5 takeaways from Texas football’s dominant shutout win over OU

Just a couple of weeks ago, no one could’ve realistically anticipated what was coming for this edition of the Red River Rivalry game between Texas football and the Oklahoma Sooners. Texas absolutely dismantled new head coach Brent Venables and the Sooners at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Oct. 8 by the final score of 49-0.

This was the worst shutout loss ever for Oklahoma. And it was the biggest margin of victory in the history of the Red River Rivalry for the Longhorns. It was also very close to being the biggest margin of victory in the history of Red River for either squad.

Texas got off to a hot start in this edition of Red River, taking a comfortable 28-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. Redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers led the Longhorns to touchdowns on each of the first three offensive drives of the game.

And Texas didn’t really look back from there, shutting down the Sooner offense at every turn in this game.

Takeaways from Quinn Ewers leading Texas football to a blowout win over OU in Red River

This was a massive win for head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns to get the fourth win of the season and the second of Big 12 play. Here’s a look at five takeaways from the shutout win for the Longhorns over the Sooners in Red River.

Texas’ interior defensive line leading the way for a rejuvenated front seven

One of the real strengths of this defense in the first half of the regular season is the play of the interior defensive line. The trio of sophomore Byron Murphy, senior Keondre Coburn, and senior T’Vondre Sweat have sparked a rejuvenated effort from this defensive front so far this season both in terms of generating pressure up the middle in the pass rush and defending the run.

This was yet another brilliant effort from this trio along the interior of the defensive line. Sweat finished up this game with four combined tackles, a couple of quarterback pressures, and two tackles for loss. He definitely had one of his best games of the season so far.

Meanwhile, Coburn was excellent for the Longhorns defending the run. He had a couple of run stops, two tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks. Coburn also had a standout game as his NFL Draft stock continues to soar.

Last but not least, I want to talk about some of what we saw from Murphy. One of the young breakout players for the Texas defense so far this season, Murphy had another fantastic contest both rushing the passer and defending the run.

Murphy had at least three quarterback pressures, two combined tackles, one sack, and one tackle for loss. His quick move off the line of scrimmage also helped lead to the interception for junior defensive back Jahdae Barron on the jump pass from running back Eric Gray.

That was a pivotal moment in the first half of this game. And that interception probably doesn’t happen without Murphy getting a lot of pressure up the middle on that play.