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Inside the Numbers: The Texas defense stifled Oklahoma in Dallas

Inside the Numbers: The Texas defense stifled Oklahoma in Dallas

With the lopsided 34-3 victory over the then No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the still No. 1 Texas Longhorns are 6-0 this season and are building their lead in the rivalry to 63:51:5. It didn’t always look like Texas would win this game comfortably, as Quinn Ewers’ early struggles led to Texas’ first deficit of the year – a 3-0 hole that lasted three minutes and 50 seconds.

The Longhorns stayed in the game thanks to the defense’s performance, which made the Sooners’ offense look inept in both the run and the pass. Most of Oklahoma’s offensive production came in the fourth quarter, when the game was already well under control.

Texas defense: 237 yards (89 rush, 148 pass)

Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense was more than complementary against Oklahoma and definitely carried the team through the first quarter while Texas tried to overcome a sloppy start on offense.

Texas opened the game offensively with an interception and back-to-back three-and-outs, which would normally spell disaster in an emotional matchup like the annual rivalry. The Longhorns’ defense responded by holding the Sooners to just 42 yards on 21 plays and three scores, setting the tone for the rest of the game. After Oklahoma finally turned Texas’ inability to do so into points on its third chance, the Longhorns’ offense responded with a long touchdown drive, scoring the first of 34 unanswered points.

The Sooners’ 89 rushing yards marked just the second time in the last 10 games that the Horns have held OU to fewer than 100 rushing yards. Also contributing to this number was Oklahoma’s complete inability to keep the Longhorns out of the backfield, causing them to record 11 tackles for loss and 42 yards for loss in the contest. Saturday’s game marks the second time Texas has recorded double-digit tackles for loss in the rivalry game under Kwiatkowski, moving into the 2022 game with 11.

Quintrevion Wisner: 13 Att, 118 Yards (9.1 YPC), TD

Questions in preseason camp about how Texas would handle the injuries in the running backs room continued throughout the season as the Longhorns failed to find a standout defender among the healthy players. Those questions may have been answered by Wisner’s performance in Saturday’s Cotton Bowl.

The redshirt sophomore made the most of his carries, taking advantage of the coaching staff’s penchant for feeding the hot hand. Wisner set a new career high with 118 rushing yards, tying his career high of 13 carries set in the previous game against Mississippi State. Most of his running came on two plays, the 36-yard rush-turn-fumble touchdown and a 43-yard breakaway touchdown on the next drive, taking advantage of the quick transition after Texas linebacker Anthony Hill recovered a fumble with Wisner’s score, which gave Texas a 21-3 lead.

Wisner’s performance puts him at the team lead with 278 yards rushing this season, passing Jaydon Blue’s nine yards on the list, with 206 of those yards coming in the last two games. It will likely require a Herculean offensive effort to give Texas a 1,000-yard rusher and continue Steve Sarkisian’s record of having a 1,000-yard rusher in every season as head coach.

If Wisner is indeed RB1, he will need to average 120 yards per game to reach 1,000 yards in the regular season. With yesterday’s win marking Texas’ sixth game, Wisner will only have to average just 103 yards rushing in Texas’ guaranteed 13 games. If Texas can make it to 14 games, which at this point looks like a berth in the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff, that number drops to 90.

The Longhorns’ road doesn’t get any easier in the coming weeks as they return to Austin to take on the Georgia Bulldogs, who would love nothing more than to knock out the No. 1 team in the country on their way to reclaiming their spot the top of the rankings. Your reward for this game? Their first SEC road trip, pitting them against Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt Commodores, who deliver a double overtime thriller against Missouri while undefeated in SEC play.