1. How fun/frustrating/fun was that? Texas dominated for most of the game, only to inexplicably let Oklahoma come back from a 21-point deficit in a less than six-minute span. Fans’ emotions were all over the place in this one and while there were some (extremely) nervous moments, everyone will sure as hell appreciate this one after the way it went down. Unbelievable.
2. What in the hell did I just watch? I’m not shocked Texas won (full disclosure … I did pick OU in our prediction thread), but with the way Texas won, with a dominating showing on offense, has me absolutely floored. Texas had been pretty mediocre at times through the first five games of the season, but something flipped this week. If Texas can bottle up what it did on offense today, this team could compete with just about anybody in the nation.
3. I’d been critical of the offensive performance overall despite the impressive 4-1 record coming into this game. If I’m going to point out when they struggle, I have to scream from the mountaintops how good that side of the ball looked in this game. Seriously, just about everyone on that side of the ball deserves a game ball. Texas played well at every position, the scheme/playcalling was aggressive, creative and flawless (for three quarters) and this was a flat-out dominant performance by the Texas offense before Tom Herman took his foot off the gas.
4. Speaking of taking UT’s foot off the gas, let’s not do that anymore. That philosophy nearly cost Texas two weeks in a row. Keep pushing the issue and worry less about the clock.
5. That Oklahoma offense is damn good and the Sooners did make some big plays, as expected, but Todd Orlando’s side of the ball played well for the most part early on.
6. As well as the Texas defense played early, it looked completely gassed in the fourth quarter in letting OU march up and down the field. If this game went to overtime, I’m not sure the Texas D had it in the tank to get the win.
7. Sam Freaking Ehlinger. Last week, Ehlinger missed some pretty easy throws but he was damn near flawless in this one. What a moment for that young man. Ehlinger finished with 314 passing yards and two TDs, while adding 72 yards and three rushing touchdowns. Tip of the cap to Ehlinger, who raised his level of play on the biggest stage.
8. Cameron Freaking Dicker. Two huge kicks, and both were right down the middle. Too early to start on a statue?
9. B.J. Foster .. more of that young man, please. Foster looked like he was shot out of a cannon on that fourth quarter sack and made an even bigger stop when he knifed through the OU line for a stop on third-and-one earlier in the game, forcing a field goal attempt. He finished with 6 tackles, two tackles for loss and one pass break-up.
10. Maybe the most impressive thing about this win was the way Texas absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage and just looked like the tougher team for most of the game. The level of physicality Texas showed through three quarters was so far superior to what Oklahoma brought that it felt like Texas was repeatedly able to break OU’s will any time the Sooners threatened.
11. Then the fourth quarter happened. I’m not sure I’ve ever, in my entire life, seen a game turn so quickly and dramatically. That’s a scary-good OU offense and when the Sooners started to heat up, Texas had no answer. Fortunately for the Longhorns, they got the ball last and took advantage of that opportunity.
12. Yancy McKnight – 1, Bennie Wylie - 0
13. Holy crap, has this been a long-time coming. My job, and this board, is so much more enjoyable when Texas is winning, and I’m going to enjoy the hell out of you all enjoying the hell out of this one.
14. I said in my 3-2-1 column this week that Texas could build some real recruiting momentum if it played well in this game, especially on offense. Even a close loss would have been beneficial, I said. The impact on the 2020 and 2021 classes of this type of win could be program-changing.
15. Random, but how good is Alabama? I haven’t watched them much because of work commitments, but every time I look up, the Tide is scoring again. When I glanced midway through the first quarter, Bama was up on Arkansas 21-0. Second glance, 41-14 at half. Based on the eye-popping scores, it seems that team could seriously challenge for the best team to ever hit the field.
16. Some of you had been calling for a wheel route all week, and Texas used it to perfection to go up 17-10. Tre Watson got behind the defense and Ehlinger dropped it in perfectly for an easy score. Great call, and that had to have felt really good for Watson. Good for him.
17. Keaontay Ingram continues to look like the best back on the team by a sizeable margin. That dude has some Le’Veon Bell to him with the way he’s patient behind the line of scrimmage and with his vision. Ingram finished with 86 yards on 13 carries. I’m not going to nitpick too much about this game, but the more carries that young man can get, the better. Keep feeding him.
18. When OU marched down for an easy score on its first drive, I found myself thinking that Texas could be in for a long day if the Sooners jumped on them early and went up by a couple scores. For Texas to come back with its own TD drive was huge.
