Golden: Texas' defense wilts at the end of thrilling 34-30 loss to dreaded Oklahoma

DALLAS — Texas was better on defense.

It’s where the Longhorns held the most experience.

Even during the spring and summer, the guys opposite the football held the advantage. They whooped up on the offense in practices. Gave them the business in the fall.

Shoot, many of these guys were on the field last season when Texas sent Oklahoma scurrying from the Cotton Bowl with a goose egg on its back side.

So when it came down to the biggest game of the Steve Sarkisian era, we knew, based on what our eyes had told us, that the defense would hold its water at the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma.

Until it didn’t.

The dam burst in horrific fashion.

“We didn’t play our best football today,” Sarkisian said.

In the coming weeks, we will look at Texas’ 34-30 loss as its best chance to take a stranglehold on the Big 12. We will also remember the day that Texas' best defense in more than a decade crumbled under the weight of expectations at the deft hand of a quality college quarterback at the peak of his powers.

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It took a year, but Dillon Gabriel finally plays against Texas

Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel opened and closed the game as the best player on the field. His decisive touchdown pass to wide receiver Nic Anderson sent a message that the Sooners are back playing the kind of football that dominated this conference for most of its history.

It also sent a message to Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski that the drawing board awaits. It's a good defense, but not great. There are problems on the back end in coverage and the vaunted pass rush was silent on the biggest day of the season.

As poor as the defense played for the 58 minutes and 45 seconds — and it was definitely subpar given the pace it set over the last five weeks — it still had a chance to walk off with a win with just one stop. The Sooners had zero timeouts remaining on their winning drive, and if ever there existed a time to empty the clip and bring your damndest, it was on that last drive.

More: Our staff takeaways from Texas' 34-30 loss to Oklahoma

This much ballyhooed defense that shut the door on Alabama, that shut out Wyoming in the second half, that overwhelmed Kansas from start to finish? It failed to close the show.

Texas' defense picked a bad day to struggle

After Bert Auburn’s field goal gave the Longhorns a 30-27 lead with 1:15 left, Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford gathered his teammates on the sideline and yelled, “Let’s get a stop!” while the Texas half of the packed bowl was going crazy. They could smell win No. 6.

“I knew they either had to kick a field goal or score a touchdown,” Ford said. “My mentality was, ‘Let’s go make a play.’”

Bohls: Sadly for Texas, the better team won Saturday at the Cotton Bowl

Somehow, Gabriel, a UCF lefty with the moxie of Kenny Stabler and the running ability of a young Steve Young, carved up the Horns for 75 yards in 60 seconds with a touchdown pass to Anderson serving as the dagger of daggers.

“In my head, I was thinking, ‘This is the moment you live for,’” said defensive back Jahdae Barron, who mentioned those countless practices working on two-minute drills. “We just didn’t execute.”

Most of us wondered how this defense would react to facing its first legitimately ranked team under the direction of an experienced quarterback. Rice’s JT Daniels is a journeyman at best. Alabama’s Jalen Milroe was making his third career start. Wyoming’s Evan Svoboda had never started a game.

Gabriel is a real dude who has been around. He’s the most accomplished signal caller in the league and did nothing to dispute that by leading the Sooners on a couple of long scoring drives in the first half. And then he saved his best for last by closing out his one and only Texas-Oklahoma game with the biggest touchdown pass of his career.

He was not only good, he was elite in a matchup with Texas’ Quinn Ewers, who threw it well in the last three quarters despite committing three turnovers.

“Our inability to corral the quarterback,” Sarkisian said in his early postgame comments. “His ability to scramble and create plays, it really hurt us in the second half.”

Dillon Gabriel's dream was Texas' nightmare

The no-huddle offense gave them problems all day and affected Texas’ substitution pattern, particularly with the big guys up front who have been running seven deep this season. Gabriel worked fast from behind center and showed zero panic on those occasions when the pass rush got close.

Sarkisian said the pass-rush lanes were poor, angle wise, which allowed Gabriel to step up in the pocket with the bullets flying around him. In a crowded pocket, he was still able to deliver accurate passes downfield as Texas defensive backs came up empty on gambles for interceptions.

Gabriel threw for 285 yards and ran for another 113, with 44 coming on a dash up the middle late in the fourth quarter. Gabriel walked out of the Cotton Bowl as an Oklahoma legend. He missed last season’s 49-0 loss with an injury, reducing the Sooners to a punchless run-first attack.

I’m not sure if one guy is worth 49 points, but he was surely worth 34, which was enough to get the Sooners a win over their hated rival and a spot atop the Big 12 standings.

“I’m proud of everyone coming together and controlling the chaos and dialing it in,” Gabriel said. “It’s something you dream about as a kid.”

Gabriel’s dream was Texas’ nightmare.

The season is far from over and history tells us the Horns and Sooners could meet again in the final Big 12 championship game played in this conference’s current alignment before they leave for the SEC.

But the Texas defense’s play on this day?

Absolute shocker.

Didn’t see that coming.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas defense failed to close the show at Cotton Bowl