From the first drive Saturday inside Dallas’ Cotton Bowl, the college football rivalry that has rarely played to script again looked to be veering away from expectations.
Three plays into the annual Red River Rivalry, Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers threw an interception. First-ranked and undefeated Texas was on its back foot against Oklahoma, the team the Longhorns were expected to beat handily.
In previous years, when the higher-ranked team often left the Cotton Bowl attempting to understand how it had somehow lost, such a start would have portended an ominous end.
But not this year.
The Longhorns went on to beat the 18th-ranked Sooners, 34-3, by rarely making such mistakes again.
Late in the second quarter, leading 14-3, Texas forced fumbles on consecutive Oklahoma drives to lead 21-3 at the half.
For a Sooners offense that lacked a passing game and knew its margin for error was already slim, the turnovers before halftime effectively ended any threat and turned a rivalry whose history is rife with unexpected outcomes into a result that should shock nobody.
Playing his first game since returning from an oblique strain that sidelined him for two games, Ewers looked overwhelmed early, but ended with 199 passing yards, completing 20 of his 29 passes.
He threw for one touchdown and rushed for another. Texas (6-0) was further helped by Quintrevion Wisner’s 118 rushing yards, including a 43-yard touchdown run, and only five penalties.
The result made clear that Oklahoma (4-2) could again struggle under coach Brent Venables. Once a factory that produced Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterbacks, the Sooners entered Saturday with the 119th-ranked passing offense, and Michael Hawkins rarely threatened by completing 19 of his 30 passes. Oklahoma’s rushing attack also produced only 2.3 yards per carry.
Harder to discern is how much the Longhorns’ rout of Oklahoma revealed about the strength of Texas as a national-title contender.
This season, it has won by an average margin of 36.8 points, but whether that says more about the strength of Texas or the underwhelming nature of its schedule remains unclear. Its two best victories, on the road at Michigan and at a neutral site against Oklahoma, were impressive given the Longhorns’ level of control, yet came against teams that are considerably flawed.
Life in Texas’ previous conference, the Big 12, meant that beating Oklahoma was the toughest hurdle to reaching the conference title game. In the SEC, that’s no longer the case. Next week, the Longhorns host Georgia.
Beating the Sooners earned Texas bragging rights. The Bulldogs, however, will be a truer championship litmus test.