Should Oklahoma be nervous heading into the Red River Rivalry? Joel Klatt thinks so
The Oklahoma Sooners are off to a 5-0 start to the 2023 college football season. Across the board, you can see improvement from this team compared to last year’s team.
But the Sooners schedule is one of the weaker ones in college football to this point. So, there’s a lot we still don’t know about both offensively and defensively.
This weekend the Sooners take on the Texas Longhorns who are No. 4 in the nation and beat the Sooners 49-0 last season. Texas also has a win on the road over the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Because of all of that Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt said on his show, The Joel Klatt Show, Oklahoma should be nervous heading into this weekend.
I don’t know what (the Sooners) are upfront on the offensive line, which is a dangerous place to be against a Texas team that owned Alabama at the line of scrimmage, in particular in that game with a couple of sacks in the fourth quarter. So they better buckle up because Texas is physical. They’re balanced. That’s why I’m nervous for OU. – Klatt
But it’s not just upfront. Klatt feels Oklahoma can’t take advantage of the weaknesses of Texas in the secondary. He went on to say he feels Gabriel holds OU back a little bit because his strength isn’t throwing the deep ball.
Combine that with a much improved Texas team as well and Klatt doesn’t feel too confident in the Sooners.
This is a team that beat Oklahoma 49-0 last year. Handed it to ’em. I understand Dillon Gabriel wasn’t on the field, but he doesn’t make up 49 points and the version of Texas that you’re about to see in the Cotton Bowl is better than what you saw last year. -Klatt
Gabriel doesn’t make up 49 points. But anyone who watched that game knows that score isn’t indicative of both teams last season. That’s a game that’s probably a 45-35 type of game if Gabriel is healthy.
This season both teams have improved so the keys will be who improved more and who shows it on the field.
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