the rushing yardage battle decisively en route to a 49-0 rout in 2022 (296-156) and in last season’s 34-3 victory (177-89). On the flip side, Oklahoma’s 55-48 comeback win in 2021 saw the Sooners finish with a plus-211-yard advantage on the ground, while Venables’ team out-rushed Sarkisian's squad by 45 yards (201-156) in a 34-30 Longhorn loss in 2023. Although the Texas running game is reeling, Oklahoma heads into Saturday’s bout with one of the least productive rushing attacks in the SEC. The Sooners are 12th in the conference in rushing yards per game (137.2), 14th in yards per attempt (3.79) and 11th in runs that have gained at least 10 yards (23). With that said, rushing yards from the quarterback position have arguably been the difference in Sarkisian’s two losses to Oklahoma. A 66-yard touchdown run by Caleb Williams ignited his team’s furious rally in 2021, and two years later, Dillion Gabriel’s 113 yards rushing (especially his pulling the ball down and running for big yardage on the Sooners’ game-winning drive) played one of the biggest roles in the outcomes. Whether Mateer is back or Hawkins is called upon to start in Dallas for the second consecutive season, the Longhorn defense knows the path to victory includes minimizing the damage that the quarterback runs (designed runs and scrambles) in Ben Arbuckle’s offense can cause. “We’ve played Hawkins, we haven’t played Mateer, but we kind of have the same scheme for both of them,” linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said on Monday. “It's going to be interesting to see what plays out throughout the week and get ready for the game.” View full news story

Was it 4 first round WRs? A first round RB that averaged almost 6 per carry? Going against defenses that missed spring and summer workouts? Sure, make comparisons to anomaly. Jones at Bama, Burrow at LSU are not normal seasons. Those are exceptions to the rule.

Quinn was merely a comparison for individual performances and production. As I’ve quoted Beck stats versus UF. Poor numbers versus UF, dominating versus all others. Incredibly experienced guys. Again a comparison. There’s little about the UTEP game compared to this one. The pressure from UF was tremendous. We started with more of a pass emphasis. UTEP was a heavy run game emphasis. And contrary to public opinion, it had little to do with Arch on its face. There was no rotation on the Oline for the first time this year. They played the whole game other than Hutson getting hurt. All indicative that the emphasis was on the run on the game that week. There was an extensive usage of backup skill guys, several of whom who had played very little to that point. He threw 2 passes beyond 20 yards versus UTEP. His average depth of target versus UF was 20 yards with a stated gameplan of attacking downfield, indicating they practiced that all week. From game 1 of 2024 up until now, the 1st quarter run-pass ratio had 1 true outlier in favor of run over pass - UTEP. Sure. He’s missed throws. Sure he’s missed guys. It’s ignoring what Ohio State and UF have done to other guys. And Arch was on the road with mediocre pass protection at best and a run game that couldn’t punch it in either. LSU got 13 offensive points off 5 interceptions and the D scored 7. This narrative regarding Arch infers that it’s unique to him and beyond what happens to others. Sark has stated more than once teams show us different looks than what we see on tape. That could be the case versus say an OSU or a UF. When it’s stated “I’m not sure what he’s doing,” in these “honest” evaluations, the discussion is limited when you cannot discuss or don’t discuss what he prepared to see versus what he got. I certainly don’t have that information and assume many do not either. The biggest thing is we need him to finish the big end of game drives. He needs to learn that from Vince, Colt and Sam.

Sigh, im really gonna watch this sorry game to see if Nelson goes over his 0.5 INTS.

😂😂😂 This is wildly hilarious 😂😂😂

Click on three bars top right. Go to account go to ignored users

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjn7FyTbXpk This the type of action in the mountains you mean by?

We have 49 days straight of football coming!!

Talk about getting the inside scoop!

Let’s get it 🤘

Lawd have mercy, another thread breaking down arch’s play. Can’t escape it for the life of me.

How does ignore feature work?

Thumb is healthy ... 100% playing Saturday

College Football Live Thread: Week 7 This beginning Wednesday is for @Joe Zura But ... Liberty at UTEP tonight ... so could be some action in the mountains by mid-third quarter.

Do not encourage this!...

Worse than Jake in Lonesome Dove.

I actually like the back-and-forth with people I don't respect. For that I go to the On3 main board and get as nasty as my mood that day. Around here, I respect just about everybody. No fun being confrontational.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

This is amazing haha

Don't change the fact CJ is traitor.

Those are insane lol

Y’all are wrong lol

Looks like it came from his FB album 🤣

@CJ Vogel living his best life