Three Keys to an Oklahoma victory in the Red River Rivalry
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Oklahoma is between a rock and hard place as it heads into one of college football’s marquee rivalry games.
It’s Texas week for the Oklahoma Sooners and the team couldn’t need a win more.
Brent Venables is no stranger to this game. He has been a part of it many times, but this will be his first as the head coach. He comes into the game with a team probably low on confidence, bruised and battered and not playing good football.
In his weekly press conference, Venables talked about Texas being four points away from being an undefeated team. He’s right. One of those losses was to Alabama in a game the Longhorns were a play or two away from winning. This team isn’t a slouch and with its health starting to look up, the game is going to be difficult for Oklahoma.
There’s a path for Oklahoma to win this game. How does Oklahoma get there? Here are three keys to victory.
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Keep Texas Guessing
Oklahoma’s national title hopes we’re dashed with its second straight loss. Maybe it was never a contender, but after the loss to TCU, it’s pretty much official. No team has ever made the College Football Playoff with two losses.
However, there’s an outside chance that a Big 12 title game appearance could happen.
It’s bleak but not nearly impossible. Oklahoma made it to the title game and won in 2020 after losing its first two conference games.
Oklahoma is playing with house money for the rest of the season, and it starts in their biggest rivalry game.
Be unpredictable. Rotate quarterbacks if need be. Toss out Nick Evers and use his legs a bit, run the trick plays, go for it on fourth down once you get to midfield, try an onside kick in the middle of the second quarter to try to steal a possession.
With the nature of the injuries and uncertainty at major spots on offense, there’s a slim chance Oklahoma just lines up and beats Texas playing by conventional standards. It will have to mix it up to have a shot. Texas doesn’t know who or what they are preparing for. A desperate team is a dangerous one.
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Simplify things
For at least a week, Oklahoma may need to simplify it’s defensive scheme. The coverage busts against TCU were egregious. There are no excuses for that.
Xavier Worthy is better than Quentin Johnston, and he may go for 250 yards on this secondary if it makes the same mistakes as last week. There’s also reason to believe there should be some shakeups in the lineup. Trey Morrison made some plays, and he probably needs more snaps.
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Feed the Running Game
Jovantae Barnes was the offensive MVP from last week’s game. He ran hard as RB2 behind Eric Gray. That duo plus whatever the Sooners get from Marcus Major, assuming he’s playing, is the driving force to a win on Saturday.
Wear down Texas with the running game much like the Sooners did last year with Kennedy Brooks. The offense may not operate at the same speed as they would with Dillon Gabriel, but a little tempo and some good performances on the ground would go a long way.
List
5 things the Sooners need to do to beat the Longhorns
List
Everything Brent Venables had to say in his Tuesday press conference
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