No. 3 Longhorns lose 34-30 in instant classic to No. 12 Oklahoma as Gabriel blows his horn

Photo Courtesy: BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

On Saturday, the college football world set its eyes on Dallas, TX as the third-ranked Texas Longhorns squared off against the 12th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Unfortunately for Texas, Saturday was not a great day to bring anything less than their A-game as the Oklahoma Sooners, led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, were the dominant team in this year’s Red River Rivalry, responding with a late, game-winning touchdown drive to ice the game at 34-30.

Saturday’s rendition of the Red River Rivalry did not get off to a pretty start for Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns team as the scoring action kicked off for Oklahoma on a Dillon Gabriel 9-yard touchdown rush, following an interception against Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers. In fact, Ewers accounted for three turnovers on the night, one fumble and a pair of interceptions (of which, one interception resulted from a Ja’Tavion Sanders dropped pass). Despite of the turnover troubles, Ewers bounced back and had himself a decent game, passing for 346 yards and a touchdown. However, thanks to less-than-inspiring performances throughout the roster, and the unbalanced turnover margin, the Longhorns faced an uphill battle.

If you could summarize the game in one series of plays, it would be Texas’s attempt(s) to find the end zone at the start of the fourth quarter. With Steve Sarkisian’s patented jumbo package in the game for three plays in-a-row, which features defensive linemen Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat, the Longhorns could not earn a single yard and ultimately turned the ball over over on downs while they merely a few inches away from the end zone. The better team on Saturday came away with the stop, and ultimately the win… deservingly so.

But, all was not bad for Texas, who had signs of optimism sprinkled throughout the contest, starting with Kitan Crawford’s punt block which was scooped up for a touchdown by teammate Malik Muhammed in the first quarter, which tied the game up at 7-7. Likewise, despite trailing at one point in the third quarter by 10 points, the Longhorns charged back and evened up the game with a 29-yard touchdown rush by running back Jonathon Brooks with 6:10 left in the contest. Later, the Texas offense even stormed down the field, highlighted by a 47-yard field goal by Bert Auburn, which gave the Longhorns a 30-27 lead with just over a minute left in regulation.

However, victories are decided over the course of 60 minutes and the Sooners did just that, responding via a Dillon Gabriel three-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman wide receiver Nic Anderson with just 15 seconds left in the game. While the Texas offense had its fair share of struggles, the defense also had an uncharacteristically poor performance. On Saturday, the Longhorns allowed a total of 486 yards (285 yards passing, 201 yards rushing), letting Gabriel amass 113 yards and a touchdown on the ground alone.

Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian preaches the value of complementary football, but Texas simply did not achieve that on Saturday. If Texas wants a chance of meeting the Sooners once again this season, potentially in the Big 12 Conference championship game, they will likely need to win out from here. However, there are still many weeks to play, and improve, something which should give Sarkisian and the Longhorns hope.

After next week’s bye week, the Longhorns will travel to Houston, TX to take on the Houston Cougars. Information on their October 21st matchup is currently TBA.