Seth McGowan, Ronnie Perkins not playing vs. Texas football

A little bit of help to the case of the Texas football program in Red River against the Oklahoma Sooners arrives in the wake of a few key absences.

Some news that might help the case of Texas football in the annual Red River Rivalry game this weekend is with a couple of players missing for the Oklahoma Sooners. In this key Red River matchup, Oklahoma is reportedly expected to miss two of their key players on Oct. 10 against a Texas team hoping to bounce back.

The first player that Oklahoma is expected to miss this weekend is junior defensive lineman Ronnie Perkins. The 6-foot-3 and 250 pound Perkins has not registered any actual stats during the 2020 season yet. He has 75 career total tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, 11.0 sacks, one pass deflection, and one forced fumble, through two years playing for Oklahoma.

Perkins is reportedly expected to miss this game due to a suspension from a failed drug test. He apparently had his appeal approved by the NCAA, but has not “taken the additional steps” that he needed to fulfill to play in Red River against the Longhorns.

Next up on the Sooners that will be missing in Red River this weekend that could definitely impact the game in a big way is the 5-foot-11 and 210 pound freshman running back Seth McGowan. As Oklahoma’s leader in rushing yards this season, this is a big blow to the Sooners.

McGowan registered 181 rushing yards, three rushing yards (5.3 yards per carry), 79 receiving yards, and one touchdown catch (19.8 yards per catch).

Junior Oklahoma running back T.J. Pledger will have a lot more pressure on his shoulders in this game now that McGowan is not playing. Pledger has 88 rushing yards and 142 total yards from scrimmage and no touchdowns through three games this season.

Oklahoma in general is going to have a lot of pressure to bounce back in this game. They come in with a two-game losing streak, after falling short in their first two games of the Big 12 slate at the hands of the Kansas State Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones. Their sole win this season came over the FCS Missouri State Bears in their opener back on Sep. 12.

Meanwhile, Texas comes in with a record of 2-1 (1-1 Big 12). They did lose their game last weekend, against head coach Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs, in their Big 12 home opener by the final score of 33-31. The two wins on the season so far for the Longhorns came over the Texas Tech Red Raiders and UTEP Miners.

Texas and Oklahoma kick off in this edition of the Red River Rivalry game on Oct. 10 at 11 a.m. CT at the Cotton Bowl at the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas. Oklahoma owns a two-game winning streak in Red River dating back to 2018.