The pain of a tough loss in the Cotton Bowl
I woke up this morning with a pang in my gut.
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The best word I can think of to describe the feeling: empty.
I feel empty after what I saw in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday.
Despite a deplorable first quarter, despite a four-time failure from the one-yard line, despite allowing Dillon Gabriel to rush for more than 100 yards, the Horns still held the lead going into the final 75 seconds of the game.
But Gabriel and the Sooners would not be denied.
The Sooners outplayed Texas for much of the game. They defended their goal line better, they caused the turnovers, they got more pressure on the quarterback and they confused the other team’s quarterback.
The Texas loss was no fluke. The Sooners won fair and square.
But that doesn’t mean Texas should hang its head low.
Texas fought back, the Horns overcame a 10-point second-half deficit, the offense moved the ball almost at will, and they still have so much left to play for.
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Only the sting of this loss and the idea of an undefeated season are what was really lost here.
Take these 13 days to regroup, refocus, get healthy, and perhaps make some tweaks or changes that have been brewing for the past few games, like Derek Williams playing more snaps, like heavier use of Malik Agbo to key the run game, or heavier use of the RPO that Quinn operated so cleanly.
In short, Texas is six games into the season, sitting at 5-1. They need to figure out who they really are, rely and build on that, and then go out and win every game left on the schedule like they are very much capable of.
Only that will remove the empty feeling this team surely has this morning.
