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Recapping Texas' strong finish to the regular season

On3 imageby:Bobby Burton•12/27/22•

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Jahdae Barron, Jaylan Ford (Will Gallagher/IT)

This year, Texas finished the last eight games of the season 6-2. That’s an underappreciated finish, in my opinion.

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Why?

It is the best close to a conference campaign for the Horns since 2013, which was Mack Brown’s final team and closed 7-2 in conference before getting beat in the Alamo Bowl by Marcus Mariota and Oregon.

Even the 2018 Sugar Bowl Champs didn’t close conference play on as strong of a note.

If Texas would not have slipped up against Texas Tech in the first conference game of the year, the Horns likely would have been playing for the Big 12 championship.

But, in retrospect, I still don’t think the loss in Lubbock was a fluke. Texas got outplayed in that game. And the Horns’ defense was not yet what it would become later in the year.

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Oklahoma should be significantly better on defense next year, especially in the secondary where they were a hot mess most of this season.

Not only do they have some decent players returning and the addition of blue chip safety Peyton Bowen, but they also picked up former Tech safety Reggie Pearson in the portal. He could be the experienced field general they need back there.

I’m convinced Brent Venables will eventually get the defense turned around in Norman.

I’m not quite as convinced about the Sooners’ offense. The OL is uncharacteristically patchwork, and the scheme relies too heavily on big plays for my taste.

**

There are three really interesting Big 12 bowl games over the next day and a half.

Oklahoma State vs Wisconsin
Kansas vs Arkansas
Texas Tech vs Ole Miss

OSU is without Spencer Sanders and Wisconsin is without Graham Mertz. Both starting QBs hit the portal. Wisconsin has a new head coach, but they at least kept their defensive coordinator for the bowl game.

Kansas and Arkansas are seemingly two programs headed in different directions. Arkansas should be decidedly more physical but by how much?

Tech and Ole Miss is a clash of two middle of the road Big 12 and SEC teams. Of these matchups, it should give us the best gauge for relative conference strength.

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