Five positives from the Red River Showdown
Yes the Texas Longhorns lost to the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Showdown. The loss drops Texas to 2-4 on the season, making a run for a bowl game that much more difficult.
Even so, there were some positives to take from the game. This wasn’t the same team that looked inept at times the last few weeks. There were some bright spots.
- Texas covered the spread and picked up a moral victory
Ok, this may be a stretch when considering the positives. Covering the spread and still losing should not be moral victories for a program like Texas. But you have to look at the big picture. Oklahoma was favored by more than two touchdowns. And despite a stifling defensive effort, the Longhorns found themselves down 31-13 in the second half. How many of these games got out of hand under the previous regime (and I’m not just talking about games with Oklahoma)? This had all the makings of a 45-13 spanking.
Charlie Strong’s team did not rollover. The offense fought back and pulled within five. At a point in the game when Texas could have packed it in, the team fought back and made it a game. This can be one of those building blocks Strong uses to turn things around.
- Special teams wasn’t a complete disaster
Sure, the coverage team gave up a touchdown before Oklahoma’s offense had even set foot on the field. Adrian Colbert didn’t help matters when he blasted the Sooners’ punt returner before he touched ball. That led to an Oklahoma field goal.
No, we are focusing on the positives. William Russ had a really nice punt. It ended up flipping the field on Oklahoma. He also recovered nicely after mishandling a snap and got off a decent punt. And Nick Rose made a field goal. See, good things happened on special teams.
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- The offensive line showed up, for the most part
Kudos to Joe Wickline for recognizing the offensive line was not getting the job done. He also realized that if Tyrone Swoopes, Malcolm Brown and Johnathan Gray were going to walk off the field under their own power, he needed to do something.
Wickline moved Taylor Doyle to center. Doyle is heavier than Jake Raulerson, and Texas needed someone in the middle to face the mammoth Sooners defensive tackles. More importantly, the line needed a little more beef to create some running lanes for Brown and Gray. Doyle had multiple low snaps, but for the most part he did a commendable job. The rest of the line provided a decent pocket for Swoopes.
If Texas was going to compete in this game, Swoopes needed to throw the ball downfield. In order to do that, he needed time in the pocket to find the open receiver. The line gave him that time. The false starts and holding calls aside, this was a promising effort from the big uglies.
- Tyrone Swoopes
Yeah, who saw this coming? Swoopes was 27/44 for a career-high 334 yards. He had two nice touchdown passes. He also took advantage of a worn-down Sooners defensive line to scamper in for the score that pulled Texas to within five. He finished with 50 yards rushing. Swoopes handled the offense better than most people were expecting.
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Yes, the interception for a pick-six was one of those mistakes that the offense couldn’t afford to make. He also burned two timeouts at inopportune times. Texas could have used those at the end of the game.
Nonetheless, Swoopes was a bright spot for a Longhorn offense that needed him to come to play.
- The Texas defense was dominant
We all know the defense is the strength of this team. What it did to the Oklahoma offense in the first half was better than anyone could have imaged. The Sooners managed just 29 yards of offense in the first half. Oklahoma had the ball for all of seven minutes. It was as dominating a half as there has been in college football this season.
The defense walked out of the Red River Showdown giving up 17 points. It did all that it could do to keep Texas in the game. The players don’t need to hang their heads after this effort.
Now Strong and his staff need to build upon the positives from this game as Texas prepares to host Iowa State.