Sooners vs Shorthorns

[kcstorm06]

My take for Saturday
QB - pretty even Gabriel and Ewers, but give a slight edge to Gabriel.
WR - slight edge to Sooners group
RB - Shorthorns the edge
TE - Sanders is hurt (game status unknown)
Shorthorns still have the edge.
OL - Shorthorns a substantial edge, but Sooners line starting to get act together.
DL - Shorthorns again the clear edge.
LB - Sooners the edge
DB - Sooners the slight edge
K - both kickers suck
P - Shorthorns edge

My prediction Sooners 36 Shorthorns 31

 

[OUSOONER67]

I think the Defense is improved enough to keep them at half their total last yr and if the O line can make some holes and keep the pressure at bay in the passing game I will say OU 31 whorns 24.

 

[LVPack]

I agree with that list for the most part, but I would give Texas the edge at WR.

I think this game is a coin-flip, and I also think that these two teams will play each other twice this season, with each going 1-1.

 

[OUSOONER67]

 

[ellishorn]

My take for Saturday
QB - pretty even Gabriel and Ewers, but give a slight edge to Gabriel.
WR - slight edge to Sooners group
RB - Shorthorns the edge
TE - Sanders is hurt (game status unknown)
Shorthorns still have the edge.
OL - Shorthorns a substantial edge, but Sooners line starting to get act together.
DL - Shorthorns again the clear edge.
LB - Sooners the edge
DB - Sooners the slight edge
K - both kickers suck
P - Shorthorns edge

My prediction Sooners 36 Shorthorns 31

WR is a clear edge for Texas.
Ewers is also an edge over Gabriel. Ewers has played against better defenses and there is a big edge for QB's who have played in the Red River Rivalry before. This will be Gabriel's first RRR.

 

[iasooner2000]

No he started, played and was injured in last year’s RRR

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

I think OUr worry should be whorns defense. Imo. Lebby and Bedenbaugh will have to shine in this one. Dillon will have to continue to play mistake free and OUr dline needs to disrupt more than ever in this one. This just might be the game that wakes up the monster. 😁

 

[ellishorn]

No he started, played and was injured in last year’s RRR

Who Gabriel? He did not play a single snap in last year's 49-0 RRR. He warmed up a little pre-game. Then came out in street clothes. His injury was a concussion from the previous week vs. TCU.

 

[ShreveportSooner]

This is not a normal game. Some of you just do not understand. The best team often loses by a lot. There is just something different in this one that causes this, but the phenomenon is definitely real.

 

[OUSOONER67]

No he started, played and was injured in last year’s RRR

He was in Concussion Protocol after TCU game. He was warming up on sidelines in Dallas but it was a game time decision, he was without his pads when game kicked off. Never saw the field.

 

[iasooner2000]

My mistake, in this one instance you are correct apparently

 

[Mario74]

Keeping it real : Unless we come with an effective run game or some big turnovers , the Longhorns will probably win this by 7 to 10 points , which would still be palatable considering their edge over the sooners in the DL and OL and RB/TE departments.
From what i saw against Iowa state, the OL is still evolving but cannot beat teams with the run game at this stage. My worry is that Texas may rush with only 3 or 4 and load the backfield and try to pick passes from Dillon.
I have no worry that our defense will play hard and limit Ewers passing and the rushing attack. But if the offense cannot stay on the field the defense will tire at the end.
Either way expecting a great outing and we may be a better team at the end of the season playing them again in the Big12 Championship game.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

Keeping it real : Unless we come with an effective run game or some big turnovers , the Longhorns will probably win this by 7 to 10 points , which would still be palatable considering their edge over the sooners in the DL and OL and RB/TE departments.
From what i saw against Iowa state, the OL is still evolving but cannot beat teams with the run game at this stage. My worry is that Texas may rush with only 3 or 4 and load the backfield and try to pick passes from Dillon.
I have no worry that our defense will play hard and limit Ewers passing and the rushing attack. But if the offense cannot stay on the field the defense will tire at the end.
Either way expecting a great outing and we may be a better team at the end of the season playing them again in the Big12 Championship game.

Whorns d will be a test. I expect OUr d tests ewers. Way I see it brother. Defense wins this one,

BOOMER!

 

[8085sooner]

The 1st team to run for 100 yards almost always wins this game. We will need turnovers and a great passing attack to win this one. Texass Oline isn't that great, better at running then we are but I give OU the edge on pass protection. There starters on Dline get the edge but I think we have better depth. Now the back 7 will have to take better angles then they did the 1st half against ISU. ISU did a great job at staying away from Stutsman and I'm sure texass noticed.

Momentum, turnovers and running the ball, are the keys to this game but as others have posted. I'm fine going 11-1 with the last BigXII championship staying north of the river.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

The 1st team to run for 100 yards almost always wins this game. We will need turnovers and a great passing attack to win this one. Texass Oline isn't that great, better at running then we are but I give OU the edge on pass protection. There starters on Dline get the edge but I think we have better depth. Now the back 7 will have to take better angles then they did the 1st half against ISU. ISU did a great job at staying away from Stutsman and I'm sure texass noticed.

