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Texas is back … in the Big 12 Championship hunt … and that's thanks to the freshman kicker Cameron Dicker of all people. Dicker scored a decisive 40-yard goal with just 14 seconds left to give the # 19 Longhorns a 48-45 Saturday win over Oklahoma No. 7 after a furious spurt of the Sooners late at the Red River Showdown.
The win proved much tighter than expected, but it's the beauty of the rivalry games. The Longhorns had a 45-24 lead in the fourth quarter, but wasted it by a series of conservative calls. For a minute it seemed like Texas could actually ruin everything.
However, Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who has been brilliant all day, had a last offensive attack in which he still has about 2 minutes 38 seconds to allow the Horns to reach the ball. This victory is the fifth time in a row for Texas on the season and the first on Oklahoma since 2015. Is the trend totally different in the Big 12? We will discover it during the rest of the season. In the meantime, here's what we learned from Saturday's thriller …
1. Texas is not yet "back", but it's the closest: Texas looked "back" at 45-24 early in the fourth quarter of the hour … and quickly destroyed 21 points in advance allowing Oklahoma to score three touchdowns in six minutes. It's not "back", but no matter, the win was the biggest under coach Tom Herman and could actually mark a real turning point for the program. Remember, it's been almost a decade since the Horns have national relevance like this.
As for the moment when we can officially announce that Texas is "back" and put the meme to bed for good, let's see how Texas moves forward. Herman has the knack for being a big underdog. He is now 10-4 in total and 13-1 against the spread in these situations. His record is much less exemplary as a favorite. And chances are Texas will be the favorite for its remaining games.
2. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger is the most confident he has ever been: The popular saying about Texas is that he was a competent quarterback after a win of 10 wins. Consider this hole filled. Ehlinger looked completely in command position with a total of 386 yards and five touchdowns. And while his statistics are excellent, his comfort at watching the scrimmage line dictating the game is equally impressive.
The crime of Texas is not complicated. His best concepts are to run Ehlinger in short distance situations while using the combination of Keaontay Ingram and Tre Watson out of the backfield. In the passing game, Ehlinger likes to go above Collin Johnson in individual cover or involve Lil 'Jordan Humphrey. They are beefy players who can train for huge winnings. Together, they combined to receive 214 yards and two touchdowns.
It took a while for the Longhorns to be consistent in the performance of their tasks, but they arrived at this point on Saturday. If Johnson was open at an angle, Ehlinger would come back to him later in the same room. If Ehlinger was unstoppable during quarterback sweeps, Texas performed it again and challenged Oklahoma to stop it. A game is not the subject of a trend, but if Texas has found itself, it will be difficult to stop the 12 Big 12 huge defenses.
3. The Oklahoma quarterback, Kyler Murray, is still a cheat code: Texas did a good job for most of the match, getting Murray to get in touch before the games had a chance to develop. But you will not prevent it from playing games for 60 minutes. Murray was a little more careless than usual with the ball – he had a bad interception in the first quarter and a fumble in the third quarter – but when he starts running, no one can catch him. Seriously: Watch the speed of this 67-yard touchdown. He is a rare talent and if professional baseball is his future, he is doing very well in football.
4. Mike Stoops, Oklahoma's defense coordinator, may be endangered: It has been a long time coming, but Oklahoma could go from Stoops forever – either now or at the end of the year. These are the types of games that send a coordinator. Oklahoma gave away just over 500 yards to 6.68 yards per game. What's more, the Sooners were utterly powerless to prevent Texas from doing the two or three things that it routinely did. The Longhorns have always known that they could use power with Ehlinger or knock Johnson in the center.
Unfortunately, a coach can not always do much in the middle of the match. Texas has a big advantage and no training was going to change that. However, a coach can compensate by making sure the players are in the right place to at least play. That did not happen either. Too often, Oklahoma defenders were out of position, losing their backs, taking bad angles and not tackling well. It made a difficult match even more difficult.
Oklahoma must solve big problems. Smaller defensive backs have been mistreated and this only changes by recruitment or transfer assistance / JUCO. But you must also work with what you have and Stoops' defense has not helped. The frustration with the long time DC built in the fanbase for a while. It could have been the critical point.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the day Saturday to update this story with the highlights and analysis of the Red River Showdown. Discover them below.
Thank you for being past.
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