Oklahoma seizes momentum last in back-and-forth affair to defeat Texas, 34-30

The Red River Shootout often features massive momentum swings, the byproduct of two historically successful teams facing off and the nature of the 50-50 split among fans that creates a unique environment on either side of midfield.

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The team that feeds off of those momentum swings more often than feeding into them tends to be successful. The team that did that on Saturday was the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners (6-0).

In a back and forth affair that saw Texas play yet another strong fourth-quarter, the Longhorns thought their 11-play, 58-yard drive that ended with a 47-yard Bert Auburn field goal would be enough. The Longhorns went up 30-27 and left OU quarterback Dillon Gabriel with only 1:15 to march downfield without any timeouts.

But Gabriel and Oklahoma, as they did more often on Saturday, executed a five-play, 75-yard drive in 1:02 that ended with a Nic Anderson three-yard touchdown reception. It was the final momentum swing, and the one that put the contest in favor of the Sooners.

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“Momentum is a delicate thing,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “When you have momentum, it’s great. It can take a couple of plays. Literally, they hit two passes to start that drive and they were already across the 50. The momentum swung quickly in their favor. They made a couple of throws and a couple of catches, broke a couple of tackles, and then they get the pass interference call down there right about the 5- or 6-yard line.

“The momentum swung that quickly. They were in their crowd area. That was unfortunate, because we had the momentum. Difficult deal.”

Texas offered OU the momentum early, with Quinn Ewers throwing two interceptions on the first two drives of the game for the Longhorns. Texas’ defense stopped the momentum once, allowing the game’s opening touchdown on the first instance.

Ewers would also cough up momentum later in the game in the third quarter, fumbling while trying to scramble for a first down. Again, the Texas defense stymied the momentum, forcing a punt.

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Outside of those two plays, Ewers did more to support Texas’ efforts to take control of the game. In his second Red River Shootout, Ewers was 31-for-37 for 346 yards with a touchdown plus his two picks. He found Jordan Whittington 10 times for 115 yards and completed eight passes to Xavier Worthy for 108 yards. His only scoring toss was to Gunnar Helm in the second quarter, a score that gave Texas its first lead of the game.

What Ewers did to manufacture momentum, Gabriel matched step for step and then some. He scored the first touchdown of the game, then led the final drive to seal a win in what will be his only appearance in the Cotton Bowl. He finished the day 23-for-38 for 285 yards with a score through the air, and rushed 14 times for 113 yards and a touchdown.

There were other, non-quarterback related momentum swings that both benefitted and hampered the Longhorns. Texas took advantage on special teams, with Kitan Crawford blocking a punt that was recovered in the end zone by Malik Muhammad, Whittington executing a fake punt, and Auburn nailing all three of his field goal attempts.

But Texas gave momentum away more often, and the Sooners took advantage. The most glaring missed chance was in the fourth quarter. Texas could not punch the ball into the end zone despite four attempts from the one-yard line.

No Sooner points resulted from that turnover on downs, but it was an opportunity surrendered that made a key difference late in the game in that the Longhorns’ efforts were fruitless. That was part of a 1-for-3 day for Texas in the red zone. Oklahoma was 6-of-6 in that statistic.

“We turned the ball over three times,” Sarkisian said. “We didn’t create any turnovers. We had nine penalties which was very uncharacteristic for us. We were 1-of-3 in the red area. In the end, I think they had five sacks or something.”

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Oklahoma had five drives of at least nine plays. That volume of plays did not allow for a Texas defensive front that had played dominant football at times throughout the year to make much of an impact. Texas gave up 486 total yards, with 201 of those on the ground. They sacked Gabriel one time compared to Oklahoma’s five.

“Our inability to corral the quarterback, his legs really hurt us there scrambling especially in the second half,” Sarkisian said. “It was not our best football.”

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Three turnovers, two missed red zone opportunities, and failure to impact the quarterback with many plays inflicting a loss caused Texas to lose opportunities to take momentum. It provided Oklahoma with more opportunities.

The volume of those opportunities had an impact, but the final momentum swing was the most consequential. It was the culmination of a game that saw Oklahoma afforded more chances, converting on a higher number of them.