Momentum, turnovers and running the ball, are the keys to this game but as others have posted. I'm fine going 11-1 with the last BigXII championship staying north of the river.

I want this shootout.

 

[ShamWowed]

My take for Saturday
QB - pretty even Gabriel and Ewers, but give a slight edge to Gabriel.
WR - slight edge to Sooners group
RB - Shorthorns the edge
TE - Sanders is hurt (game status unknown)
Shorthorns still have the edge.
OL - Shorthorns a substantial edge, but Sooners line starting to get act together.
DL - Shorthorns again the clear edge.
LB - Sooners the edge
DB - Sooners the slight edge
K - both kickers suck
P - Shorthorns edge

My prediction Sooners 36 Shorthorns 31

"OL - Shorthorns a substantial edge, but Sooners line starting to get act together.
DL - Shorthorns again the clear edge."

The game is won in the trenches. I think I have heard that hundreds of times. Traditionally, he who runs the ball the best, wins in this game. We shall see, but I, an admitted pessimist, do not think we pull this one off.

I hope I am wrong.

 

[Soonerborn59]

I agree with that list for the most part, but I would give Texas the edge at WR.

I think this game is a coin-flip, and I also think that these two teams will play each other twice this season, with each going 1-1.

No doubt this game will be a coin flip. Then again most years it always is no matter the records. If OU goes 1-1 against Texas then I would much rather see that win come in the B12 title game as it would likely knock UT out of the playoffs.

With that being said I’ll stick with my original pick of 27-17 OU as I think the D will have the game of their life. The streak of not winning back to back seasons against OU extends to 13 years.

 

[LVPack]

One of the things I've been guilty of, and I think a lot of people on here have as well, is basing this year's prediction solely on the tremendous improvement that OU has made since last year. However, I would point out that Texas was unranked and sitting at 3-2 going into the RRR last year. Their current team would beat their team from last year pretty handily also.

I have no doubt that if this OU team could go back in time and take the field against last year's Texas team, then OU would win the game. I'm not so sure about the likelihood of that against this year's Texas team.

 

[CTOkie]

Even with a 5-0 record there is still more improvement to be made for this year’s team. No opponent so far has not been a top drawer team so the 2023 team for me is an enigma.
Whatever happens on Saturday, I will still remain sold on the future of this team and Coach Venables.

 

[JConXtsy]

Does anybody have cajones anymore? We're going to beat the doors off of Texass.

 

[OUSOONER67]

Does anybody have cajones anymore? We're going to beat the doors off of Texass.

Amen! I hear "we may lose Sat but maybe we can beat them if we both make the big12CG." Eff that!
We will just have to beat them twice in that scenario.

I like how this game sets up. All the pressure is on texas, ranked #3, potential CFPO berth at stake, 49-0 last year, OU is not supposed to win yada yada yada.
Tuck Fexas, lets beat the brakes off their sorry tails, twice if need be.

 

[JConXtsy]

Exactly. Big, bad, scary Texas that's also had a snoozer of a season so far - Rice, Alabama (bad year), Wyoming, Baylor, and Kansas. Alabama struggled against South Florida and Ole Miss.

Gabriel vs Ewers (Yds/Comp/Td/Int): 1593/75/15/2 vs 1358/66/10/1
WRs:
Total (Avg)
Sooners Anthony 387 (17.6)
Texas Worth 345 (13.3)
Texas Mitchell 321 (14.6)
Sooners Farooq 285 (19.0)
Sooners Anderson 279 (27.9)
Sooners Stoops 203 (8.1)
Sooners Gibson 159 (26.5)
Texas Whittington 142 (11.8)

Stoops is as much our RB as we struggle to many yards up the middle without Tawee Walker (what's up with him?).

The steers are about to get rocked.

 

[LVPack]

Alabama struggled against South Florida and Ole Miss.

No question they struggled against South Florida. As for Ole Miss, I'll cut them some slack. They're currently ranked #15 and Alabama beat them by 14 points. They were only favored by 7.

 

[JConXtsy]

No question they struggled against South Florida. As for Ole Miss, I'll cut them some slack. They're currently ranked #15 and Alabama beat them by 14 points. They were only favored by 7.

The SEC is in a down year. This year is ripe for someone outside of the SEC to snatch the title.

 

[iasooner2000]

No titles for the b1g hopefully

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

No titles for the b1g hopefully

The ducks are looking mighty tough.

 

[22LR]

This is interesting. OU is slightly favored (5:38am Wed).

Oklahoma 34-30 Texas (Oct 7, 2023) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns NCAAF game, final score 34-30, from October 7, 2023 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[Soonerborn59]

From what I understand Teddy said this was shown to the OU players yesterday. Everyone has an opinion but TicToc is full of Wannabe sports experts

 

[LVPack]

This is interesting. OU is slightly favored (5:38am Wed).

