Red River revenge: Oklahoma shocks Texas with late touchdown, makes up for 2022 blowout

DALLAS — For a little while on Saturday, Texas fans thought that they would spill onto the state fairgrounds to celebrate with Corny Dogs, a variety of fried concoctions and beer. All of that ended up being comfort food for the Longhorns.

Dillon Gabriel's 3-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds left to Nic Anderson lifted No. 12 Oklahoma to a dramatic 34-30 win over No. 3 Texas at the Cotton Bowl. Anderson's game winner came after Bert Auburn's 45-yard field goal had given the Longhorns a short-lived 30-27 lead with 77 seconds remaining.

Texas (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) suffered its first loss. Season goals of the Big 12 championship and even an appearance in the College Football Playoff remain a possibility for the Longhorns, but they first must recover from their Red River Rivalry loss to a team that it beat 49-0 last year.

"We've got to take it one game at a time moving forward now," UT coach Steve Sarkisian said. "Proud of the guys, proud of the way they battled and competed, but we need to play better football if we want to be the team that I know we're capable of being."

More: Our staff takeaways from Texas' loss to Oklahoma

Technically, Texas and Oklahoma played for 60 minutes. They combined to run 159 plays. The first 20 plays and six minutes, though, were something.

After being intercepted once over his first five games and 147 pass attempts, Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers had two of his first six passes caught by Sooners. Texas' Jordan Whittington ran for 20 yards on a fake punt, and sophomore Savion Red threw a 25-yard pass after he lined up as a wildcat quarterback on a fourth-and-1 play. Texas also lost starting center Jake Majors to a leg injury during that span.

The score after those six minutes? Texas 7, Oklahoma 7. The Sooners scored on a 9-yard run by Gabriel, who missed the 2022 game with an injury. Texas got its first points when Malik Muhammad recovered a blocked punt by Kitan Crawford in the end zone.

En route to taking a 20-17 lead into halftime, Oklahoma kicked short field goals on the third and last plays of the second quarter. The Sooners also got a 1-yard touchdown run from Tawee Walker in the quarter. Meanwhile, Texas added points in the second session with Auburn's 25-yard field goal and Gunnar Helm's 22-yard touchdown catch.

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For Helm, that touchdown was a first for the third-year tight end. It was also recorded on a fourth-and-1 attempt as he wandered undetected through the Oklahoma secondary. Earlier in the game, Helm was the recipient of Red's fourth-down pass. Helm entered the weekend with three catches for 51 yards this season. He picked up 47 yards on those two fourth-down receptions.

Oklahoma extended its lead to 10 points in the third quarter after Walker's 1-yard run capped a 13-play, 75-yard drive to open the second half. Texas cut the lead to 27-20 with a 45-yard field goal near the end of the quarter.

Texas opened the fourth with the football on the Oklahoma 34, and a big catch by Whittington eventually moved the Longhorns within a yard of a tie game. But Jonathon Brooks, who had been averaging 6.4 yards per carry, was stuffed on three straight rushing attempts.

On fourth-and-2, UT called for a quick slant to Xavier Worthy. The receiver caught the football but was tackled short of the goal line by former Texas commit Billy Bowman. The ruling that Worthy failed to score was confirmed by a video review, and a Texas team that had two interceptions and a lost fumble gave the ball back to the Sooners.

Oklahoma had a chance to put Texas away on its next drive, but the Sooners missed a 45-yard field goal. Texas responded with a five-play drive and Brooks tied the game with 6:10 left on a 29-yard touchdown run. The next time that Texas touched the football, Auburn ended that drive with a 45-yard field goal.

Auburn's kick left 77 seconds on the clock. That was more than enough time for the Sooners.

Aided by 11-, 16- and 28-yard completions from Gabriel and a pass interference that was called on defensive back Terrance Brooks, Oklahoma, which did not have any timeouts left, moved from its 25-yard line to the Texas 6 in just four plays. After Gabriel picked up three yards on a run, Oklahoma dialed up the game-winning pass.

On that play, Texas safety Jerrin Thompson was left alone on an island that had two Sooners on it. He came up to cover OU tight end Austin Stogner, which left Anderson alone behind him in the back left corner.

"When we kicked the field goal, in my head, I'm like this is the moment you live for," UT defensive back Jahdae Barron said. "We do the two-minute drill all the time (in practice), so (Sarkisian) put us in a position for this time right here and we just didn't execute when we were supposed to."

Texas ran three plays in the final 15 seconds. After moving Texas to OU's 44-yard line, Ewers was able to heave one last prayer toward the end zone. That ball, though, was batted down and Oklahoma (6-0, 3-0) celebrated its Red River revenge.

Texas won't be able to quickly wash the taste of Saturday's loss out of its mouth. It's on a bye week. The Longhorns will return Oct. 21 with a trip to Houston.

"I expect us to get back on the horse," Sarkisian said. "We've got we got a locker room full of competitors. This is a tight-knit group. I'm super proud of them for what they bring every single day. I'm proud of them today. So we'll go one game at a time. I think this locker room is full of champions and our goal is to go win a championship this year. So, we got to go handle our business."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football lost for the first time this season in 34-30 loss to OU