The Oklahoma Sooners remained unbeaten with an incredible 34-30 win over the Texas Longhorns, the No. 4 team in the nation.
After everything that happened in this game a year ago, Oklahoma exorcised the demons and seized control of the race for the Big 12 title game and College Football Playoffs.
The Longhorns started with the ball, and on the second play of the game, Quinn Ewers was intercepted by Gentry Williams. It was Williams’ third interception of the season.
A few plays later, Dillon Gabriel ran it in as the Sooners took the 7-0 lead.
On the following possession, Texas showed early aggression, with a successful fake punt and picking up a key fourth down. The drive came up empty though when Kendel Dolby picked off Quinn Ewers in the end zone.
Unfortunately, the Sooners wouldn’t go anywhere with the possession, and Texas blocked the punt and recovered it for a touchdown to tie the game.
The game slowed down a bit after that, but the Sooners took a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. On that drive, the Sooners benefitted from a roughing the kicker penalty, which gave the Sooners a fresh set of downs. Gabriel connected with Jalil Farooq on a deep ball before Zach Schmit hit the first of his two field goals in the game.
Ewers led a methodical drive and capped it with a touchdown pass on fourth down that put the Longhorns up 14-10.
The Sooners came right back. Gabriel led a great drive capped with a 1-yard touchdown run by Tawee Walker to make it 17-14 with nearly 5:30 left in the half.
Ewers and Texas responded with another great drive after a deep shot to Worthy. But the Sooners’ defense forced a field goal to tie it at 17.
On the final drive of the first half, the Sooners responded with a great drive. Tawee Walker dropped a sure touchdown with seconds left before half, and the Sooners were forced to settle for a field goal and a 20-17 lead into halftime.
The Sooners outgained the Longhorns, 245-228, in the first half.
The Sooners started the third quarter with the ball and finally had an Austin Stogner sighting. He had two huge catches on a drive that was capped with a 1-yard touchdown by Walker.
The Sooners forced a fumble by Ewers, but the offense couldn’t capitalize. After a punt, Texas put together a nice drive and ended it with a field goal to make it 27-20.
Texas started the fourth quarter on the Sooners’ 34 yard line after a couple of nice runs. Texas earned a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. The Sooners stopped the Horns on three straight runs and on fourth down, Billy Bowman stuffed Xavier Worthy at the one-yard line to keep the Longhorns from tying the game.
Backed up into their own end zone, Gabriel broke loose for a long run to set the Sooners up in Longhorns territory, but Oklahoma couldn’t cash in. Zach Schmit, kicking into the win, had his 45-yard field goal attempt come up short.
Texas marched right down the field and tied it on a long run with 6:10 left in the game. After a Sooners three and out, Texas took the ball into Sooners territory, and Bert Auburn put Texas ahead with his third field goal of the game.
With 1:17 left in the game, Gabriel put the Sooners on his back, going 4-for-4 58 yards. He made big throw after big throw before finding Nic Anderson in the back of the end zone with 15 seconds left to put the Sooners up 34-30.
Texas had one more shot at the end of the game but their Hail Mary fell short and the Oklahoma Sooners pulled off the incredible upset victory.
Gabriel was phenomenal in the win, completing 61% of his passes for 285 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball 14 times for 133 yards and a score.
Jalil Farooq was also fantastic in the effort, with five receptions for 130 yards. He carried the ball three times for 13 yards and also had 37 yards on returns.
Defensively, Ethan Downs had a great game with two sacks. Jaren Kanak led the defense with 13 total tackles and a sack. Billy Bowman had 11 total tackles and a pass breakup. He was huge in run support for the Sooners, who held Texas to just 3.9 yards per carry in the game.
It was a huge win for a Sooners team that struggled for a lot of the second half after their opening drive. But when the team needed to come up with a drive, Dillon Gabriel and the Sooners came up clutch to win the game.
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