The gist
- Final: Oklahoma 27, Texas 24. Tate Sandell drilled a 47-yard field goal as time expired to flip the Red River trophy back to the Sooners.
- We got outgained 382 to 238. This is not a win we are going to pretend was clean. OU is 3-2.
- The defense won it. Peyton Bowen's 42-yard pick-6 in the fourth quarter was the game. Arch Manning threw for 260 and three touchdowns, but the two picks mattered more.
- Special teams, again. Dakoda Fields returned a blocked punt for Oklahoma's first points, and Sandell went 2 of 2 and ended it.
A win we didn't earn on offense
Oklahoma beat Texas 27-24 on Saturday in the Red River rivalry, and if we're being honest with a fan base that read us last week, this is the uncomfortable kind of win. The Sooners are 3-2 and finally climbing out of the hole the Georgia trip dug — we spent 35 minutes of that one on the wrong side of four scores — but a scoreboard that reads W does not mean the tape was clean. It wasn't.
OU managed 238 total yards. Texas had 382. John Mateer went 18 of 26 for 155 yards and no touchdowns. The Sooners converted 2 of 13 on third down, took seven penalties, and did not punch in a single offensive touchdown through the passing game. The one scrimmage touchdown they got was Lloyd Avant from two yards out in the fourth quarter, from a short field. That is the whole offensive story.
So how did Oklahoma win? The way teams win games they shouldn't: by not turning it over, by getting a blocked punt in the end zone, and by picking off Arch Manning twice when he was otherwise torching the secondary for 260 yards and three touchdowns. Cam Coleman went for 110 yards and the opening score. Ryan Wingo caught a 34-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Jermaine Bishop Jr. caught the tying touchdown with 6:32 to play. Manning was good. He also threw a 42-yard pick-6 to Peyton Bowen with 10:07 left, and that single play is why OU is 3-2 instead of 2-3.
How the fourth quarter went, in order
Texas led 17-10 at the end of three. The Sooners had scraped together a Sandell 53-yarder in the third and Fields' first-half blocked-punt return — and that was all of it. Then the fourth got weird. Avant walked in from two yards with 14:48 to play to tie it at 17. Four minutes later Bowen jumped a route, caught Manning cold, and took it 42 yards the other way: 24-17 OU. Manning answered. He drove Texas back and found Bishop from 15 yards at 6:32: 24-24. Oklahoma took the ball back, moved it just far enough on a stat sheet that had no business moving the ball at all, and Sandell drilled a 47-yarder as the clock hit zeros. 27-24. The trophy stays here.
The numbers tell both stories
| Team Stats | Oklahoma | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 238 | 382 |
| Passing Yards | 155 | 260 |
| Rushing Yards | 83 | 122 |
| First Downs | 14 | 16 |
| 3rd Down | 2-13 | 3-14 |
| Penalties | 7-62 | 8-61 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 2 |
| Time of Possession | 30:31 | 29:29 |
The third-down line is the one that should keep the offensive meeting rooms open late this week. Both teams were awful on third down — Texas went 3 of 14 — but a team that threw for 155 cannot survive 2 of 13 against anyone that is not UTEP. Owen Heinecke's nine tackles and Taylor Wein's sack kept drives from turning into explosive scores, and the two picks did the rest. The defense covered for an offense that would have lost this game by two scores to half the SEC.
What people are saying
The reaction is going to be the Red River kind: Longhorns fans arguing about Manning's two picks and the three-and-out at the end, Sooners fans arguing about whether a six-point rivalry win where you were outgained by 144 yards is the start of something or just the lid on a leak. We will take the second argument in a minute. For a game played this close, the box score did more talking than any take will.
Our take
Here is our read, and we want it on the record: Oklahoma did not beat Texas on Saturday. Texas beat Texas, and the Sooners had the decency to be in the building. Manning threw for 260 and three. He also handed the game away. If either of those two interceptions is a punt instead, Oklahoma loses this one going away, because the Sooners were not moving the ball on anybody.
A rivalry win that doesn't crack 240 total yards is a flashing light, not a trophy.
Hot take: the Mateer-to-Sategna connection has to grow up this month, or Kentucky is going to do to this offense what Georgia did and the final will not be as polite. Isaiah Sategna III had five catches for 64 yards and he was the only receiver who touched the game. The run game put 83 yards on the board. That has to climb, and it has to climb against a Kentucky defense that is already lined up for Mateer in two-high.
Hot take two: Peyton Bowen is the best story on this roster right now, and nobody outside Norman is talking about him yet. Fine. We will.
And the honest one: 3-2 is the record we told you to expect after Georgia, and this is the win that keeps the season from spiraling. We will take it every single time. We also don't have to lie to each other about what it was.
Next up
Kentucky comes to Norman on Saturday, October 17. The Wildcats are a different animal from Texas on offense — slower pace, grind it out, make you earn every third down — and if OU does not put together a passing game that cracks 200 yards, this one tightens up fast. Falsifiable marker: if Oklahoma does not clear 300 total yards against Kentucky, this offense has a problem the record is hiding, and we will say so in the recap. Not might. Will. If you would rather back your read than shout it, that is literally the game.