Texas Football: Game-by-game predictions for the Longhorns in 2018
The 2018 Big 12 Championship Game will take place at the home of the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, for the second consecutive year. Last season, the Big 12 reinstituted the conference title game which meant that two teams would meet for the second time in the same year. In this scenario, that means the second edition of the Red River Shootout.
Everybody wins with two editions of the Red River Shootout in the same season. Moreover, the Sooners come into this matchup looking to avenge the regular season loss handed to them by the Horns back in early October. Since then, the Sooners hadn’t lost a single game in the second year under head coach Lincoln Riley.
Murray just misses out as a Heisman finalist, but this is his last year with the Sooners. Anderson is in the same boat as Murray in that regard. OU is still looking to round out the season with another berth in the CFB Playoff and another conference title. That’s exactly how things shake out at the beginning of round two of this matchup.
OU jumps out to an early 17-3 lead, with a Sooners defense that looks completely different than it was the first time around. Sensational freshman safety Brendan Radley-Hiles gets in Ehlinger’s head early with two pass deflections and an interception in the first half. Watson manages to keep things close with a 20-yard touchdown run just before halftime, though.
At the beginning of the second half, OU looks to extend its 24-14 lead by getting the kick off. Murray extends the lead for the Sooners in the third quarter with two more passing touchdowns to a pair of junior wide receivers in Marquise Brown and Mykel Jones. OU doesn’t look back and seals the victory late in the third quarter to complete their revenge on the Horns.