Bohls: Texas' C game with moments of brilliance wasn't enough to get past Oklahoma
While I got ya, here are nine things and one crazy prediction:
Red River rewind
1. OU rewind: Texas and Oklahoma are two damn good teams and two legitimate top 10 teams. But the Longhorns overall brought their C game, not their A game, with three turnovers, zero takeaways, five sacks allowed, poor performance in the red zone on both sides of the ball, some unkind whistles, defensive breakdowns and bad luck. And they still almost won. That’s what Longhorn Nation should focus on. And Texas was down two starting offensive linemen and its best cornerback and played with an injured dynamic tight end. … If these two teams played 10 times, I’m betting they’d split ’em with five wins apiece. … Loved Steve Sarkisian’s even-keeled attitude on Monday. “If that’s our worst,” he said, “we’re going to be OK.” Oklahoma deserved to win, but Texas could have won despite all manner of mistakes including so-so to bad defense and some iffy clock management at the end. The SEC knows now what it’s getting next year. That was one of the most entertaining and thrilling Texas-OU games ever. … I still do not understand the soft prevent defense Texas used, which prevented absolutely nothing on Oklahoma’s final, winning drive. OU was the more aggressive team for most of the game. Dillon Gabriel took the Sooners downfield with ease. A deciding drive should not be that easy. That was embarrassing. … I also don’t get why defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski didn’t use freshman linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. more to spy on the very mobile and slippery Sooners quarterback, especially on the last drive. This is a big reason why Sarkisian should allow his million-dollar coordinators to talk to the media after games instead of making his 18-to-21-year-old players answer tough, critical questions. Not fair to the players. … Hill needs to be more involved off the edge. He had the Longhorns’ only sack and really just chased him out of bounds. In addition, that’s Texas’ lone sack in the last two games and a disappointing 14 in six games. Where in the heck is edge rusher Barryn Sorrell, whom Sarkisian raved about all August? He has just one sack, his only tackle for a loss all year, and only three quarterback hurries. That’s not nearly enough. Ethan Burke has been noticeably quiet of late, too. Texas’ three edge rushers, including Justice Finkley, have only four sacks in six games. There’s not a single Longhorn in the top 76 nationally ranked players in the sacks department. … I have the utmost respect for David Gbenda, the senior linebacker who publicly accepted responsibility for giving up the winning touchdown. That’s a real man speaking. Sarkisian also said he and his staff need to coach better. He is correct. … Why wasn’t taunting called on OU when Ethan Downs stood over Ewers after a sack and barked at him in plain view? Did you see in the five games with Big 12 officiating crews where only two holding penalties have been called against Texas’ opponents all year long (one accepted against Kansas, and one declined against OU) and only one pass interference call against Baylor. An SEC crew whistled Alabama for two holding penalties and a pair of pass interference infractions. Just saying. … For me, Jonathon Brooks is the leader in the clubhouse for the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the nation. This guy is such a stud. I would prefer Texas use him even more and let CJ Baxter heal. … Sarkisian has to fix the red zone problem that has cropped up, and he brought it up Monday. The Longhorns have scored just 11 touchdowns in the opponents’ 20-yard line and rank 64th nationally. And defense allowed OU six scores in six red-zone penetrations.
More: Golden: As the bye week starts, Texas' margin for CFP error is now down to zero
Red River rewind, part II
2. When at first you don’t succeed: Try a pop pass. Or a bootleg. Or an RPO. Or a throw into the end zone, not at the 1 or 2. Anything but the four plays Sarkisian chose when Oklahoma’s defense controlled the interior, was the more physical team and denied Texas a huge touchdown on four tries from the OU 1. This is a toughness issue. Not an indictment on the Longhorns overall but on that one series. Sarkisian disagreed with me, saying, “I don’t think it was toughness at all.” In fairness, the offensive line was down two starters in the sidelined Cole Hutson and center Jake Majors, who went out on the fourth offensive play of the game, and third-string center Connor Robertson played respectably in his first extended action. … Wasn’t Sarkisian’s most creative moment, and he openly dissected it Monday. “That sucked,” he said, adding he wishes he’d have called the fourth-down pass to Xavier Worthy on third down. “Call it stubborn or whatever, but I went back to (Brooks) on third.” But what was creative was the fake punt and run by Jordan Whittington for a first down, the touchdown play to backup tight end Gunnar Helm with Whittington in motion and Savion Red’s pass to Helm for 25 yards, to name a few. I’d still like to see the bulkier Maalik Murphy do the quarterback sneak from under center. … Quinn Ewers didn’t get enough credit for his resilient performance. After throwing two picks in his first 11 snaps, he completed 29-of-32 for 340 yards, many of them under much duress. That’s spectacular. … Asked about his interior offensive line, which has come under fire from some, Sarkisian said, “They’re doing fine. DJ (Campbell) is doing really well. Hayden Conner was not 100%. The bye week will be good for him. I feel very comfortable with Jake. Across the board we’re fine.” … Texas was also very unlucky, given Ewers’s second interception on the ball that ricocheted off Ja’Tavion Sanders. … I ranked Texas No. 8 on my Associated Press Top 25 ballot, but I saw that the coaches in the AFCA Poll have the Longhorns at No. 11 behind Alabama, which they beat. That’s ridiculous.
