Texas Longhorns shock Oklahoma Sooners in Red River Rivalry 36-20

Oct 12, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns defensive tackle Chris Whaley (96) celebrates scoring a touchdown on an interception return with defensive tackle Malcom Brown (90) in the first quarter of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners during the Red River Rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The last time the Texas Longhorns were able to put away the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry was in 2009, with a team quarterbacked by Colt McCoy. Today is was embattled little brother Case’s turn to see if he can replicate his brother’s success, something that virtually no one in the realm of the college football world gave him the chance to do.

Well, we were all wrong.

McCoy, who was not sacked once today by that vaunted Oklahoma defense, put on about as good of a performance as you could’ve asked for in Texas’ 36-20 shocking victory over Oklahoma. McCoy was 31-of-21 for 190 yards and two scores. In stark contrast to his sub-par performance last week in the narrow victory over Iowa State, McCoy made smart plays throughout the game, and was able to get the ball to his playmakers, such as this third quarter, perfectly thrown TD pass to Mike Davis (h/t SB Nation):

That’s pretty much how the entire afternoon went for the Longhorns. They dominated in virtually every facet of this game. In addition to the play of McCoy and the wideouts, the Longhorns’ rushing game absolutely shredded the OU defense. Both Johnathan Gray (29 carries, 123 yards) and Malcolm Brown (23-120) had amazing days finding holes in the Sooners defensive front and exploiting them.

In all, the Texas offense racked up a total of 444 yards, and were a fairly decent 13-20 on third-down conversions.

Now the Oklahoma offense, on the other hand, was as big of a problem as their lackluster performance on defense.

Blake Bell, who seemed to be the answer at QB the last few weeks, was harassed all game. Bell finished the day 12-of-26 for 132 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a score by Texas DL Chris Whaley.

As opposed to the success of their rival, Oklahoma was an abysmal 2-12 on third-down conversions, and their offense was held to just 263 total yards.

Now, the questions will begin.

Coming in, it seemed like the perfect storm. Oklahoma would trounce Texas, and all of the Mack Brown drama could finally be put to rest as he would almost certainly be relieved of his head coaching duties, whether it was at the end of the game or the Texas administration would just let Mack play out his final season.

Instead, Texas is still firmly in the driver’s seat to capture the Big 12, a goal Mack continually pointed to as being the ultimate prize after the ‘Horns fell to 1-2 to begin the year. They still have some huge matchups coming up against the likes of Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Baylor, but if today was any indication, maybe Mack wasn’t as crazy to make that claim of winning the conference as we all thought he was.

What also can’t be overlooked amid all of the Texas drama is the fact that Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, yet again, dropped another game that he was firmly expected to display his team’s dominance in. He certainly made some questionable decisions, especially in the first half, when he pretty much put the use of the zone-read offense in his back pocket to save it for–well, God only knows, but it was the type of offense that best utilized Bell’s talents, yet it was barely used.

Before the season, most said–including myself–that the Big 12 would be the most wide-open conference in 2013, with no clear-cut favorite in sight.

Today, we learned that the path to the light at the end of the tunnel in the Big 12 is about the size of the Grand Canyon.