Texas Survives Oklahoma, 16-13

NFL News - October 18th, 2009 - Written by John

What was supposed to be a blistering shootout between two of the nation's brightest quarterbacks, turned into a mistake-ridden knock-down, drag-out fight.

Colt McCoy continued his struggles when the Oklahoma defense spun his top with dozens of different coverages and blitz schemes. Sam Bradford was knocked out after only eight plays, putting the game into the hands of Landry Jones, the freshman quarterback who had captained the Sooners through the first three-and-a-half games. Jones simply made more mistakes than McCoy and Texas came away with the 16-13 win.

Both teams only had two combined touchdowns after last year's 45-35 shootout left fans dizzy. Instead it was a fight between field goal kickers and Texas' Hunter Lawrence simply got more opportunities, hitting the eventual game winner in the fourth quarter. It was the only attempt in the final 15 minutes.

McCoy finally threw a touchdown in the third on a quick pass to Marquise Goodwin. The receiver caught it, shook off an Oklahoma defender and walked into the end zone from five-yards out. It gave the Longhorns a 13-6 lead and plenty of momentum. That wouldn't last, though. On the ensuing drive, Jones finally took the Sooners on a scoring drive, taking his team 68 yards on six plays. The drive was capped off by a remarkable effort by Ryan Broyles, taking a screen pass at the 35-yard line and dodging tacklers down the sideline to find the end zone. Broyles had been hampered by a cracked shoulder, but showed no favor to it as he broke three tacklers and leaped past the pylon to score.

The Texas Longhorns only added the aforementioned field goal, but intercepted Jones twice to avoid blowing the lead. The first one was probably the most stunning, coming when Jones was simply trying to throw it out of bounds, but Aaron Williams lept and snagged it before sailing out. His next one, however, was unconscionable, slinging a bullet right into the arms of a Texas defender over the middle with three minutes left. With no timeouts remaining, the Oklahoma Sooners could only watch McCoy run down the clock and sat on the ball to end it.

“You’ve got to be confident in yourself and trust your teammates,” McCoy said of the narrow win. “`Let’s find a way to win.’ We did.”

They found a way because of their smothering defense that held the Sooners to minus-16 yards on 22 carries. McCoy had been searching for ways to impress the Heisman committee with lackluster performances early in the year, and didn't necessarily sizzle on Saturday, either. He was 21-for-39 for 127 yards and had two turnovers deep inside Oklahoma territory.

“I thought it was more like a fight," Texas head coach Mack Brown said. “It was tough, it was ugly.”

To discuss this and other NFL related stories be sure to check out our new forum at:
https://www.usaplayers.com/forums/