Having an 8-10 record is not something to gloat about. Although the season looks somewhat bleak for OU, it’s no worse than the catastrophe down in Austin. Oklahoma looks to recover from their heart-wrenching loss to the Cyclones with a victory over their arch-rival.
How to watch
Oklahoma will be crossing the Red River into Austin to take on Texas, and will be televised on ESPN. Tip-off is at 8:00 PM CT, which is the same time you can revisit this thread to make your comments below.
Disappointing seasons
Coming into the season, the Sooners were picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Conference, while the Longhorns were predicted to end up in third place. Obviously Sooner fans are disappointed with the drop-off from last season, but the expectations were also lower for this team than the Longhorns. UT is currently in last place in the Big 12 with only one conference win so far. Oklahoma is only one spot behind where they were projected to finish, sitting in seventh place after winning two of their last three matchups.
The Longhorns lack a win against a ranked opponent this season and have lost to No. 10 West Virginia, No. 6 Baylor and No. 2 Kansas in their past three games. Facing an unranked OU squad will be a nice break for UT, but they are also currently on a five-game losing skid. Perhaps the best win for Texas is against an 11-8 Oklahoma State team, and their worst losses (we couldn't limit it to one) are to UT-Arlington, Kent State and Colorado. Since winning their first three games in a row, UT has not won more than one game in a row all season. Yeah. It's been bad.
Blown leads
With the return of Jordan Woodard, it appeared that OU may move past the issue of blowing leads. However, even Woodard's presence is not enough to prevent the inevitable. Oklahoma launched out the gates against Iowa State, building a dominant 28-9 lead with 7:54 to go in the half. Oklahoma scored only one more point the entire half and entered halftime losing to Iowa State by one. This seemed oddly similar to OU's first loss of the season, when they gave away an 18-point lead in the second half to Northern Iowa. According to Kegan Reneau via Twitter, the Sooners have had leads in 15 of their 18 games in the second half, including seven out of their ten losses. This pattern is clearly not a good one to develop. Fortunately, OU is facing Texas and not a more intimidating opponent.
The History
Although the Longhorns own the advantage in football with a 45-61-5 record over the Sooners, OU traditionally has the upper hand on the basketball court. OU is 53-36 against UT, with Kruger's record at OU being 6-4. Of the four losses in the Kruger era, three of them occurred in Austin. This does not bode well with the fact that Oklahoma is 18-20 when traveling to Austin, as well. The last time both schools faced each other while unranked was back on January 4th, 2014, with OU coming out on top 88-85. Texas’ best winning streak is six games, while Oklahoma's best is nine games. The last matchup between these two occurred in Austin and resulted in No. 25 UT upending a No. 3 OU squad, 76-63.
Prediction
Despite the meltdown on Saturday, the Sooners are not the same team they were during their losing streak. If OU plays up to its potential, it could be a good night in Austin for the Sooners.
Oklahoma 82, Texas 75
Loading comments...