Three-count: Hudson Card's efforts, cornerback play, and an unranked Red River Shootout

Offering a Thank You Card, noting clear improvement from the Texas Longhorns cornerbacks, and reminiscing on the few Red River Shootouts that featured two unranked teams.

[Get ONE MONTH of Inside Texas Plus for $1!]

Hudson Card’s best performance buoys Texas to 3-2

Since Hudson Card came into the game in Quinn Ewers‘ place versus Alabama, the Longhorns are 2-2 with a one-point loss to the then-No. 1 Crimson Tide and a three-point overtime loss at Texas Tech. Card’s stats during that time? 70-of-102 for 899 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.

Card has played at a high enough level in all four games, despite an ankle sprain, to where Texas was in a position to win. His most recent outing versus West Virginia, a 21-of-27 performance for 303 yards and three scores, was the best statistical showing of his career.

With good reason, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian praised Card not just for playing well, but also for remaining with the team and being a key part of the Longhorns’ preparation process. A lot of players would quickly enter the transfer portal in the modern college football environment. Card did the exact opposite.

“A lot of guys in that position, I don’t want to say fold the tent, but it’s hard to stay focused,” Sarkisian said Saturday. “It’s hard to come out to practice every day with the same mental intensity to do what you need to do. But the reality is you’re a play away from being the guy. I give Hudson a lot of credit. He stayed engaged.”

The results show Card has improved with each outing, something he observed in quick reflection after Saturday’s game.

“I think just every game, you kind of grow with some experience, and get a little bit more comfortable,” Card said. “Credit to the coaches for putting in a plan that was really solid and obviously, the players around me executed really well and made me look good on some of those plays.”

Like any competitor, Card would like to be the starting quarterback. But he won’t complain publicly if Sarkisian puts Ewers back into the starting lineup. That isn’t his style.

Take solace in this: the Longhorn quarterback room simply wants the Longhorn quarterback room to succeed, no matter who is taking snaps.

Credit to the corners

Four of the five teams the Longhorns have faced boasted quality receivers. UTSA’s group is likely the best in their conference. Though they were not great in Austin, Alabama’s pass catchers are immensely talented. Texas Tech and West Virginia are typical Big 12 teams in that their playmakers on the outside and in the slot pose significant matchup challenges.

Texas’ top two cornerbacks of D’Shawn Jamison and Ryan Watts, plus second-stringers Jamier Johnson and Austin Jordan, have capably answered the challenges this year, limiting big plays and defending well in coverage.

Jamison and Watts played at a high level versus WVU. Watts had seven tackles and a PBU. Jamison recorded two tackles and two pass breakups. Johnson and Jordan didn’t see much action, but even Johnson netted a PBU in his limited snaps.

Longhorns who are active in the trenches praised the corners, and with good reason.

“We knew if we could create a dirty pocket, we’d be able to cover better and get some hands to the ball,” DeMarvion Overshown said Saturday. “Our DBs, kudos to them. They took it upon themselves this week knowing we had shut the pass game down in order for us to win this game.”

Until the game was mostly out of reach and WVU had to truly air it out to stay competitive, the Mountaineer wide receiver trio of Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Kaden Prather, and Sam James were held in check. Dating back to the Alabama game, save for a couple of busted plays in Lubbock, opposing wideouts have struggled to break a big play against Jamison and Watts.

WVU provided a good test. Oklahoma, even if depleted, should as well. The Longhorn corners will be asked to hold up again, but they’ve answered the call on nearly every occasion this year.

History(?) in Dallas

Since the end of World War II, only five Red River Shootouts have matched two teams unranked in the AP Poll: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1997, and 1998. The 2022 edition will join that group this Saturday.

To explain 1997 and 1998, just consider that the 1997 contest was the last Red River Shootout John Mackovic would coach for Texas until he was replaced by Mack Brown. For 1998, remember it was the last Red River Shootout John Blake would coach for Oklahoma until he was replaced by Bob Stoops. Both programs were in a state of flux, especially OU in the 1990s.

So what of the other three? The 1960s stand as the heyday of Texas football, more so than the 2000s. It wasn’t a bad time for Oklahoma, either, but there was a considerable amount of transition after Bud Wilkinson retired after the 1963 season.

Red River Shootouts since WWII where neither team was ranked in the AP Poll: 1998, 1997, 1968*, 1967*, 1966*

From 1961-67, the AP Poll was a 10-team poll. Texas beat OU 26-20 in '68, vaulted back into the rankings, and finished the year ranked No. 3.

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) October 3, 2022

The poll became a 20-team list in 1968, and Texas’ win boosted the Longhorns to the No. 17 spot the Monday after defeating the Sooners. They would only climb from there, finishing the season on a nine-game winning streak culminating with a win over Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.

Since 1989, the AP has ranked 25 teams. There have been a number of unranked vs. ranked matchups in the Cotton Bowl since then, with Texas being the sole unranked team more times than it would like to admit.

But in the history of this rivalry, unranked vs. unranked is a rarity. With both teams 3-2, and with Oklahoma reeling after a drubbing at the hands of TCU, the voters didn’t feel like this game features a top 25 team. Nor did ESPN, who is going to Lawrence, Kan. to watch ranked TCU play ranked Kansas.

Does that diminish the importance of the game? Absolutely not. It remains the pinnacle of college football rivalry matchups.

Plus, the players want the bragging rights, and to send their rival back to a .500 record.

“They’re definitely going to bring in their best shot,” Overshown said.

There has been a lot of history in the Red River Shootout. Saturday’s will present a new, though less glamourous, nugget of history.