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    Jeff Howe
    With their season on the line, the Texas Longhorns stood tall and delivered in Dallas.
    Behind an efficient, methodical offense and a defense that feasted on No. 5 Oklahoma’s one-dimensional offense, Texas claimed the Golden Hat for the third time in four years by winning a slugfest with the Sooners, 23-6.
    The conditions weren’t ripe for an aesthetically pleasing performance. Nevertheless, the Longhorns won the Red River Shootout by winning the battles they needed to win.
    Quintrevion Wisner churned out a game-high 94 yards on 22 carries, helping Texas (4-2, 1-1 SEC) finish with 136 yards (3.9 yards per carry) on the ground. Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense held Oklahoma (5-1, 1-1) to 48 net yards (1.6 yards per attempt); in the last 29 series meetings, the team that wins the rushing yardage battle is 26-2 (the 2006 game ended with both teams rushing for 124 yards).
    The Longhorns intercepted three John Mateer passes, part of a rocky return from thumb surgery in his first Red River Shootout. Mateer went 20-for-38 through the air for 202 yards, and after completing seven of his first 11 attempts, only 13 of Mateer’s last 28 passes found the hands of one of his teammates.
    While the Longhorns failed to score on their three takeaways (although Michael Taaffe came painfully close to a scoop-and-score touchdown on a botched lateral in the fourth quarter), Ryan Niblett’s 75-yard punt return is the kind of non-offensive score a team needs when it’s looking for a spark.
    Saturday’s win wasn’t a fluke. With its back against the wall, Texas played with a necessary sense of urgency and dominated the Sooners in every phase of the game.
    ***
    Brent Venables has nobody to blame but himself for Oklahoma leaving points on the field at the end of the first half.
    There were 32 seconds on the clock when Jelani McDonald and Zina Umeozulu tackled Isaiah Sategna at the end of a catch-and-run completion for eight yards. The Sooners let 12 seconds tick off the clock before calling a timeout, facing third-and-2 at the Texas 38 with 10 seconds on the clock.
    Coming out of the timeout, instead of kicking the field goal, Mateer rolled to his right before throwing against the grain. Malik Muhammad’s second interception of the half ensured Mason Shipley’s 22-yard field goal at the end of a 12-play, 75-yard drive would be the last score for either side before halftime.
    For the first time all season, the Longhorns executed better than their opponent at the end of the half.
    ***
    Capitalizing on the momentum, Arch Manning (21-for-27, 166 yards and one touchdown; 34 yards rushing on four carries) and the offense opened the third quarter with their best drive of the season.
    The 14-play, 75-yard march took 7:11 off the clock and ended when Manning converted on third down for the fourth time on the scoring march, finding DeAndre Moore Jr. (50 yards on three receptions) in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown.
    How clutch was Manning on Saturday? He was 11-for-12 for 117 yards with a passing touchdown on third down, also sprinting for a 29-yard run in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.
    Behind Manning, Texas finished the game 10-for-17 on third down, a tremendous finish after going 2-for-6 on third down with an average to-go distance of 13.2 yards in the first half.
    ***
    Wisner was a warrior on Saturday.
    Along with what he did on the ground, he tallied 34 yards on five receptions, including third-down catches of 13 and 19 yards in the second half. The junior running back put his body on the line in his third Red River Shootout, maximizing runs and making critical plays when the offense needed someone to come through.
    ***
    Even on a day when Oklahoma recorded 12 tackles for loss, the Texas offensive line rebounded nicely from last week’s debacle against Florida. The Longhorns ran for 94 yards on 21 carries in the second half, with Nick Brooks and D.J. Campbell getting a push between the tackles at a level the line hasn’t generated against a defense with a pulse.
    The Sooner defensive line might be the best in the SEC, possibly the country. Still, there was a point in the second half when Texas started leaning on Oklahoma, keeping the offense ahead of the chains; 68 percent of the offense’s snaps occurred on non-passing downs.
    ***
    After being docked 25 yards on three penalties in the first quarter, the offense went without an accepted penalty the rest of the way.
    ***
    In winning back-to-back games in the series for the first time since 2008 and 2009, Texas has held Oklahoma to 137 net rushing yards (1.98 yards per attempt) in a span of eight quarters.
    ***
    You have to earn the right to rush the quarterback. The Longhorns did on Saturday, sacking Mateer five times with Colin Simmons (2.5) and Brad Spence (two) leading the way.