19. The Longhorns had several impressive drives in this one, but that first scoring drive that ended on a trick play pass from Lil’Jordan Humphrey to Collin Johnson for the TD was a thing of beauty. The offense did a great job of mixing in the QB run, a nice run by Tre Watson, a deep shot, a productive screen pass and a trick play for the score. That might be as good of a drive as I’ve seen from Texas all year.
20. For the second consecutive week, Charles Omenihu flashed in a big way with two big plays to help Texas get a three-and-out in the second quarter.
21. That third down catch and run by Humphrey on UT’s first drive of the third quarter, where he powered forward for about 10 yards after OU stood him up, was pretty incredible. That allowed Texas to go for it on fourth down, which UT converted easily on an Ehlinger carry. A few plays later, Texas scored a TD to stretch the lead to 31-17. That TD doesn’t happen without Humphrey’s effort on third and long (and the effort of the guys who helped push the pile forward).
22. Texas once again got burned deep on a simple route with two receivers crossing, causing the defenders (PJ Locke and Davante Davis) to collide. It looked like Locke wasn’t even ready when the ball was snapped, Davis kind of ran up Locke’s back, and then Brandon Jones decided to jump the underneath route for some reason. Gotta clean that up.
23. The play where Kyler Murray stumbled around in the backfield and fumbled was a huge swing in this one, after OU had just forced a three-and-out and seemed to have all momentum tending its way. I’m guessing @Ketchum enjoyed that play. A few plays later, Texas extended its lead to 38-24.
24. When Texas went up 38-24, I glanced at the other scores in the Big 12 and West Virginia was clinging to a 21-14 lead, at home, over Kansas. Might be time for a shake-up in my Big 12 rankings.
25. Collin Johnson is virtually uncoverable with one defender. His size, strength and hands are just too much for one defender. I don’t know what the success rate is when he’s been targeted in one-on-one situations this year, but he might have been perfect on Saturday, including drawing a huge pass interference penalty on the game-winning drive.
26. Texas needs more consistency from Ryan Bujcevski. I don’t know how they get it, but he has to be better on every punt.
27. When the hell are some of you going to learn to not post jinx threads within games?
28. If you would have told me before the game that OU was going to score 45 points, I would have told you Texas was going to lose by two scores. At least. What an incredible win that was pretty surreal to watch unfold. Truly an epic college football game.
2. What in the hell did I just watch? I’m not shocked Texas won (full disclosure … I did pick OU in our prediction thread), but with the way Texas won, with a dominating showing on offense, has me absolutely floored. Texas had been pretty mediocre at times through the first five games of the season, but something flipped this week. If Texas can bottle up what it did on offense today, this team could compete with just about anybody in the nation.
3. I’d been critical of the offensive performance overall despite the impressive 4-1 record coming into this game. If I’m going to point out when they struggle, I have to scream from the mountaintops how good that side of the ball looked in this game. Seriously, just about everyone on that side of the ball deserves a game ball. Texas played well at every position, the scheme/playcalling was aggressive, creative and flawless (for three quarters) and this was a flat-out dominant performance by the Texas offense before Tom Herman took his foot off the gas.
4. Speaking of taking UT’s foot off the gas, let’s not do that anymore. That philosophy nearly cost Texas two weeks in a row. Keep pushing the issue and worry less about the clock.
5. That Oklahoma offense is damn good and the Sooners did make some big plays, as expected, but Todd Orlando’s side of the ball played well for the most part early on.
6. As well as the Texas defense played early, it looked completely gassed in the fourth quarter in letting OU march up and down the field. If this game went to overtime, I’m not sure the Texas D had it in the tank to get the win.
7. Sam Freaking Ehlinger. Last week, Ehlinger missed some pretty easy throws but he was damn near flawless in this one. What a moment for that young man. Ehlinger finished with 314 passing yards and two TDs, while adding 72 yards and three rushing touchdowns. Tip of the cap to Ehlinger, who raised his level of play on the biggest stage.
8. Cameron Freaking Dicker. Two huge kicks, and both were right down the middle. Too early to start on a statue?
9. B.J. Foster .. more of that young man, please. Foster looked like he was shot out of a cannon on that fourth quarter sack and made an even bigger stop when he knifed through the OU line for a stop on third-and-one earlier in the game, forcing a field goal attempt. He finished with 6 tackles, two tackles for loss and one pass break-up.
