Instant Analysis: Texas-Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Sooners, ranked No. 1 in the nation entering this classic collision in the Cotton Bowl, did not play poorly in the latest rousing rendition of the Red River Rivalry. Piling up 35 points and showing their speed, the Sooners proved themselves to be a solid football team. They simply ran into a superior squad from Austin, led by a conquering kid named Colt McCoy.

In the state of Texas, fewer mythical figures carry more weight in the popular imagination than the cowboy, the gunslinger who rides into town and, with the enemy posing a formidable threat to the peace and well-being of the community, fires his trusty six-shooter with uncanny accuracy, picking off bad guys from all angles in rapid-fire succession to enable justice to prevail. John Wayne and Clint Eastwood made this figure famous in the world of cinema. Saturday afternoon in Dallas, an even better real-life sniper made the state of Texas—and its flagship football program—his very own.

Colt McCoy. The name is Texas through and through, and the game is the best in college football right now. Forced to come back time and again in the face of five Sooner touchdowns, McCoy—who spent most of this day on the run and behind on the scoreboard—refused to flinch in the midst of the mayhem. His cool head and rifle arm carried No. 5 Texas to a tremendous triumph over the team that will no longer occupy the top spot in the national rankings… or, for that matter, the Big 12 South standings.

Yes, Brian Orakpo led a resurgent defensive line for the Longhorns, who buckled down in the fourth quarter to stymie Sam Bradford when the game’s outcome hung in the balance. Yes, receivers like Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley were able to smoke the Sooner secondary in ways that past Texas receivers couldn’t do in the early part of this decade, when the Crimson and Cream ran roughshod over the Horns. Yes, Chris Ogbonnaya provided the running attack that Oklahoma could never muster in this Dallas duel. Texas did receive a resourceful effort from a number of performers who all chipped in to make a difference in this slaying of the Sooners.

With all that having been said, however, the key to this game wore a fat number 12 on his back. Colt McCoy scored his second win over Oklahoma—and increased his place in the pantheon of Texas-sized Longhorn legends—by playing the quarterback position as well as humanly possible. Running with a swiftness that Bradford—his quality counterpart—lacked, and throwing lasers into small openings in numerous third-down situations, McCoy provided production under pressure in every imaginable circumstance, but particularly when his team trailed.

Because Bradford wasn’t exactly chopped liver in this game, the Sooners’ offense—controlled just enough by Texas in the game’s final, fateful quarter—still moved the ball with considerable ease for most of the day. OU’s potency enabled the Sons of Stoops to gain 7-0, 14-3, 21-10, 28-20, and 35-30 leads. The uphill fighting fell to Texas in a contest where the Sooners set the pace early on.

The record will show, then, that McCoy—with the sole exception of Texas’s first touchdown, on a kickoff return--brought his team back after the Longhorns fell behind in each of those instances. His peerless performance was amazing enough in its own right; that McCoy could deliver the goods, however, while constantly facing a scoreboard deficit is the element of his effort that towers above the rest. The kid named Colt matched the magnitude of the man-making motivational moments that stared him down in Dallas. That’s why Texas will face Missouri next Saturday with its national championship aspirations still very much intact.