What a disappointing performance by the Longhorns in every phase of the game.  Texas was averaging 483 yards and 42 points per game and came away with 310 yards and 27 points against Oklahoma.  Texas scored only three points in the first half. 

The Texas defense gave up 511 yards including 276 yards on the ground at 7.3 yards per rush. To their credit they forced two Oklahoma turnovers in the red zone that kept the game from getting out of hand early though at no time did I really think Texas might win.

Here are issues that were glaring.

1. Sam Ehlinger was sacked nine times.  That’s outrageous. Three or four of those sacks were Ehlinger’s fault for holding the ball too long which leads to the question of why weren’t Longhorn receivers getting open.

2. From my vantage point in the upper deck of the Cotton Bowl, there were at least five or six times you could see that Texas was beat on the play before the ball was snapped just by looking at the formation. Texas simply didn’t have enough players on one side of the formation or the other and Oklahoma ran to that side for big gains.  I don’t know, maybe Todd Orlando needs to be in the press box. Nothing else seems to be working.  This Texas defense is on pace to be the worst in history.

3. The moment seemed to be too big for some of the Texas players. There were dropped passes on what could have been big plays.  Devin Duvernay muffed a fair catch on a kickoff resulting in Texas starting on the three yard line. On three other kickoffs he made poor decisions to run the ball out of the end zone resulting in Texas starting drives on the 13, 5, and 16 yard line.  For some reason, D’Shawn Jamison was trotted out to receive a punt for the first time this year and let it hit the ground on easy chance to field it resulting in Texas starting a drive on the seven yard line.

4. Tackling. No need to go into it, you saw it.

I just watched Tom Herman’s weekly Monday press conference and he talked about issues—including some of what I’ve just listed—that could be fixed. One of the issues Herman talked about fixing was tackling. Why do you have to fix tackling issues on this level, six games into a season with players who are mostly four star recruits?  Since the last few years of Mack Brown’s tenure I don’t remember any issues coaches have said could be fixed that ever got fixed. What’s definitely not fixable is the goal to reach the College Football Playoff this year

I think the harsh reality of this game is that Lincoln Riley and his coaches are markedly better than Tom Herman and his coaches.  Oklahoma’s players may be better than Texas’ but I wonder if Bum Phillip’s observation about Bear Bryant applies to the current Texas Oklahoma matchup? “He can take his’n and beat your’n, and then he can turn around and take your’n and beat his’n.

A sobering thought for Longhorn Fans.

Hook ‘Em,

W.E.

Oklahoma Over/Under Results

There were 25 entries this week which breaks the record of 24 entries that was set in the 2008 Oklahoma game. This is very exciting for the staff at Willie Earl.

Eric Vogl earns the honor for a victory in the largest Over/Under field ever with seven correct answers.

David Frink, D.R. Flower, Jeff Otto, and David Bergstrom tied for second with six correct answers.

Mitch Lewis, Wade Wallace, Dan Adams, and Al Locascio tied for sixth with five correct.

Overall it was a tough day for the contestants with an average of 4.5 correct answers. Only four contestants were correct on the time of possession for Texas question and only eight were correct on the OU average yards per rush question.