The Texas defense wants more

The Oklahoma Sooners intercepted Quinn Ewers on the very first drive of the 2024 Red River Shootout, putting the Texas defense on the spot to defend a 45-yard field. After Michael Hawkins found Brenen Thompson for one first down, the Longhorns stopped OU short of the next line to gain and forced the Sooners to send Tyler Keltner onto the field for a 44-yard field goal.

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Keltner’s kick sailed wide of the uprights with 11:40 left in the first quarter. That would be emblematic of the rest of Oklahoma’s day. Keltner made an attempt later in the quarter to make it 3-0 OU. That would cap the Sooner scoring. The same could not be said of Texas.

Texas kept the Hawkins-led offense out of the end zone for the entire game, and didn’t let a moribund Sooner offense find any answers in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Oklahoma managed just 237 total yards and failed to break the 100-rushing yard barrier in a 34-3 win for the Longhorns.

It was a dominant performance by the burnt orange. Texas’ opponents this year average fewer than seven points per game. OU netted just 3.4 yards per play, 0.3 yards under the Longhorns’ previous season average of 3.75. The Longhorn offense did its job, but the Texas defense put in yeoman’s work.

“Our defense has assumed a real swagger about them with the way they play, a real confidence about them,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said.

Texas’ defense has dominated all comers during the 2024 season. The season high for points scored against Pete Kwiatkowski‘s bunch is the 13 Mississippi State scored in Texas’ SEC opener. Every metric says Texas has an elite defense that would be the envy of program’s around the country.

Yet the current team believes it can accomplish more.

“Our best ball is yet to come,” said safety Michael Taaffe, who recorded a sack of Hawkins during Texas’ win. “We only allowed three points today but we’re going to look at some run fits that I missed, that some other people missed, and we’re going to clean those up. Our best ball is yet to come. I don’t think there’s a better way to say that.”

His teammates agreed.

“From the front seven, to rushing, tackling, the run game, the pass game, there’s always something to work on each and every day with us,” Colin Simmons said following his five-tackle, 1.5-TFL day.

Liona Lefau started alongside Anthony Hill on Saturday, and made the most of it with a four-tackle, one-TFL day. His sentiments matched those of Simmons and Taaffe.

“We have a lot of room to grow,” Lefau said. “They ended up getting three points. We can start right there, we’re trying to pitch a shutout every week.”

The standout performance came from Hill, who played like an All-American. Hill notched 11 tackles, two sacks, 3.5 TFL, and a key forced fumble that turned into Longhorn points. Hill was able to not only turn in a strong showing, but twist the proverbial knife in Texas’ rival.

Following the game, he posted a picture on social media of a desecrated Oklahoma jersey and landed a jab on Danny Stutsman.

Last year, Stutsman claimed Texas feared Oklahoma. Hill thought different Saturday.

Texas fears nobody pic.twitter.com/52g4gqyBel

— Anthony Hill Jr (@thegoatanthony1) October 12, 2024

Hill mentioned that he was proud of not only the frontline players, but also the second- and third-stringers who were able to maintain the no touchdown day for Oklahoma. That spoke to a standard Taaffe mentioned after the Longhorns sent an Oklahoma offensive brain trust struggling to find answers back to the drawing board once again.

“We have a standard, and that’s to keep our opponent out of the paint,” Taaffe said. “That’s what we preach every single day. That’s what we live by. It feels good as a defense to know they never scored a touchdown.”

Those players capped a strong performance from Texas’ defense, the latest in the 6-0 start for Sarkisian’s program.

Though the Longhorns were elite Saturday and have been all year, they believe what was showed on defense is not a finish line but rather a starting point.

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“We can honestly always find things and hone in on the details,” Barryn Sorrell said. “That’s what makes great defenses great.”