Red River shutout: Texas blanks reeling Oklahoma in dominating fashion

DALLAS — For the Texas Longhorns, there were many forms of alliteration to describe Saturday's obliteration.

The Red River rout. A Red River romp, if you will. Perhaps fans of both the Longhorns and the English language would prefer a Red River ravaging or a Red River revelation. Maybe the Red River return or perhaps some Red River revenge.

Or you can just call it a 49-0 victory for the Longhorns.

Behind the return of quarterback Quinn Ewers, Texas secured the Golden Hat and recorded its first win over Oklahoma since 2018. It was UT's most lopsided victory in this 118-year series, bypassing 33-point triumphs in 1941 and 2005. The Longhorns hadn't shut out the Sooners since 1965.

"In the end, we played a really complete football game," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "I felt like all three phases guys executed, executed at a high level. And the result was the result."

Saturday's game was the first in 28 days for Ewers, who suffered a sprained clavicle near the end of the first quarter against Alabama on Sept. 10.

In the wake of Ewers' injury, Sarkisian refused to give a timeline for his quarterback's return or give tangible updates about his health. Ewers warmed up ahead of the UTSA game the following week but didn't play. He traveled to Lubbock for the Texas Tech game but was a bystander. He was designated as available for last week's win over West Virginia, but Hudson Card played the whole way.

On Saturday, it was time.

If there were any concerns about rust for Ewers, they were quickly laid to rest. Texas went three-and-out on its opening drive but then scored touchdowns on its next three. Over those three possessions, Ewers went 12-for-14 for 177 yards and threw touchdown passes to Xavier Worthy and Keilan Robinson. He directed two touchdown drives of at least 90 yards.

"I thought we found good rhythm after the first drive," Sarkisian said. "From that moment on, I thought we had good rhythm offensively. I thought the run game set up a lot of the things we were doing in the pass game."

More: Our staff takeaways from Texas' 49-0 win over Oklahoma

Ewers threw another touchdown pass — a 24-yard hookup with tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders — before the halftime show began. He finished the game with 289 passing yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity (Sarkisian) gave me," said Ewers, a product of nearby Southlake Carroll who said he was told by Sarkisian on Thursday afternoon that he'd get the start. "To finally play in this game is really exciting for me. Growing up a fan, I always wanted to play in this one, so it's pretty special."

As Texas built its 28-0 halftime lead, an Oklahoma team that was averaging 37 points per game struggled to keep pace without injured quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Several Sooners, ranging from tight end Brayden Willis to backup quarterback Davis Beville, ended up taking snaps. The Sooners were able to move the ball on runs out of their Wildcat formation, but running back Eric Gray threw an interception inside Texas' 20-yard line and the Longhorns earlier had stuffed OU's fourth-and-2 run at UT's 9. Both Jahdae Barron and D'Shawn Jamison had interceptions.

The Sooners managed just 24 total yards of offense in the second half.

More:Bohls: Coaching hot seats are getting hotter faster than ever, hurting college football

"Credit to the coaches. They told us early on in the week, they were going to write the script, we had to make the movie," UT linebacker DeMarvion Overshown said. "They put us in a position to execute."

Joining Ewers among the statistical standouts was wide receiver Jordan Whittington (five catches, 97 yards) and Sanders (five catches, 71 yards, two touchdowns). Defensively, both Jaylan Ford and Jerrin Thompson logged seven tackles to lead the team.

And then there was Bijan Robinson.

The third-year running back was a popular man on the fairgrounds. Before the game, fans of all ages were spotted wearing jerseys and T-shirts decorated with his No. 5. The "Bijan Mustardson" that the NIL-savvy Robinson has been marketing this fall was among the condiments served at a Fletcher's corny dog stand near Big Tex.

"Don't get that one," an Oklahoma fan gruffly remarked Saturday morning before the game, as his wife surveyed the condiments.

Inside the stadium, though, Robinson made sure that his play was harder for Oklahoma to ignore than his mustard. The Sooners struggled to catch up with him throughout the game; he scored twice and accounted for 130 of UT's 296 rushing yards.

"You've got to give credit to the offensive line," Robinson said. "When that run game was affecting their defense the whole game, the pass game and Quinn was just dialing up. It was just hard for them to stop either thing on the offense."

Saturday's game was played in front of an announced crowd of 92,100. Many of Oklahoma's fans began to file out of the stadium in the third quarter.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas blanks Oklahoma in historic win with first shutout since 1965