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Nightmare At The State Fair For Oklahoma's Defense

The Longhorns Used First Downs To Dictate Sooner Defense

By M. Hofeld
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

First of all, you have to give Texas credit for doing what they did to the Oklahoma defense on Saturday morning. The Longhorns knew that OU was short a player in the middle of the defensive line and without their best linebacker. Unlike the Sooner offensive, the Texas game plan was designed specifically to attack their opponent's weakness and they did it with a great amount of success.

Particularly damaging to Oklahoma's defensive effort was their failure to make plays on first down. The Sooners just couldn't come up with plays that put Texas into zero or negative yards on first downs. By netting positive yards, the Longhorns were able to dictate the pace of the game and left the OU defense positively helpless, and hopeless, for the majority of the day.

First Quarter

1st and 10 at TEX 25

Daje Johnson rush for 9 yards to the Texas 34.

1st and 10 at TEX 37

Johnathan Gray rush for a loss of 1 yard to the Texas 36.

1st and 10 at TEX 50

Case McCoy pass complete to Kendall Sanders for 2 yards to the Okla 48.

1st and 10 at OKLA 31

Malcolm Brown rush for 2 yards to the Okla 29.

1st and 10 at OKLA 19

Johnathan Gray rush for 3 yards to the Okla 16.

Drive Result: Field Goal, 3-0

Setting the tone for the day, Texas goes nine yards on their first play from scrimmage. The Longhorns would run the ball a total of sixty times for 255 yards and chew up more than thirty-five minutes off the clock. The first drive attacked the heart of the Sooner defense, where Jordan Phillips was absent, and often found their running backs getting into the second level where linebacker Corey Nelson was noticeably absent.

1st and 10 at TEX 25

Johnathan Gray rush for 5 yards to the Texas 30.

1st and 10 at TEX 38

Case McCoy pass complete to Kendall Sanders for a loss of 2 yards to the Texas 36.

1st and 10 at OKLA 38

OKLAHOMA penalty 15 yard Roughing Passer on Eric Striker accepted, no play.

1st and 10 at OKLA 23

Joe Bergeron rush for 4 yards, fumbled, forced by Frank Shannon, recovered by Okla P.L. Lindley at the Okla 20.

Drive Result: Turnover, 3-3

With an answer drive on their first offensive possession, the Oklahoma defense out the Sooners in position to make some plays by recording the first takeaway of the game. Unfortunately Blake Bell would throw a pick six a few plays later and fully swing the momentum back towards Texas, but this second series was a win for the Sooner defense only because of the turnover. Look at what Texas did on first down here, 26 yards on the four plays, although fifteen of the yards did come on a questionable personal foul call.

Second Quarter

1st and 10 at TEX 19

Daje Johnson rush for a loss of 2 yards to the Texas 17.

1st and 10 at OKLA 42

Malcolm Brown rush for 11 yards to the Okla 31 for a 1ST down.

1st and 10 at OKLA 31

Malcolm Brown rush for 3 yards to the Okla 28.

Drive Result: Turnover on downs, 10-3

Oklahoma came out on top of this series thanks to some bad coaching decisions by Mack Brown and staff but the Longhorns still averaged four yards per first down play.

1st and 10 at TEX 27

Johnathan Gray rush for 4 yards to the Texas 31.

1st and 10 at TEX 42

Case McCoy pass incomplete to Jaxon Shipley.

Drive Result: Touchdown, 17-3

It was actually third down that would kill the Sooners on this drive. After putting Texas in a 3rd and 11 situation on their second set of downs, Case McCoy hit Marcus Johnson on a 59-yard touchdown strike. It was the first of two long touchdown passes by McCoy and both were set up because of what the Longhorns were able to do on the ground. The Sooners had to adjust their defense and as good as the secondary has been this year, they failed miserably a few times in man coverage on Saturday.

1st and 10 at TEX 47

Johnathan Gray rush for 3 yards to the 50 yard line.

1st and 10 at OKLA 38

Johnathan Gray rush for a loss of 1 yard to the Okla 39.

