Texas Football: 5 things we learned from Big 12 Title Game loss to OU

2. Front seven was stout

The Oklahoma ground game was one of the biggest threats that the Texas football defense has to worry about on Dec. 1. Oklahoma’s rushing attack took off after the first edition of the Red River Showdown this year, averaging more than 250 rushing yards per game.

Oklahoma averaged only 3.2 yards per carry, posting 129 yards and one touchdown. Outside of the production from sophomore running back Trey Sermon, the Sooners didn’t have much to be proud of resulting from its running game. The Horns held freshman running back Kennedy Brooks to less than 30 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Texas football also did a good job of containing the threat from Murray moving around in the pocket and rolling out to extend plays. Posting two sacks and six tackles for loss is a nice performance against a very skilled Oklahoma offensive line and quarterback. It’s just a very tall task to limit the explosiveness of the Oklahoma offense for a full 60 minutes.

The linebacking corps was the main factor in limiting what the Oklahoma offense could do for much of the game. It was the Texas secondary that was once again exploited whenever the Sooners started rolling down the field. Senior linebackers Gary Johnson and Anthony Wheeler combined for 23 total tackles, three tackles for loss, and one sack.