More: Bohls: In the end, Oklahoma was just the better team in 34-30 win over Texas
Go for two. Please.
3. Making the right decisions: Arizona’s Jedd Fisch was the most recent violator of Common Sense 101 when he declined to go for two points and the win after the first overtime of the Wildcats’ three-overtime scare of USC. Fisch needed one play to register one of the biggest upsets of the year in college football and he chose not to, only to lose eventually. You play for a prolonged game against the reigning Heisman Trophy winner? This is my biggest pet peeve in college football. … For the record, USC has a one-score win over an unranked team, a three-overtime home win over unranked Arizona and four other victories over teams that are a collective 3-19. Not impressive. … The SEC’s Greg Sankey had never attended a Texas-OU game until Saturday, even if Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark was nowhere to be seen. If Texas and OU play for the title, will Sankey present the trophy? … Sankey said no release of next year’s SEC dates has been set, but he did say the Texas-OU game played in the day during the State Fair is a “healthy environment.” It ain’t broken and he knows it. Keep it right where it is. And while we’re at it, can we play Texas A&M-Texas on Thanksgiving week, too? Hey, the SEC has gone out of its way to say it is restoring rivalries, not killing them. Are you listening, Big Ten? The new, expanded SEC will renew Aggies-Longhorns and Razorbacks-Longhorns and retain Texas-OU.
It's all about the money
4. NIL moves: Did you see the state of Georgia has joined 33 other local athletic associations that are allowing NIL endorsement deals without risk of losing eligibility? Florida is also considering such a proposal. What could go wrong? Just seems fraught with risk. What happens when the players make more than the head coach or his assistants? This is high school, remember. The state of Texas does not allow high school athletes to profit from NIL. At least not yet. … Also on the NIL front, Utah’s Crimson Collective gave all 85 of its scholarship football players a leased Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, which retails for about $60,000. The players forfeit the car when their eligibility ends or if they transfer to another school. … Texas Tech’s injured quarterback, Tyler Shough, and his golden retriever Murphy are promoting Wagbnb, a boarding and dog daycare service in Lubbock.
More: Plenty of injured Longhorns on the mend as No. 9 Texas enters its bye week
A day well spent
5. Class in session: Cedric Golden and I had a fantastic time visiting Michael MacCambridge’s UT Communications class last Thursday, a class that includes Longhorns power forward Aaliyah Moore, who says she’s healthy and raring to go. We all had lively discussion on topics like NIL, realignment, head injuries for soccer players, transgender athletes, offensive team nicknames and media relationships with the players and coaches we cover.
Horns on the links
6. Good golf: Texas golfer Farah O’Keefe was tabbed the Big 12 women’s golfer of the month after her pair of top-five finishes. In her very first collegiate event, O’Keefe finished in a tie for fifth at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate in a field that included nine teams ranked in the top 13 of the WGCA coaches poll. Then she was the runner-up at the Windy City Classic with 16 birdies and a finish of 9-under par for the seventh best 54-hole score in program history. Oh, and she’s a psychology major. That can’t hurt. … The Coody brothers will both be playing on the PGA Tour next season after earning their cards. Well done.
He had a purdy good night
7. Mr. Very Relevant: Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant in the 2021 NFL draft. The very last pick. So does that mean NFL scouting is also irrelevant? That’d be a stretch, but it does show that picking a great quarterback can be something of a crapshoot. For me, it’s all about accuracy. A quarterback has that, or he doesn’t. Some like the late Mike Leach always insisted accuracy cannot be taught, and I agree with that. Purdy’s 49ers have scored on their opening drives in all five games this year. He’s also my starting fantasy quarterback.
Looking for Cap
8. Scattershooting: While wondering whatever happened to 1973 Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti, who was moved from defensive back to running back at Penn State and scored 29 touchdowns in two seasons.
Meanwhile, from the greatest seat in the world ...
9. On the couch: If you haven’t caught the four-part “Beckham” series on David and Victoria Beckham on Netflix, you might want to check it out. You think American fans and media are tough on sports figures? You won’t believe the level of hate displayed toward the soccer phenom by the English press and fans who abused him for years for getting DQ-ed from a World Cup game against Argentina. He was hung in effigy. His family received death threats. The tabloids were merciless. He got abused, bullied, spat on for a year. Very revealing. Gave it 8 ducks.
It'll happen Sooner or later
Crazy prediction: Oklahoma will lose two games this regular season.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Despite breakdowns, turnovers, injuries, Texas nearly pulled off win
