Welcome to the SEC, Red River Rivalry. You’ll fit in well.
The first SEC edition of the Red River Rivalry might not have been a thriller, but it was still plenty entertaining to watch the Longhorns look the part of a No. 1 team. The No. 1 Longhorns bounced back after last year’s loss by taking care of No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3.
Here are 3 takeaways from Texas’ convincing victory:
1. Texas is the class of the SEC and all of college football
Once Quinn Ewers shook off some injury rust and settled in — that slow start included 3 empty drives to start the game with an interception to Billy Bowman on a sailed pass to Isaiah Bond — it was all Longhorns. A 44-yard play to Ryan Wingo on 3rd and 6 was what helped break open a 7-3 Texas lead. On the next play, Tre Wisner fumbled as he was approaching the end zone, but Silas Bolden hustled downfield and recovered it in the end zone for a Texas touchdown.
From there, that was all she wrote.
Ewers got the redemption he sought after his 3-turnover game last year in Texas’ loss to OU. Just as he was in Ewers’ last full game at Michigan, Gunnar Helm was dominant, as was the aforementioned Wisner, who finished with a career-high 118 rushing yards.
Steve Sarkisian’s offense might’ve been the star of the show, but the Texas defense did what it couldn’t do last year. That is, frustrate an Oklahoma quarterback.
Speaking of that …
2. Therein lie the limitations of the Michael Hawkins Jr.-led Oklahoma offense
With all due respect to Hawkins, but he was in a brutal spot on Saturday. With the top 5 OU receivers out with injury, the first Oklahoma true freshman quarterback to ever start against Texas showed his inexperience. Anthony Hill Jr. and the Texas defense swarmed Hawkins, who didn’t have a 20-yard completion. Hawkins took 5 sacks for an offense that wasn’t nearly good enough to operate behind the sticks.
It was interesting that even though Hawkins fumbled twice, Brent Venables didn’t opt to bring on Jackson Arnold. The latter was benched before halftime for a relatively similar showing in the loss against Tennessee to start SEC play. Venables is clearly committed to Hawkins, especially with Oklahoma so banged up at the pass-catcher spots.
As promising as Venables’ defense looked early on, it was evident on Saturday that Oklahoma will have an awfully difficult time maintaining 12-team Playoff relevance with such a passing game.
3. Texas now gets the ultimate opportunity to move into the SEC driver’s seat
You want the respect of the SEC, Texas? Go become the first non-Alabama team to beat Georgia in 4 years.
For what it’s worth, Texas should already have the SEC’s respect. A Playoff berth that included a win against Alabama should’ve earned that, but nonetheless, the No. 1 team in America now has even more control than it had entering the week. You know, like when it was the last remaining undefeated team in the SEC.
Twelve-team Playoff pushback, be damned. The Georgia-Texas showdown will have massive expectations.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
