No. 20 Oklahoma Sooners vs. No. 3 Texas Longhorns
The game of the weekend in college football, as it usually is this time of year, is the Red River Rivalry in Dallas between Oklahoma and Texas.
Certainly Saturday’s game has much more meaning for Texas and probably the Big 12 as a whole. Why? Because the Sooners, with two losses already, aren’t going to be an at-large BCS bowl team. But they still can win the Big 12 South and get a big-money bowl berth that way. Texas, on the other hand, is realistically the only Big 12 team left with national title hopes. But a loss Saturday means the Horns would then lose the key head-to-head tiebreaker with OU.
UT is a 3-point betting favorite for the game on WagerWeb.com.
Despite having the 2008 Heisman winner in Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and possibly the 2009 favorite in Texas’ Colt McCoy, this could be a low-scoring game with both teams having defenses ranked in the top 10 nationally. But I would also caution you to look at both clubs’ non-conference schedules. The Sooners lost by a total of two points to ranked teams BYU and Miami and crushed a Tulsa team that nearly upset Boise State. Texas’ best opponent thus far has been Texas Tech, and the Horns haven’t even played a BCS non-conference opponent yet, much less a ranked team.
Saturday will determine whether McCoy wins the Heisman, no question. He has thrown for 1,410 yards and 10 touchdowns, and his completion percentage, while down from last season’s NCAA-record 77 percent, is still an NCAA-leading 73 percent. But people seem to think he hasn’t had that good of a year. Texas’s offense has been sluggish at times, with the Horns managing just one offensive touchdown in the first half against Wyoming and Colorado, and a single field goal against Texas Tech. Frankly, the best all-around threat on UT might be WR Jordan Shipley, who has caught 47 passes, three for touchdowns, and returned two punts for scores. UT’s special teams have accounted for four TDs so far, while the OU unit hasn’t allowed a single big play in special teams.
One concern for the Horns is that the team’s top two rushers were injured in last week’s 38-14 victory over Colorado. Vondrell McGee (258 yards, two TDs) dinged his left shoulder. Tré Newton (203 yards, three TDs) emerged with a concussion. Fozzie Whittaker, who missed the first three games with an injury himself, might get the start. He has just five carries for 50 yards this season. The Horns had only 46 yards rushing against Colorado last week, and that won’t cut it against the Sooners.
Meanwhile, top Sooners WR Ryan Broyles, who has missed basically the past two games with an injury, is likely to return earlier than expected and start Saturday. He and Bradford have been on the field for only about a half this year. Broyles is tied for the FBS lead in touchdown catches with seven. He also leads the Sooners in receiving yardage.
Both teams enter the game ranked for the 33rd time since the poll began in 1936 with Oklahoma holding a 16-13-3 edge. Texas has entered the game ranked in the Top Five 25 times and has gone 18-6-1 in those matchups. UT is looking to win its fourth Red River Rivalry in the last five years.
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