    With the Sooners unable to run the ball, Texas got to tee off on Mateer. When the Longhorns could utilize their pass rushers, Kwiatkowski let the dogs off the leash and let them attack.
    ***
    Texas held the Sooners to a 1-for-7 effort on third down in the second half on a 6-for-17 day. Other than a few early big plays by Oklahoma (3-for-5 on third down in the first quarter), the Longhorns got off the field on schedule en route to the win.
    ***
    Before worrying about next week’s trip to Kentucky or how the second half of the season might unfold, the Texas faithful needs to savor this one.
    It’s been tough to find silver linings in a largely uninspiring five-game stretch to open the season. In the wake of the Florida loss, the outlook was bleak.
    Saturday’s win is a reminder that a victory over the Sooners can give everyone with skin in the game an emphatic shot in the arm. It can be a tremendous springboard into the remainder of the schedule, providing hope for the rest of the way.
    In the big picture, Venables has a 1-3 record against Texas, with Sarkisian winning those three games by an average of 32 points. Additionally, in Sarkisian’s three wins over the Sooners (3-2 record), Oklahoma hasn’t scored an offensive touchdown.
    It was a huge win for Sarkisian, who picked up his fourth victory over a top-10 opponent while leading the Longhorns. Winning Saturday’s game means everything the Longhorns hoped to accomplish in 2025 is still on the table.
    The bottom line is that Texas responded in a must-win game. As a result, the Longhorns are alive to fight another Saturday in the SEC with a chance to have their goals in front of them when they get back to Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at the end of the month.
    Jeff Howe
    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.”
    Jeff Howe
    To what extent Texas can pull the nose up and salvage the 2025 season, which is trending in the wrong direction after last Saturday’s 29-21 road loss to Florida, will depend on what the Longhorns do against No. 6 Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday (2:30 p.m., ABC).
    A win over the Sooners would position Steve Sarkisian’s squad for a strong finish to the October portion of the schedule, played entirely away from Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. A loss would be the second in conference play for Texas (3-2, 0-1 SEC) and, with three opponents currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 left on the schedule other than Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0), it likely wouldn’t be the Longhorns’ last.
    Amid the preseason hype that engulfed the program, along with Brent Venables coming off his second losing season among the three in which he’s led the Sooners, Sarkisian’s fifth Texas-OU game seemed like an ideal time for the Longhorns to enjoy a long-overdue run of success against Oklahoma. Sarkisian’s 2-2 record against the Sooners includes two of the most lopsided Texas wins in the history of the series (a 49-0 rout in 2022 and last season’s 34-3 romp) and a pair of last-second losses that were there for the taking.
    Oklahoma’s current run of dominance over the Longhorns is one of the longest in the history of the series. The Sooners have won 11 of the last 16, including 10 of 15 with the Golden Hat on the line.
    Beyond how a win over Oklahoma would boost Texas going into the second half of the regular season, changing their Red River fortunes is key to the Longhorns getting over the hump and closer to winning a national championship under Sarkisian.
    Since Darrell Royal took over the program in 1957, no Texas coach has won a national championship or led the Longhorns to a championship game without simultaneously rattling off a series of wins over the Sooners.
    A win on Saturday would be the program’s third over Oklahoma in four years. That would be the best stretch of success against the Sooners since Mack Brown’s teams won four of five meetings (2005-09).
    Brown’s run, which came on the heels of a five-game losing streak to Bob Stoops, included wins in 2005 and 2009. Texas bookended the four seasons with a national championship and a trip to the BCS title game, along with a memorable series win during the 2008 season, one in which the Longhorns were arguably the best team in the country.
    While leading Texas to undefeated regular seasons in 1977 and 1983, Fred Akers won five of his first seven head-to-head meetings against Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma program.
    Royal, a Sooner standout for Bud Wilkinson, took over the Longhorns at a time when his mentor had won nine Red River Shootouts over 10 seasons (1948-57), including a victory in Royal’s Red River coaching debut. After the 1957 loss, however, Royal won 12 of the next 13 games against Oklahoma, including wins over the Sooners in each of his three national championship-winning seasons (1963, 1969 and 1970).
    Given the state of where Texas is coming off the humbling loss to the Gators, and considering the decade-plus of dominance the Sooners have enjoyed against the Longhorns, there would be no better time than Saturday to take a big step toward rectifying an Oklahoma problem that’s existed for far too long.
