No. 1 Texas Longhorns shake off slow start to rout Red River rival Oklahoma

Texas Longhorns started slow in the Red River Rivalry, but settled down to rout their Red River Rival Oklahoma Sooners 34-3

In the end, the 2024 version of the Red River Rivalry wasn’t even close. Quinn Ewers and the Texas Longhorns used a 21-point explosion to rout their northern rivals 34-3.

Ewers, returning from an oblique injury that sidelined him for two and a half games, looked rusty in the first quarter. An overthrow on the first drive was intercepted by OU’s Billy Bowman Jr. Another overthrow on the second drive led to a punt. The Horns then went three-and-out on the third drive of the game. The Sooners had great field position after all three failed Texas drives, but could only score three points.

Those three points would be all Oklahoma would score all day.

After the OU field goal, the Longhorns took over at the beginning of the second quarter. Ewers would hit DeAndre Moore Jr. for 26-yards and Gunnar Helm for 21-yards to move Texas into the red zone. Ewers then found Helm again for a 7-yard TD pass to take a 7-3 lead.

Turns out that’s all the Texas defense would need.

Texas would score again on a 36-yard run by Quintrevion Wisner, who fumbled into the endzone. The ball was recovered by Silas Bolden to give Texas a 14-7 lead.

The Longhorns defense would force a Michael Hawkins Jr. fumble on the next Oklahoma series. Wisner would score on the next play on a dazzling 43-yard run. The Horns D would force another fumble on the next Sooners possession, this time by Taylor Tatum. The fumbled was originally called down, but was overturned on video review.

Texas took a 21-3 lead to the locker room at halftime and the game seemed out of reach for Oklahoma, whose offense looked anemic all day. Two Bert Auburn field goals and a Ewers one-yard TD run in the fourth quarter sealed the blowout.

Hawkins, who was the first true freshman to ever start against Texas, went 16 of 24 for 120 yards. He rushed 20 times for 27 yards. He was sacked five times. The Sooners could only muster 225 total yards on offense.

Ewers finished 20 of 29 for 199 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and 1 rushing TD. Wisner rushed for 118 yards on 13 carries and a TD.