The 110th installment of the Red River Showdown Rivalry takes place on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Ahead of the big game we wanted to get the opponent perspective on a few things.
Matt Hofeld from SBNation’s Oklahoma site Crimson & Cream Machine was kind enough to answer five questions.
HS: Quarterback Baker Mayfield was a walk-on transfer from Texas Tech and was forced to sit out last season due to the transfer. This year he finds himself as the starting quarterback for the Sooners. Is Mayfield legit?
CCM: He appears to be! I think Mayfield won over the fans, and his teammates, with his performance in leading the Sooners to the comeback win in Knoxville. There’s just so much charisma with this kid that it draws guys in and makes them want to play for him. We had Toby Rowland (The Voice of the Sooners) on our podcast this week and he even went as far as to say that there’s not been a quarterback with this much charisma on the team in the Bob Stoops era.
I think the two biggest factors that we didn’t see coming with Mayfield are the way he protects the football and his downfield vision while on the move. Both of those are contributing factors in him being one of the top 3 quarterbacks in the conference in passing yards per game.
HS: At 1-4 on the season, Texas is experiencing growing pains. They are forced to play a lot of young guys on both sides of the ball. Any chance Stoops and the players are taking this game lightly?
CCM: I don’t think so. The memory of 2013 is still too fresh in their heads and many of the starters, on both sides of the ball, participated in that game. It was been brought up a bunch this week by the coaches, the media, and the players. Add to it the fact that Baker Mayfield is from Austin, and the Longhorns refused to allow him to walk on, you’ve got the perfect storm of focus and motivation for the Sooners.
HS: Running back Samaje Perine had a great game against Tulsa, rushing for 152 yards. Besides that game his performance has been rather average. Is this a game in which Perine breaks the 100-yard mark again?
CCM: The running game is a bit of a mystery for Oklahoma right now. Only Iowa State and Kansas are producing less rushing yards than the Sooners and yet Perine is averaging 4.6 yards per carry and Joe Mixon 5.0 per carry. I think there’s certainly no way you can make the argument that the team is capable of running to the same standard they did in 2014 and yet I also don’t think you can say that OU is on the same level as the Cyclones and Jayhawks when it comes to running the football.
To answer your question more directly, 211 rushing yards allowed per game by the Texas defense indicates that he’ll crack the century mark.
HS: Mayfield relies on a cadre of talented wide receivers in order to be effective. Sterling Shepard is the marquee name in the unit, but who else should Texas fans keep an eye on?
CCM: The JUCO transfers, Dede Westbrook and Jarvis Baxter have been huge in adding depth to the receiving corps and senior Durron Neal is averaging 18.6 yards per reception. However, the biggest addition to the passing game has been inserting the tight end as a factor once again and Mark Andrews has been very solid there. Through the first four games of the season he’s averaging 19.3 yards per reception and is tied with Shepard with a team-high three receiving touchdowns.
HS: From OU’s perspective what concerns you most about this Texas team?
CCM: It’s crazy that I’ve never had to think so hard to answer this question in regards to Texas. Not to sound pious or arrogant but what do the Longhorns have going for them heading into this game? The Sooners are at an advantage across the board and this is the worst Texas team since the late 1950’s. My biggest legitimate concern is that OU won’t be focused heading in but then again we already addressed that there isn’t much of a chance that’ll be the case. Oklahoma fans should be extremely confident heading to Dallas, yet for some reason it’s the confidence that makes us extremely nervous because…well…it’s the Texas Longhorns and this rivalry has a storied history of upsets.
Texas and Oklahoma will kickoff at 11:00 am on Saturday. The game will be televised on ABC.
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