Texas Football: Mike Gundy doesn’t a shootout against the Longhorns
At the backend of the biggest gauntlet of the Big 12 slate this season for No. 25 ranked Texas football and new head coach Steve Sarkisian, we’ve hit a key point in this campaign for this team. Texas needs to bounce back from a tragic loss where the team had a drastic second-half collapse at the hands of the No. 6 ranked Oklahoma Sooners and head coach Lincoln Riley last weekend.
Sark and the Longhorns also have an interesting week of press conferences and practice leading up to a critical matchup with head coach Mike Gundy and the No. 12 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys this coming weekend. Sark had to respond for his team’s lackluster performance against the Sooners in the second half last weekend.
And Gundy also has a tough week of preparation ahead for an even more potent Texas offense compared to what he had to face with the Pokes in the prior two seasons. Oklahoma State comes into this game as one of the two remaining undefeated teams in the Big 12 at this point of the season.
It’s the Oklahoma schools that are the lone remaining undefeated teams in the Big 12 at this point. Texas can now play the role of spoiler for Oklahoma State this fall for the Longhorns to continue their quest to earn a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.
What makes this game so interesting between Texas and Oklahoma State is the fact that these teams are so different on paper. Texas has not succeeded much on the defensive side of the ball this season. In their best defensive efforts since the loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks back on Sep. 11, Texas only held one opponent to less than 30 points.
Texas ranks fifth in the FBS in points scored per game, just shy of 45. But the Longhorns also rank outside of the top 90 in the FBS in points allowed per game, just shy of 30.
Texas football matching a team with an opposite style this weekend with Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State ranks 89th in the FBS in points scored per game, at just north of 25. And the Pokes rank in the top 25 in points allowed per game, at an impressive mark of 18.6.
Most just assume that Gundy and the Pokes want to air the ball out all day long. The label that the Pokes got from all of their explosive passing offenses in the late 2000s and all the way up through the mid-2010s gave most college football fans the idea that all this team could do was air it out.
But Gundy has flipped the script on that storyline in the last few seasons. He’s taken a dual-threat quarterback in Spencer Sanders and tried to control the clock with a powerful ground game. Between the likes of Justice Hill, Chuba Hubbard, and now former Utah State transfer Jaylen Warren, Oklahoma State is going to try to bash Texas on the ground.
The problem for the Pokes this season is that Texas has star sophomore running back Bijan Robinson leading the way. Oklahoma State just doesn’t have the personnel on paper to stop the likes of Bijan, junior Roschon Johnson, transfer sophomore Keilan Robinson, etc.
And that is why Gundy mentioned in one of his weekly pressers this week that Oklahoma State doesn’t want to get into a shootout with Texas. That makes a lot of sense given that the strength of the Pokes is controlling the clock and dominating in the trenches. Texas has struggled in the trenches this fall, so that could be something to watch.
But it feels like Texas holds most of the other positional matchup advantages on paper. That is largely why Texas is nearly a one-touchdown favorite this week in the spread over Oklahoma State.
Texas had the momentum early in the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma to win that contest. But it was a huge collapse after the first quarter that caused Texas to ultimately fall short by the final score of 55-48 last weekend. Oklahoma outscored Texas 45-20 in the last three quarters in Red River back on Oct. 9.
Next. 3 backups who should start after the loss to OU. dark
Oklahoma State comes into this meeting with the Longhorns sporting a record of 5-0 (2-0 Big 12) following a bye week for them last weekend. Meanwhile, Texas is looking to bounce back heading into this critical matchup with the Pokes. Texas comes into this game with a record of 4-2 (2-1 Big 12) following the loss to Oklahoma last weekend.