Despite the rough start for both Oklahoma and Texas this season, this weekend’s Red River Showdown is still one of the most highly-anticipated games on the Big 12 calendar.
The Sooners and Longhorns have obviously provided loads of classic games over the many decades of the rivalry, but the recent Lincoln Riley-Tom Herman iterations have exclusively been tight, competitive games to the end.
Since they both took over as head coach of their respective programs prior to the 2017 season, Riley has won three of the four matchups with Herman, but the average margin of victory of the winner has been less than seven points.
Herman met with Big 12 media this morning on a teleconference and then the media at Texas to discuss his team’s struggles early in the season as well as look ahead to the Longhorns’ matchup with Oklahoma on Saturday.
Here is what Texas’ head coach had to say about the Sooners.
SPENCER RATTLER
“Yeah, I’m really really impressed for a guy that you know is just taking over the starting role, he’s got a great command of the offense. Can make plays with his feet, phenomenal thrower of the football, very quick release, very accurate, strong arm can throw from multiple different arm angles. So kind of the total package, if you will.”
ON ALTERED OU-TEXAS ATMOSPHERE
“I don’t know how it will look just because I nobody’s ever seen it done it before a neutral site game I know. And we’ve had one road game and two home games thus far. And I know our home games they feel like a home game. You know in the road game felt like a road game in it actually got loud in Lubbock with all the music prompts, the scoreboards on, you know, the fans that are in the stands cheering. So how that translates to a neutral site? I’m not quite sure Jim and probably the thing I will miss the most is the the drive right the bus ride through the crowd through the state fair into the stadium. You know that is again what makes this rivalry so special. It’s not just two interstate rivals. It’s two interstate rivals that that happen to play every year at one of the most historic venues in our nation, and during the Texas State Fair so that that’ll be I’m sure what what I miss the most.”
ON OKLAHOMA’S OFFENSE
“I have always been fascinated by by Oklahoma’s offense. I think Coach Riley does a phenomenal job. You know, I go back to the year that they had Mark Andrews and Dimitri Flowers and everybody looks at the quarterback in that offense. But I think what people forget is they spent pretty much the entire year in 12 personnel with Mark Andrews and Dimitri Flowers and they were able to use Mark Andrews and flex him out very similar to what you saw Iowa State be in, 12, sometimes, 13 personnel and give defenses formations that are usually reserved for 10 and 11 personnel. And so it really causes defenses fits when you know you have to play in a nickel personnel group because of all the space when they do flex out. But you know, the very next snap they can compress it into and create a heavy formation that gives you problems as well and so I think, you know, when Coach Riley and that offense are going well, they’ve always been able to do that really only play with two wide receivers and that’s all they really play with and have the last few years at least that that we played them. And they have a true tight end slash flex tight end like Austin Stogner like Mark Andrews before him and more of the fullback in the core tight end like Dimitri Flowers and like the young men they have right now and so poses a lot of challenges, because of the different formations they can get in.”
DEFENDING OKLAHOMA’S OFFENSE:
“Well they’ve been averaging about 44 points a game for the last four years so I don’t know that if there is anybody’s figured it out just yet. So no, it’s difficult. It really is Danny but you know, we’ve played them well in our three games in the Cotton Bowl defensively, and I would expect us to do the same this year.”
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