Initial thoughts from Texas’ 49-0 Red River Showdown win over Oklahoma

Well, that was fun.

Much like last year, the Texas Longhorns jumped all over the Oklahoma Sooner early, but this time around, they never let up.

Here’s a few initial thoughts from Texas’ 49-0 Red River Showdown win over Oklahoma.

Texas was truly all gas, no brakes today. Maybe for the first time in the Steve Sarkisian era, the Longhorns completely buried an opponent, and did so on a big stage in the Red River Showdown. Texas struck first, then again, and again, and again, and next thing you know, the Horns were in complete command at the half, owning a 28-0 lead. But, of course, the collapse last season lingered in your mind a bit, but only for a short bit. Texas added another 14 points to their lead in the third quarter before deploying the backups, which continued to produce, scoring again in the fourth to put Texas on top, 49-0. The result? The first Red River shutout for the Longhorns since beating the Sooners 19-0 in 1965.

Maybe Texas, with Quinn Ewers, is really good. The last time we saw Ewers, he and the Longhorns were making easy work of Alabama’s defense, and there’s a pretty convincing case to be made that Texas entered the RRS undefeated if he remained healthy. And now, in his first action back from the clavicle sprain, Ewers picked up right where he left off, making things look effortless, completing 21-of-31 attempts for 289 yards and four scores with one pick. By the time his day was done. By the time his day was done, Texas was feasting on the Sooners to the tune of a 49-0 lead in the fourth quarter.

Ja’Tavion Sanders is quickly becoming one of the better tight ends in college football. And not to mention, one of Ewers’ favorite targets. Sanders has now enjoyed three straight gamed with five receptions, and four overall for the season if you include his six-catch, 85-yard showing against Louisiana Monroe. Now having snagged two touchdowns in back to back games, Sanders is up to a team-high five touchdowns on the year, in addition to 25 catches for 283 yards. In his first year as a starter, he’s become a major factor, and his impact will likely only increase as he continues to develop.

(Golden) hats off to the Texas defense. On one hand, Oklahoma’s offense isn’t the world-beaters we’re used to them being, but holding OU to just 39 passing yards — no matter if it was with a backup QB — and two interceptions is insane. On the ground, OU managed just 156 yards on 3.7 yards per carry, so all told, OU couldn’t even produce 200 yards today. That’s all credit to the Longhorns defense. There were a few breaks here and there, but overall, they were disciplined, aggressive, swarming, etc. Texas wins this game with offense alone, but the defense more than did its part, and finishes with its first shutout since beating Rice 58-0 last season.

OU sucks. Not just in the joking, rivalry way, but this team is legitimately bad. There was next to no creativity offensively — the only semblances were the early wildcat packages and those felt like desperation more than anything — which is mind-boggling given recent years under Lincoln Riley. On the other side, Brent Venables defense was absolutely bullied and completely out-schemed. Top to bottom, it just looked like a terrible team. But hey, you know the saying — OU sucks.