Quinn Ewers and Dillon Gabriel, the QBs in Saturday's Red River Shootout, will be the best each team has faced in 2023

During Texas’ 5-0 start to the 2023 season, the Longhorns have faced the following quarterbacks: Rice’s JT Daniels, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Wyoming’s Evan Svoboda, Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson, and Kansas’ Jason Bean. Svoboda, Robertson, and Bean are the No. 2 quarterbacks for their respective teams, Daniels is on his fourth team in six seasons, and Milroe was engaged in a competition that carried into week three.

[Join Inside Texas today and get 50 PERCENT off an annual subscription!]

All in all, not a murderer’s row of signal-callers.

Similarly for the 5-0 Sooners, the Oklahoma defense has faced six quarterbacks of varyingly mediocre quality. JT Shrout of Arkansas State couldn’t score versus OU. SMU’s Preston Stone was stifled. Tulsa’s duo of Cardell Williams and Roman Fuller both struggled. Emory Jones couldn’t record a touchdown for Cincinnati. Iowa State’s Rocco Becht, who began the year as Hunter Dekkers‘ backup, wasn’t a world-beater versus the Sooners.

Again, not a star-studded list.

When Quinn Ewers goes under center for the Longhorns, he’ll represent the toughest quarterback challenge to date for the Sooners. Conversely, Dillon Gabriel will stand as arguably the highest quality QB to line up versus the Texas defense.

Both defenses have a lot to prove during Saturday’s Red River Shootout. Stopping an all-conference level quarterback, something neither team has had to do all season, will be each’s biggest undertaking.

“(Ewers) is playing at a really high level,” Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said Tuesday. “Obviously against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, threw for just south of 350 yards and was a national player of the week. We’ve got a great, great challenge.”

Last year, Ewers was 21-for-31 for 289 yards and four touchdowns with one interception in Texas’ win over Oklahoma. This season, he’s 97-for-147 for 1358 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception. He’s also rushed 25 times for 74 yards and five touchdowns.

“He’s been doing a great job this year,” Oklahoma corner Woodi Washington said Monday. “They’re 5-0. They beat a really good Bama team early. We’re just really excited for the test Texas is going to bring for us this year. He’s a great quarterback, he’s probably going to be in the Heisman race as he is right now. We’re excited to see him.”

Ewers will be the most talented quarterback the Oklahoma defense has faced this season. Plus, the Texas offense is the first the Sooners will face inside the top 50 of offensive SP+. Texas’ ranking in the metric? No. 8.

That said, the Sooner squad that gave up seven touchdowns last year to the Longhorns is not the one that will be in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday. Venables’ defense that gave up 273.5 passing yards per game last year is only surrendering 212.8 per contest this season against the aforementioned average passers. Ewers will look to top those averages again come Saturday.

“They’ve got new people over there,” Ewers said Monday. “They’re obviously better at what they do than they were last year. Super excited for the opportunity and the opportunity for this team.”

From this week’s game notes… #Sooners defense has been night and day statistically through five games. pic.twitter.com/3MwAoQDyDh

— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) October 3, 2023

As far as Gabriel? This will be his first appearance in the Red River Shootout. The UCF transfer missed the contest last year after suffering an injury the week prior versus TCU. That left the Oklahoma quarterback room in a dire situation, one where running the Wildcat full-time was the only tenable option for Oklahoma.

Gabriel is healthy and has been incredibly efficient. This season, he is 118-for-157 for 1593 yards and 15 touchdowns over two interceptions. He’s also rushed 29 times for 95 yards and four scores. Gabriel has recorded four 300-yard games and a 400-yard game. His lowest yardage output was versus SMU. Even so, he was 19-for-27 for 176 yards and four touchdowns versus the Mustangs.

“Gabriel is playing at a very high level,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “They’ve got an explosive unit. He distributes the ball beautifully whether it’s RPOs, advantage throws, shot plays, and things of that nature.”

The shot play, a key part of OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby‘s system, was something Texas players identified as an area of emphasis for Saturday’s game.

“He’s a confident kid,” Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron said. “He loves shots and explosive plays to his receivers, and he trusts his receivers. It’s going to be a good matchup for us in the back end to be able to work that. We need to be on the same page to control him.”

Gabriel has an idea of what the atmosphere is like in the Cotton Bowl considering he warmed up before the game and was present with the team during 2022’s battle. However, the bigger challenge for the Gabriel and the Sooner offense will be the Texas defense powered by a strong front.

“They’re very physical,” Gabriel said. “They’ve been very dominant in their first five games. They’ve just been playing really good football. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”

Texas will look to dominate again. The Longhorns are No. 17 in both total defense and rushing defense, No. 16 in team passing efficiency defense, and tied for No. 12 in scoring defense. In addition, Texas is No. 9 in third down defense and No. 2 in red zone defense.

Gabriel is a far more capable passer than any of the other QBs Texas has battled and leads an offense admired by advanced metrics. Alabama has the highest offensive SP+ ranking of teams Texas has squared off against at No. 13. The Gabriel-led Oklahoma offense currently checks in at No. 4.

“I see a guy that gets the offense going and gets that team going,” Texas defensive lineman Barryn Sorrell said Monday. “He’s a guy who brings a lot of intensity to that team, and he’s definitely their playmaker.”

Similar holds true for Ewers and the Oklahoma defense.

“I think it’s going to be a really good test for our secondary,” said Washington.

It’ll be a test for both, a newfound one for each of the participants in the 2023 Red River Shootout.