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Texas Football: 3 reasons the Longhorns will upset OU

By Andrew Miller

T'Vondre Sweat, Moro Ojomo, Spencer Rattler, Texas Football Mandatory Credit: Bryan Terry-USA TODAY NETWORK
T'Vondre Sweat, Moro Ojomo, Spencer Rattler, Texas Football Mandatory Credit: Bryan Terry-USA TODAY NETWORK /
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Oklahoma’s Kennedy Brooks (26) carries the ball during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx13253
Oklahoma’s Kennedy Brooks (26) carries the ball during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx13253 /

Struggling Oklahoma ground game limits their offense

There are two major storylines that have impacted the way that the Oklahoma offense has performed early this season. The first is the struggling ground game, and the other is the lack of consistency along the offensive line.

As far as the lagging ground game is concerned, this is something that is largely a new issue for Riley and the Sooners to deal with. Oklahoma tends to always have a dominant rushing attack since Riley took over as the offensive coordinator around a half-decade ago under former head coach Bob Stoops.

For the first time since the 2013 season, Oklahoma doesn’t have any one of their top two or three running backs averaging at least six yards per carry. And Oklahoma really only has one dynamic running back that can make plays consistently in the receiving and ground game. That would be standout redshirt junior running back Kennedy Brooks.

The limited ground game, at least by Oklahoma’s usual considerations, is evident in the yards per carry numbers for Brooks this season. He’s averaging 5.9 yards per carry, which isn’t too shabby on the surface. But considering Brooks is on a similar pace this year compared to the last two seasons he played in terms of yards after initial contact and missed tackles forced, you would think his yards per carry would be on about the same pace too.

Nonetheless, we’ll see if the ground game can be a catalyst for the Sooners against the Longhorns this weekend. Oklahoma’s rushing attack did start to show more signs of life against Kansas State last week. But this is still something to consider in Texas’ quest to upset Oklahoma.

This all has led to quarterback Spencer Rattler ironically getting rattled when he has to throw the deep ball. The Oklahoma offense largely relies on the ground game to open up the chance to hit the deep ball. But Rattler is just 3-of-12 for just over 100 passing yards, no touchdowns, and two picks, on passing attempts over 20 yards this season.

Even if you look at any passing attempts over 10 yards this season, Rattler has two passing touchdowns and four interceptions.

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