Drive Result: Field Goal, 20-3

Even when they win, they lose. Texas started with a short field here and despite the Sooner defense holding them to twenty yards on seven plays, but Anthony Fera still connected on a 50-yard field goal.

1st and 10 at TEX 33

Malcolm Brown rush for 4 yards to the Texas 37.

1st and 10 at TEX 50

Case McCoy pass complete to Jaxon Shipley for 18 yards to the Okla 32 for a 1ST down.

1st and 10 at OKLA 32

Incomplete pas

Drive Result: Field Goal, 23-10

This drive was a momentum killer. The Sooners get the game back to ten points and Texas answers with a field goal drive to end the half. McCoy's pass to Shiply on the second first down of the drive was the key play in this series.

Third Quarter

1st and 10 at TEX 25

Johnathan Gray rush for 1 yard to the Texas 26.

1st and 10 at TEX 35

Case McCoy pass incomplete.

Drive Result: Punt, 23-13

After getting a field goal on the opening drive of the second half the Oklahoma defense did exactly what they needed to do by forcing the first Texas punt. The first down snaps favored the Sooners here and it killed the drive. Unfortunately OU would end up punting the ball back to the Longhorns and Daje Johnson would return it 85-yards for a backbreaker score.

1st and 10 at TEX 30

Johnathan Gray rush for 1 yard to the Texas 31.

1st and 10 at TEX 40

Daje Johnson rush for 1 yard to the Texas 41.

1st and 10 at OKLA 49

Malcolm Brown rush for 4 yards to the Okla 45.

1st and 10 at OKLA 38

Case McCoy pass complete to Mike Davis for 38 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.

Drive Result: Touchdown, 36-13

Putting the final nail in the coffin, McCoy goes long for the second time on a first down play and he finds Mike Davis in one-on-one coverage. Again, this was directly attributed to what the Longhorns were able to do on the ground. In a reverse role of what was going on with the Sooner offense, Oklahoma was trying to force the quarterback to beat them and he did.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter was a clinic on what Oklahoma's offense had been late the games through the first five games of the season. This time is was the Sooners getting a heavy dose on the ground instead of giving it out. Texas just ran the ball straight down OU's throat and the Sooners couldn't do anything to stop it. The drives didn't result in any points but they ate the clock up. Texas controlled the ball for ten minutes and forty-five seconds of the fourth quarter to ice the game and they averaged 5.3 yards per first down play.

1st and 10 at TEX 34

Johnathan Gray rush for 4 yards to the Texas 38.

Drive Result: Punt, 36-13

1st and 10 at OKLA 41

Malcolm Brown rush for 3 yards to the Okla 38.

Drive Result: Interception Returned For Touchdown, 36-20

1st and 10 at TEX 25

Johnathan Gray rush for 5 yards to the Texas 30.

1st and 10 at TEX 36

Johnathan Gray rush for 8 yards to the Texas 44.

1st and 10 at TEX 48

Johnathan Gray rush for 2 yards to the 50 yard line.

Drive Result: Punt, 36-20

1st and 10 at TEX 26

Malcolm Brown rush for 6 yards to the Texas 32.

1st and 10 at TEX 37

Malcolm Brown rush for 8 yards to the Texas 45.

1st and 10 at TEX 50

Malcolm Brown rush for 7 yards to the Okla 43.

1st and 10 at OKLA 38

TEXAS penalty 5 yard Delay of Game accepted.

Drive Result: End Of Game

Position Grades

Defensive Line, F: Texas averaged 4.3 yards per carry and the Sooners recorded no quarterback sacks. The majority of the Longhorn run plays were right at the middle of the defensive line. Jonathan Gray ran for 123 yards on 29 carries and Malcolm Brown had 120 yards on 23 carries.

Linebackers, D+: Pass coverage was horrible with the linebackers but Eric Striker was able to get pressure on the quarterback and Dominique Alexander had a team high 19 tackles with Frank Shannon right behind him at 16. Still, the linebackers have to take their share of responsibility with the rushing stats.

Secondary, F: The defensive game plan relied heavily on Oklahoma's secondary picking up 1-on-1 coverage. This is where I remind you that Case McCoy completed 13/21 passes for 190 yards and two long touchdowns.

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