Texas Football: 5 overreactions from nightmare loss to OU

Casey Thompson needs more playmakers for Texas to compete at the highest level

This was a really big game statistically for the Longhorns quarterback-to-wide receiver connection that features redshirt junior Casey Thompson and true freshman Xavier Worthy. Thompson went for 388 passing yards, five passing touchdowns, and no interceptions in a big game for him. And Worthy had a career day with a whopping 261 receiving yards on nine catches, with two receiving scores.

But the lack of time that Thompson had to make plays in the second half, and a lack of playmakers outside of Worthy, came back to bite the Longhorns down the stretch.

Oklahoma didn’t necessarily do a great job often disguising their blitz plays, but the offensive line was still lacking enough that Thompson came under pressure on roughly 36 percent of his dropbacks. That meant that the Oklahoma defensive front was able to wreak enough havoc that the struggling Oklahoma secondary, especially on deep balls, was masked for defensive coordinator Alex Grinch in the second half.

But the fact of the matter here is that Texas’ playmakers weren’t able to do what Oklahoma’s were down the stretch. That is for one exception. Worthy was huge nearly all game long for Texas against the Sooners. That one exception to his solid play in this game was the untimely fumble he had on a kick return late in the fourth quarter.

Yet, Worthy was still able to make up for that special teams fumble with an incredible late touchdown catch that tied the game up in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter for Texas. Unfortunately for the likes of Thompson, Worthy, and the Longhorns, the defense couldn’t hold up on the final drive of the game.

Texas needs more playmakers like Worthy in this offense. The offensive line also needs to play better when it matters most in games like this.

This was a game of close breaks and a huge second-half collapse that was about as bad of a final 30 minutes for Texas as we’ve seen in the last half-decade.