Role Reversal

Since Lincoln Riley joined the Oklahoma football staff in 2015, the Sooners routinely have overcome their defensive shortcomings with an overwhelming offense.

However, there was a rare bit of role reversal in Saturday's 34-27 victory over Texas in the Red River Showdown as the OU defense picked up the slack when its offense stumbled with two first-half turnovers inside the red zone.

In the process, the Sooners' defense provided its strongest proof yet as to how much it has improved under the direction of first-year coordinator Alex Grinch.

"Defensively, just was awesome," Riley said. "We tackled well, covered them well. Obviously, we were able to get quite a bit of pressure on the quarterback which is probably the key to the game."

OU tied a school record with nine sacks (from eight different players) and also recorded 15 tackles for loss (its second-most ever against Texas).

"Proud of the start, proud of the progress," Grinch said matter-of-factly.

Before walking back up the south end zone ramp in the famed Cotton Bowl after the victory, Riley sought out Grinch. "I was excited about how we played defensively," Riley explained. "It was cool to be able to share that moment with him. (Our) journey is just getting started, though."

"The defense did a great job of holding up their end of the bargain."
- CeeDee Lamb

The Longhorns entered the game averaging 41.8 points, 308.0 yards passing and 483.6 total yards per game. On Saturday, the Sooners held Texas to 27 points, 205 yards passing and 305 total yards.

The nine sacks resulted in Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger finishing with minus-9 net yards rushing on 23 carries.

"So much of what you do defensively, and it's not specific just to this game, is you want to be multiple," Grinch explained. "You don't want to get in a rut of calling the same stuff and giving the exact same looks."

Asked to compare OU's defense to last year's, Ehlinger said, "They did a really good job of swarming the football. Obviously, they recruit extremely well and have tremendously talented players. I feel like they just let them go make plays."

Despite dominating the Longhorns 260-83 in first-half total yardage, the Sooners clung to only a 10-3 lead at intermission because of two miscues from Heisman Trophy hopeful Jalen Hurts, who fumbled at the Texas 7-yard line and threw an interception in the end zone while scrambling from the Longhorns' 11-yard line.

"The adversity we faced in this game, we kind of had a lot of self-inflicted wounds," Hurts said on the field afterward. "I'll man up and I'll take some of it (the blame). We bounced back from adversity and made things happen. We stayed together. We trusted each other. And I'm proud of those guys."

Hurts re-composed himself to finish with 131 rushing yards on 17 carries (7.7 average), the most rushing yards ever by an OU quarterback against Texas and a Cotton Bowl Stadium collegiate record by a quarterback.

Hurts also completed 16 of 28 passes for 235 yards and threw three touchdown passes to junior CeeDee Lamb, tying the receiver's career high. Lamb also collected a career-high 10 receptions for 171 yards. The scores went for 1, 51 and 27 yards.

"He's a big-time player and he makes big-time plays," Hurts said of Lamb. "He's doing CeeDee Lamb things."

Lamb credited the OU defense for being the team's stabilizing force in the first half.

"Offensively, the way we started, we were not where we needed to be," Lamb said. "The defense did a great job of holding up their end of the bargain, just keeping us motivated as they were on their roll and we weren't. And when we (the offense) got started, man, it's unbelievable what we can do together."

The No. 6/5 Sooners (6-0 overall; 3-0 Big 12) averaged 7.7 yards per play to 4.2 yards for No. 11/11 Texas (4-2; 2-1) and extended their streak of scoring at least 34 points to 16 games, which is tied for the second-longest streak nationally since at least 1980.

Redshirt sophomore running back Kennedy Brooks also surpassed the century mark, rushing for 105 yards on 10 carries (10.5 average), giving OU two 100-yard rushers against Texas for the first time since 1996 (159 yards by James Allen and 107 by De'Mond Parker).

"Our journey is just getting started."
- Lincoln Riley

OU has now beaten Texas eight of the last 11 meetings.

The Sooners never trailed Saturday and the teams played to a 24-24 draw after intermission. "Second half, just kind of became like a prize fight, each team taking their shots, making a lot of plays," Riley said. "We made a few more in the end."

Saturday's up-and-down performance in victory once again had the determined Hurts preaching about OU having plenty of room for improvement.

"We're going to learn from our mistakes," Hurts said. "We still haven't played a complete game. We've still got steps to take and we're going to get better."

The Sooners' next step comes Saturday at 11 a.m. when they host West Virginia. OU is 7-0 against the Mountaineers since they joined the Big 12 Conference in 2012.

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Brooks

Jalen Hurts

CeeDee Lamb

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics