Red River Letdown: Sooners Get Mauled

By Owen Pannell | KZA Sports

Well, that did not go the way we wanted. Texas simply dominated us in the 2nd half, and we did not deserve to win. The season is NOT over, however. While it hurts to lose Red River, in this era of college football, one loss is not a death sentence. But before we get into the rest of the year, let’s take a look at what went wrong.

Key Takeaways

- Mateer was not ready

He claims his pain was not a problem, and that might be true, but after not playing for an extended period of time he was clearly not ready to play this game. Mentally, he made multiple very bad mistakes, and he had far too many inaccurate throws. This was the worst possible performance he could have had. The only positive is that he certainly does not want this to be his mark left on this rivalry. This might entice him to return next year.

- Jaydn Ott is done for

After missing a block then dropping a pass on back-to-back plays, we didn’t see Ott again. He’s just unplayable at this point and the coaching staff needs to cut their losses and just keep him off the field.

- Defense did their part

They gave up 13 points in the 2nd half (20 if you count the PR TD), but we should have won the game with their performance. We had the lead at halftime solely because of them, but the offense just could not do anything. A wasted performance from this defense.

- Arch played perfectly

This isn’t about the Sooners, but I’m going to tip my hat to Arch Manning. I’ve been making fun of him all year, but he did exactly what he needed to do to win this game. No mistakes, just ran the offense efficiently. I thought we would be able to make him have an awful game, but we couldn’t.

- No run game, no success

If we don’t figure this run game out, we will end up with a 6 or 7 win team. Blaylock and Robinson might be the duo to get it done, but it honestly starts with the offensive line, and especially the tight ends. The TEs couldn’t block without holding to save their life, and the OL was just not creating holes. We MUST get it figured out if the Sooners are going to make a playoff appearance.

Best Players

- RB Xavier Robinson

He doesn’t look great in the box score, but I like what he did overall. Both the run and pass blocking were solid. He might be the guy to be the #2 back.

- WR Deion Burks

You could tell he really wanted this one. He was good on Saturday, with 5 catches for 64 yards. It sucks that he’ll end up 0-2 vs Texas though.

- DE Taylor Wein

Taylor Wein was GREAT in the Cotton Bowl, his best performance as a Sooner in my opinion. 3 TFL’s that were huge, sad to waste this.

- CTH Kendal Daniels

Daniels was very good in his first Red River, 6 tackles and 2 TFL’s. He was fun to watch.

- DE R Mason Thomas

Generating our only sack of the day, R Mason could have had a better game, but he certainly wasn’t the reason we lost.

- CB Courtland Guillory

He didn’t play a ton, but I liked what I saw from Guillory. He had a nice pass breakup, and didn’t allow any catches if I’m not mistaken

- K Tate Sandell

Scored our only points of the day, Sandell continues to be elite. This is the best I’ve felt about a kicker since Gabe Brkic.

Positives

- Motivation

The only positive I’m taking from this game, this is certainly going to be motivation for the players and coaching staff until next time we play Texas. They don’t have time to worry about it now, but hopefully they’ll be motivated to fix their problems fast. This is a very talented team, and it cannot go to waste. Plus, all offseason you know they’re going to be thinking about this. Back to back embarrassments in the Cotton Bowl is unacceptable.

Negatives

- No run game

30 attempts for 48 yards. That is one of the worst statlines I’ve ever seen. This has to be fixed, or we’re going to have a very long year.

- Mateer

I’m certainly doubting Mateer more than I was a week ago. He’s out of the Heisman race no question, but is he good enough to get us to 10 wins with this schedule? 

- No turnovers

This team still can’t find a way to force a turnover. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again, turnovers are CRUCIAL to winning big games. We can’t expect to be successful losing the turnover battle every game.

This loss hurts, but we can’t let it ruin the rest of our season. We must put it behind us, fix our mistakes and move on. This is a great team who will do great things.

Well, that did not go the way we wanted. Texas simply dominated us in the 2nd half, and we did not deserve to win. The season is NOT over, while it hurts to lose Red River, in this era of college football, 1 loss is not a death sentence. But before we get into the rest of the year, let’s take a look at what went wrong.

Key Takeaways

- Mateer was not ready

He claims his pain was not a problem, and that might be true, but after not playing for an extended period of time he was clearly not ready to play this game. Mentally he made multiple very bad mistakes, and he had far too many inaccurate throws. This was the worst possible performance he could have had. The only positive, he certainly does not want this to be his mark left on this rivalry. This might entice him to return next year.

- Jaydn Ott is done for

After missing a block then dropping a pass on back to back plays, we didn’t see Ott again. He’s just unplayable at this point, and the coaching staff needs to cut their losses and just keep him off the field.

- Defense did their part

They gave up 13 points in the 2nd half (20 if you count the PR TD), but we should have won the game with their performance. We had the lead at halftime solely because of them, but the offense just could not do anything. A wasted performance from this defense.

- Arch played perfectly

This isn’t about the Sooners, but I’m going to tip my hat to Arch Manning. I’ve been making fun of him all year, but he did exactly what he needed to do to win this game. No mistakes, just ran the offense efficiently. I thought we would be able to make him have an awful game, but we couldn’t.

- No run game, no success

If we don’t figure this run game out, we will end up with a 6 or 7 win team. Blaylock and Robinson might be the duo to get it done, but it honestly starts with the offensive line, and especially the tight ends. The TEs couldn’t block without holding to save their life, and the OL was just not creating holes. We MUST get it figured out if the Sooners are going to make a playoff appearance.

Best Players

- RB Xavier Robinson

He doesn’t look great in the box score, but I like what he did overall. Run game, pass game, blocking were all solid. He might be the guy to be the #2 back.

- WR Deion Burks

You could tell he really wanted this one. He was good on Saturday, with 5 catches for 64 yards. It sucks that he’ll end up 0-2 vs Texas though.

- DE Taylor Wein

Taylor Wein was GREAT in the Cotton Bowl, his best performance as a Sooner in my opinion. 3 TFL’s that were huge, sad to waste this.

- CTH Kendal Daniels

Daniels was very good in his first Red River, 6 tackles and 2 TFL’s. He was fun to watch.

- DE R Mason Thomas

Generating our only sack of the day, R Mason could have had a better game, but he certainly wasn’t the reason we lost.

- CB Courtland Guillory

He didn’t play a ton, but I liked what I saw from Guillory. He had a nice pass breakup, and didn’t allow any catches if I’m not mistaken.

- K Tate Sandell

Scored our only points of the day, Sandell continues to be elite. This is the best I’ve felt about a kicker since Gabe Brkic.

Positives

- Motivation

The only positive I’m taking from this game, this is certainly going to be motivation for the players and coaching staff until next time we play Texas. They don’t have time to worry about it now, but hopefully they’ll be motivated to fix their problems fast. This is a very talented team, and it cannot go to waste. Plus, all offseason you know they’re going to be thinking about this. Back to back embarrassments in the Cotton Bowl is unacceptable.

Negatives

- No run game

30 attempts for 48 yards. That is one of the worst statlines I’ve ever seen. This has to be fixed, or we’re going to have a very long year.

- Mateer

I’m certainly doubting Mateer more than I was a week ago. He’s out of the Heisman race no question, but is he good enough to get us to 10 wins with this schedule? 

- No turnovers

This team still can’t find a way to force a turnover. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again, turnovers are CRUCIAL to winning big games. We can’t expect to be successful losing the turnover battle every game.

This loss hurts, but we can’t let it ruin the rest of our season. We must put it behind us, fix our mistakes and move on. This is a great team who will do great things.

You can find Owen Pannell on X here.

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