Texas Football: 10 reasons to be excited for the Big 12 Championship Game

8. Round two of Oklahoma offense vs. Texas defense

For three quarters in the first meeting of the Red River Showdown, the defense for Texas football completely contained the Oklahoma offense. It took the Oklahoma offense until the fourth quarter to get things going behind a 21-point comeback posted very quickly that finally saw Murray explode.

In the first meeting between these two teams, Murray posted nearly 400 total yards and five touchdowns. There were two costly turnovers from Murray that was one of the deciding factors for the Horns. Ehlinger posted less turnovers than Murray did, which was unusual in and of itself, to manage the game well enough to lead his team to victory.

Since Oct. 6, the part of the Oklahoma offense that took off the most was the rushing attack. The ground game is averaging more than seven yards per carry this year and more than three rushing touchdowns per game. The passing game is efficient too with more than 300 yards per game and three touchdowns. The turnovers for Oklahoma are minimized too.

In an Oklahoma offense that is nearly posting 600 total yards per game, the balance is going to be the hardest part to contain for the Texas defense. Sophomore running back Trey Sermon is going to be the main threat on the ground to contain for the Horns. Texas did a good job containing the Oklahoma ground game most of the way earlier this year, and will need to do the same again.