Oklahoma 34-30 Texas (Oct 7, 2023) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns NCAAF game, final score 34-30, from October 7, 2023 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

Texas is favored by 6.5 points.

That's the "ESPN analytic bar", which is often the butt of many jokes. Once the game starts, it will change after every play, with a moving graph that fluctuates with each team's chance of winning the game.

 

[22LR]

Texas is favored by 6.5 points.

That's the "ESPN analytic bar", which is often the butt of many jokes. Once the game starts, it will change after every play, with a moving graph that fluctuates with each team's chance of winning the game.

So 90% of the money picking Texas moving the line to 6.5 is a better indicator? lol

 

[LVPack]

So 90% of the money picking Texas moving the line to 6.5 is a better indicator? lol

The opening line was Texas -5, and yes, it's a better indicator than the "ESPN analytic bar", which if you've followed it over time is a joke.

I'm not saying Texas is going to win, I'm just pointing out the irrelevance of the "ESPN analytic bar".

 

[veritas59]

We will need some things to go our way to beat these guys. I hope we can keep it within two touchdowns.

 

[coeSooner81]

October. 7th, 2000 #12 Sooners led by a left-handed QB under 2nd year head coach put a whoopin on Texas.
October 7th, 2023 #12 Sooners led by a left-handed QB under 2nd year head coach ............................................

 

[iasooner2000]

Red October II

 

[Tic-Toc-Tic-Toc]

TicToc is full of…

Hey now.

 

[bcsoonerfan]

My take:

This game is either a toss-up or one team finds out that they're further away than they thought.

The defense We've seen for 4 and a half quarters needs to show up and then some. Worthy is slippery. We know that. But AD Mitchell could be a problem. Ewers looks better but most everything has been easy. We need to get pressure and get him confused. Turnovers are going to be huge.

Offensively, I think we're best served keeping it simple and just executing. Don't make Gabriel have to do too much. Get the ball in the hands of Anthony, Farooq and Anderson vertically, not horizontal. The running game is going to struggle but we can't abandon it. Substitute some with quick strikes with Stoops.

Texas is going to move the ball but if we can tighten up and force them to kick a few FGs we'll be right there. I do think they're ahead of us as the more complete team but I don't think it's a significant gap. If they get to 30+ though I don't like our chances.

 

[Plainosooner]

I could be way off base here, but I found BV's presser Tuesday to be interesting. Towards the end, he volunteered the info about what effect it might have on the team if they lost the game. I was pretty surprised at the answer including that. My gut is that as tough as it might be to beat Texas in the RRR this season, it would be doubly tough to beat them twic.e. My hunch is that BV might know that. This time.

I don't think we'll win, and I don't expect it to be close this time. On a pick the game score on another site, I ruefully picked the Horns by 18. I'd love to be wrong. We'll see. I think they'll make OUr running game look as bad it's been this season, and we'll be in too many third and sevens or more. We'll compete close to equally in a half, but they will widen the margin after halftime, and kind of pull away.

Saturday is about a lot of things. I believe the biggest revelation will be how Jeff Lebby calls the game. If he's brilliant, we have a chance, but he hasn't looked brilliant to me in 18 previous games. Against the best defense he has faced as an OC at OU, it would be a surprise if it showed up, now.

 

[trademarcs]

More of the same against good teams. Lack of a run game puts all the pressure on DG…..which he doesnt handle well. Lebby again calls head scratching plays that make no sense, and the Texas run game succeeds well enough to open decent passing lanes. Lack of consistant pressure on Ewers spells more than enough trouble. I hate it……but Horns by 21

 

[Phaeded]

Good impartial breakdown of OU by a Horn - individual breakdowns really show who should be sitting. I'd play low center of gravity Tawnee Walker (best ypc) at RB because he can get the tough yard and let's face it - we haven't broke a long run and its not going to happen Saturday; so get what we can get with compact Walker when we're keeping UT honest. Also didn't realize how poor Gabriel was on the intermediate pass (I'll chalk that up to being shortish and angling up over the LOS - things "sail"); we need to roll out or max protect and heave it down field more often in this game, as safety is the Horns' D weak spot per this piece:

 

[CTOkie]

Good read, Phaeded.
I still don't know why Barnes and Sawchuk haven't produced the way they did against Florida State.....or why they haven't played very much so far. I know there were injuries before the season and I reckon they may not be fully healthy....although Sawchuk looks close to being fully recovered.
Walker has done a decent job and Major has had a few good runs, but this offense doesn't look as good as it did in the bowl game.
I believe it may be that the offensive line hasn't really gelled yet and there's not a solid TE/H-back like Willis.
Plus, Gabriel is throwing to 6 new receivers this year in Gibson, Bunkley-Shelton, Pettaway, Thompson, Anderson and Freeman.
Gabriel is an inch taller than Kyler Murray, so I don't put much into him being too short. His supporting cast just to get better and it is talented enough to do so.