No. 1 Texas thinks about the bigger picture after its second win over the AP Top 25 program

DALLAS — Quinn Ewers and the No. 1 Texas Longhorns (6-0) needed time to settle in the 120th annual Red River Rivalry game against No. 18 Oklahoma (4-2) in the Cotton Bowl.

With their 34-3 win on Saturday, the Longhorns took back the Golden Hat Trophy from the Sooners.

The Sooners’ defense came out of the gate with flying colors, intercepting Ewers’ first pass attempt of the game and preventing the Longhorns from converting a first down until their first drive of the second quarter.

Ewers was sidelined in his first game as a member of the SEC due to an oblique injury sustained the previous two weeks.

“It’s definitely nice to be back,” Ewers said. “It was a difficult start, but I think overall we did a good job and overcame the adversity. It’s 10% what happens to you and 90% how you overcome it.”

With Texas still five yards away from third down in the second quarter, Ewers threw a deep 26-yard pass to DeAndre Moore Jr. on the outside and later found the end zone for the game’s first touchdown.

From that point on, the Longhorns found their rhythm.

“They took the lead, but I don’t think anyone panicked,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “And that’s a sign of a really good team. We showed great poise and composure.”

After Ewers led the Longhorns to their first score, the Texas defense woke up – causing Oklahoma’s offense to collapse.

The Texas defense forced back-to-back punts before the Longhorns built a 14-3 lead. Then that same defensive unit later forced back-to-back turnovers, which the offense turned into touchdowns each time.

“The second quarter was obviously great with the ball game,” Sarkisian said. “Some critical third-down conversions – then DeAndre Moore, Ryan Wingo, [Quintrevion] Wisner popped up and the defense started turning the ball over and stopping the run.”

“I always say our best ball is yet to come,” Texas defenseman Michael Taffe said. “We only gave up three points, but we’ll look at the film and see a few runs that I missed that other people missed and we’ll clean those up. And our best ball is yet to come. The press and everyone around us outside the locker room might say, “Wow, that’s such a complete defense.” But everyone in the locker room knows that the offense is often on our heels during practice week. So there’s still a lot to improve and I’m really looking forward to that.”

The Longhorns’ defense has allowed just three touchdowns in six games.

While Sarkisian said he respects the annual rivalry game against Oklahoma, Texas has set its sights beyond OU and would rather bring another national championship to Austin.

“Don’t get me wrong, the locker room was fun and stuff,” Sarkisian said. “But it’s almost as if our team knows there’s still a lot of work to do. And you know, when we won the Golden Hat two years ago, you might have thought we had won the Super Bowl. This year it was, “Okay, we got the Golden Hat back.” Let’s put it in the trophy case and keep grinding. Let’s move on.’ I think that’s the mentality of our team.”

Texas will look to continue its undefeated start in the SEC next Saturday when it hosts No. 5 Georgia. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on KSAT 12.