10. Maybe the most impressive thing about this win was the way Texas absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage and just looked like the tougher team for most of the game. The level of physicality Texas showed through three quarters was so far superior to what Oklahoma brought that it felt like Texas was repeatedly able to break OU’s will any time the Sooners threatened.
11. Then the fourth quarter happened. I’m not sure I’ve ever, in my entire life, seen a game turn so quickly and dramatically. That’s a scary-good OU offense and when the Sooners started to heat up, Texas had no answer. Fortunately for the Longhorns, they got the ball last and took advantage of that opportunity.
12. Yancy McKnight – 1, Bennie Wylie - 0
13. Holy crap, has this been a long-time coming. My job, and this board, is so much more enjoyable when Texas is winning, and I’m going to enjoy the hell out of you all enjoying the hell out of this one.
14. I said in my 3-2-1 column this week that Texas could build some real recruiting momentum if it played well in this game, especially on offense. Even a close loss would have been beneficial, I said. The impact on the 2020 and 2021 classes of this type of win could be program-changing.
15. Random, but how good is Alabama? I haven’t watched them much because of work commitments, but every time I look up, the Tide is scoring again. When I glanced midway through the first quarter, Bama was up on Arkansas 21-0. Second glance, 41-14 at half. Based on the eye-popping scores, it seems that team could seriously challenge for the best team to ever hit the field.
16. Some of you had been calling for a wheel route all week, and Texas used it to perfection to go up 17-10. Tre Watson got behind the defense and Ehlinger dropped it in perfectly for an easy score. Great call, and that had to have felt really good for Watson. Good for him.
17. Keaontay Ingram continues to look like the best back on the team by a sizeable margin. That dude has some Le’Veon Bell to him with the way he’s patient behind the line of scrimmage and with his vision. Ingram finished with 86 yards on 13 carries. I’m not going to nitpick too much about this game, but the more carries that young man can get, the better. Keep feeding him.
18. When OU marched down for an easy score on its first drive, I found myself thinking that Texas could be in for a long day if the Sooners jumped on them early and went up by a couple scores. For Texas to come back with its own TD drive was huge.
19. The Longhorns had several impressive drives in this one, but that first scoring drive that ended on a trick play pass from Lil’Jordan Humphrey to Collin Johnson for the TD was a thing of beauty. The offense did a great job of mixing in the QB run, a nice run by Tre Watson, a deep shot, a productive screen pass and a trick play for the score. That might be as good of a drive as I’ve seen from Texas all year.
20. For the second consecutive week, Charles Omenihu flashed in a big way with two big plays to help Texas get a three-and-out in the second quarter.
21. That third down catch and run by Humphrey on UT’s first drive of the third quarter, where he powered forward for about 10 yards after OU stood him up, was pretty incredible. That allowed Texas to go for it on fourth down, which UT converted easily on an Ehlinger carry. A few plays later, Texas scored a TD to stretch the lead to 31-17. That TD doesn’t happen without Humphrey’s effort on third and long (and the effort of the guys who helped push the pile forward).
22. Texas once again got burned deep on a simple route with two receivers crossing, causing the defenders (PJ Locke and Davante Davis) to collide. It looked like Locke wasn’t even ready when the ball was snapped, Davis kind of ran up Locke’s back, and then Brandon Jones decided to jump the underneath route for some reason. Gotta clean that up.
23. The play where Kyler Murray stumbled around in the backfield and fumbled was a huge swing in this one, after OU had just forced a three-and-out and seemed to have all momentum tending its way. I’m guessing @Ketchum enjoyed that play. A few plays later, Texas extended its lead to 38-24.
24. When Texas went up 38-24, I glanced at the other scores in the Big 12 and West Virginia was clinging to a 21-14 lead, at home, over Kansas. Might be time for a shake-up in my Big 12 rankings.
25. Collin Johnson is virtually uncoverable with one defender. His size, strength and hands are just too much for one defender. I don’t know what the success rate is when he’s been targeted in one-on-one situations this year, but he might have been perfect on Saturday, including drawing a huge pass interference penalty on the game-winning drive.
26. Texas needs more consistency from Ryan Bujcevski. I don’t know how they get it, but he has to be better on every punt.
27. When the hell are some of you going to learn to not post jinx threads within games?
28. If you would have told me before the game that OU was going to score 45 points, I would have told you Texas was going to lose by two scores. At least. What an incredible win that was pretty surreal to watch unfold. Truly an epic college football game.