    Jeff Howe
    As Saturday’s 29-21 loss to Florida unfolded, it became clear that Texas has significant issues.
    Some of those issues can be fixed over the seven remaining games on the regular-season schedule, but others will require changes after the season. Still, Saturday’s loss to the Gators came down to the Longhorns losing the line of scrimmage battle in a landslide.
    From the jump, Florida (2-3, 1-2 SEC) punched Texas (3-2, 0-1) in the mouth up front and never let up.
    The Gators finished the game with six sacks and seven tackles for loss. While the Longhorn offensive line might not be solely responsible for each of those negative plays, the fact that the Texas running backs ran for 15 yards on 11 carries on a day when the running game tallied 52 net yards on 26 official attempts is a direct reflection of how the offense was soundly defeated at the point of attack.
    ***
    Nick Brooks briefly replaced Connor Stroh at left guard in the first half. The true freshman started the second half next to Trevor Goosby, with Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Flood searching for an answer to help generate a push.
    Although he was flagged for consecutive false starts on a fourth-quarter drive, I could see Sarkisian and Flood giving Brooks another shot.
    Whether Brooks is in the starting lineup against Oklahoma or not, Saturday’s performance made it clear that the starting offensive line mix — as it was through the first five games of the season — isn’t the answer to getting the offense untracked.
    ***
    Offensively, everything Texas couldn’t afford to have happen did.
    Unable to establish the run, the Longhorns had to put the fate of the offense on Arch Manning’s shoulders. The result was a mixed bag, with Manning (16-for-29, 263 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions; 37 net yards on 15 official rushing attempts) making his share of plays to keep Texas in the game, along with a few turnovers and a final possession of regulation he’d like to have back.
    Operating a one-dimensional offense, moving the ball came down to Manning’s ability to make a play. It’ll require a more nuanced evaluation to determine if the mistakes down the stretch were things to worry about or a case of a quarterback trying to make the best of a bad situation.
    Manning did enough positive things to believe he can truly trend upward in the not-too-distant future. Still, he’s not at a point of elevating everyone around him to the point where he can mask the offense’s deficiencies.
    ***
    It doesn’t seem right that I’ve gotten this far into writing my postgame thoughts without talking about the defense.
    It was disappointing that things played out for the offense the way they did, but it wasn’t a total surprise. I, however, was flabbergasted at how Florida gashed Texas on the ground (159 yards, 4.3 yards per attempt), negated the Longhorn pass rush and gave DJ Lagway (21-for-28, 298 yards, two touchdowns and one interception) enough time to hit six explosive plays (15 or more yards gained through the air).
    Coming into the game, Texas allowed five rushing attempts to gain 10 or more yards. The Gators had five double-digit-yard runs in the first half (only 13 through their first four games).
    Only Auburn had fewer 20-yard gains through the air than Florida (10) before Saturday’s game. Lagway connected on four such plays against a Longhorn defense that allowed only six through four games.
    Jadan Baugh (107 yards and a rushing touchdown on 28 carries) and Dallas Wilson (111 yards and two touchdowns on six catches) made the kinds of plays the Longhorn skill players didn't or couldn't come up with on Saturday.
    ***
    The 2021 Iowa State game (a 30-7 loss) is the last loss I can remember Texas suffering in which it lost the line-of-scrimmage battle as it did in the Swamp.
    You’d have to go back to the Arkansas game that same season to find the last time a Sarkisian-coached Longhorn squad was bullied to the extent the Gators pushed Texas around from start to finish.
    ***
    There’s a lot more to digest from the loss than these time-constrained thoughts.
    Still, the following must be said: Talk of the SEC Championship Game or the College Football Playoff, at this point, is pointless. This is beyond a play-calling issue or a few personnel fixes for this team to become what it hoped to grow into by season's end.
    Against a desperate team, coming off a bye and knowing the kind of road environment they’d be going into, the Longhorns lost a game in which they were soundly defeated in all three phases.
    Considering the circumstances, and with Texas still unable to play disciplined (10 penalties for 70 yards) and/or complementary football, an argument can be made that this was the worst loss of Sarkisian’s tenure. While I have recently given Sarkisian credit for not suffering a head-scratching loss, my trust in the staff to avoid an unnecessary toe stub the rest of the way must be rebuilt after Saturday.
    The Longhorns can still be a good team. But Saturday’s performance didn’t inspire any confidence that Texas can turn the corner any time soon.
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