My Combined All-22...
QB - Quinn Ewers (Texas)
RB - Jaydon Blue (Texas)
WR (X) - Isaiah Bond (Texas)
WR (Z) - Matthew Golden (Texas)
WR (Y) - Deandre Moore (Texas)
TE - Gunnar Helm (Texas)
LT- Kelvin Banks (Texas)
LG - Hayden Conner (Texas)
C - Jake Majors (Texas)
RG - D.J. Campbell (Texas)
RT - Cam Williams (Texas)
SDE - Barryn Sorrell (Texas)
DT - Alfred Collins (Texas)
DT - Vernon Broughton (Texas)
Edge - Colin Simmons (Texas)
MLB - Danny Stutsman (OU)
WLB - Samuel Omosigho (OU)
Nickel - Jaylon Guilbeau (Texas)
CB - Malik Muhammad (Texas)
S - Michael Taaffe (Texas)
S - Robert Spears-Jennings (Oklahoma)
CB - Jahdae Barron (Texas)
*******
The battles...
QB: Quinn Ewers (Texas) vs. Michael Hawkins (OU)
Do I even need to bother explaining this? No...
RB: Jaydon Blue (Texas) vs. Jovantae Barnes (OU)
As much as the Longhorns would like more from Blue, Barnes is one of the biggest JAGs starting at running back for any major college team i the country. After averaging 3.7 yards per carry last year, that number has dropped to 3.5 in 2024. Woof.
WR (X): Isaiah Bond (Texas) vs. Brenen Thompson (OU)
Thompson has a lot of talent and might be a very good player one day, but Bond is having an All-conference season and is projected as a possible first round pick in next year's draft.
WR (Z) Matthew Golden (Texas) vs. Zion Ragins (OU)
Ragins has 4 catches this season... 🤷♂️
WR (Y): Deandre Moore (Texas) vs. Jaquaize Pettaway (OU)
Moore has almost as many touchdown receptions (3) as Pettaway has catches (4)
TE: Gunnar Helm (Texas) vs. Bauer Sharp (OU)
This might be the closest battle on the offensive side of the ball, but Helm averages almost 5 more yards per reception.
LT: Kelvin Banks (Texas) vs. Michael Tarquin (OU)
Blowout.
LG: Hayden Conner (Texas) vs. Jacob Sexton (OU)
The Sooners have high hopes for Sexton, but we can't give him an edge over the player that PFF rates as the second-best player between these two team's offensive line. Don't look now, but Conner has a season grade of 85.2 on PFF.
C: Jake Majors (Texas) vs. Brandon Hickman (OU)
Another pretty fairly easy call.
RG: D.J. Campbell (Texas) vs. Febechi Nwalwu (OU)
Nwalwu might be the worst player in this game. He's certainly the lowest-graded OU offensive lineman on a bad line.
RT: Cam Williams (Texas) vs. Jake Taylor (OU)
See left guard. The Sooners are glad to have Taylor back, but Williams is having a fantastic season and is emerging as a possible high value NFL Draft choice.
SDE: Barryn Sorrell (Texas) vs. Ethan Downs (OU)
This is actually a pretty close battle, but Sorrell has an edge (according to PFF) in total pressures, sacks and hurries, while they are tied in hits, tackles and stops.
DT: Alfred Collins (Texas) vs. Jaydon Jackson (OU)
Neither guy is having a truly dominant season, but PFF has Collins grading better in every single aspect of the position in a head to head battle.
DT: Vernon Broughton (Texas) vs. Damonic Williams (OU)
According to PFF, Broughton is the best interior defensive lineman between the two teams by a fair distance.
Edge: Colin Simmons (Texas) vs. Mason R Thomas (OU)
OU fans will bristle at the notion that Thomas won't get the edge with more sacks than Simmons, but the Texas true freshman is starting to spread his wings with more snaps and currently has a gar superior total defensive grade (89.2 vs. 75.8) and pass rush grade (90.2 vs. 86.8) per PFF's season rankings.
MLB: Anthony Hilll (Texas) vs. Danny Stutsman (OU)
I'm giving this one to Stutsman because of his long-term pedigree and success, but Hill has more tackles for loss, sacks and created turnovers at this point. This might look foolish at the end of the year if Hill is pushing double digit sacks. It should be noted that Hill has a better season grade than Stutsman through five games (72.7 vs. 69.7)
WLB: David Gbenda (Texas) vs. Samuel Omosigho (OU)
Kip Lewis is technically OU's starting Will linebacker, but Omosigho lines up all over the field and needs to be slotted somewhere, even if he plays in the slot for 35% of his snaps on defense, The other 65% of his snaps are in the box at linebacker or along the defensive line.
Nickel: Jaylon Guilbeau (Texas) vs. Woodi Washington (OU)
OU plays the slot by committee and none of them are playing better than Guilbeau.
CB Malik Muhammad (Texas) vs. Kani Walker (OU)\
Muhammad is simply a far superior player than Walker. This one wasn't close.
S: Michael Taaffe (Texas) vs. Billy Bowman (OU)
What if I told you that according to PFF, one player through five games has an edge in total defensive grade (83.6 vs. 61.1), tackling (66.9 vs. 51.4) and coverage (86.3 vs. 56.2)... and his name isn't Bowman?
S: Andrew Makuba (Texas) vs. Robert Spears-Jennings (OU)
Spears-Jennings is having an incredible start to the season and has easily been OU's best player on either side of the ball so gar this season. He's been the player Billy Bowman is supposed to be.
CB: Jahdae Barron (Texas) vs. Dez Malone (OU)
Another blowout at cornerback, as Barron is having an All-America level season and Malone is just a good player.
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