DALLAS, Texas — It started great. Then, it got worse. Eventually, it fell apart.

Despite great efforts from the defense, the offense was again stilted in a 34-3 loss to Texas Saturday at the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns shook off a sluggish start and found a rhythm fueled by OU's turnovers and lack of execution.

It was one of the uglier games the Sooners have played in quite some time. And now, the Sooners have lost their 2022 and 2024 Red River Rivalry games by a combined score of 83-3.

Here's a look at the primary takeaways and what it means for the Sooners:

The Sooners had a gameplan coming into the game. The goal? Lean on the defense, burn the clock on offense, and hope that Michael Hawkins makes enough plays to win the game.

That never came to fruition. The Sooners never tested the Longhorns down the field. Hawkins completed 19 of 30 passes for 151 yards. And even that number is a little misleading — Hawkins completed just 6 of 10 passes for 61 yards in the first half.

But the most telling stat? Hawkins and the offense averaged 7.94 yards per completion.

Even as the offense leaned very heavily on the running game — 38 carries to 30 passing attempts — the Sooners had opportunities for big plays. On multiple plays, the Sooners had receivers open downfield. Hawkins either didn't see them, or he didn't have time to throw. The Longhorns sacked Hawkins five times as he looked either indecisive or just didn't have time to throw.

Zion Kearney led the team with four receptions for 49 yards. Only three receivers (Brenen Thompson, JJ Hester, Kearney) caught a pass through three quarters. The Sooners' longest pass play went 15 yards to Kearney — also their longest play from scrimmage — and the team had only five passing plays that went farther than 10 yards.

While Seth Littrell and the Sooners tried some things coming out of the bye week, it just didn't make much of a difference. The Sooners finished with 236 total yards and had only 139 through three quarters. They only averaged 3.4 per play. Without its top five receivers, there's just not much going for an OU offense that has scored 45 points over the last three games.

The Sooners couldn't have asked for a better start to the game. They led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, had nearly doubled Texas in time of possession (9:53 to 5:07) and had outgained the Longhorns 54 to 13.

But eventually, the Longhorns were going to find something on offense. The one thing the Sooners couldn't do was turn the ball over.

But they did it twice.

The Longhorns eventually broke through to start the second quarter, marching on a 10-play, 75-yard drive to start the game. Two drives later, the Longhorns scored on a four-play, 84-yard drive to take a 14-3 lead.

That's when disaster struck. Michael Hawkins was stripped on a quarterback scramble, and the Longhorns responded with a 43-yard touchdown run from Quintrevion Wisner. On the next snap, Taylor Tatum fumbled the ball after a 13-yard gain. The Sooners caught a break with a missed field goal, but by that point, the momentum had completely disappeared from OU's sideline.

The Longhorns outgained the Sooners 222-53 and outscored them 21-0 in the second quarter. That completely flipped the ball game.

The defense did its job to start the game.

Billy Bowman intercepted Quinn Ewers on the third play of the game. The Longhorns went three and out on the next two drives. By the end of the first quarter, the Longhorns had gained just 13 yards, no first downs and ran just nine total plays.

But as OU's offense struggled and provided no help, the defense wilted down bit by bit. The biggest example was Texas' success in the running game.

After rushing five times for zero yards in the quarter, he Longhorns exploded in the second quarter and were fueled by a running game that averaged nearly 13 yards per carry in the quarter. In the third quarter, it was more of the same — the Longhorns averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 11 attempts and were content to chew the clock, possessing the ball for over nine minutes.

The Longhorns finished the game with 30 yards for 177 yards and 5.9 yards per carry. Ewers didn't have to do much heavy lifting, completing 20 of 29 passes for 199 yards and a score. The Longhorns finished with 406 total yards — a modest amount considering they averaged 513.4 coming into the game, but 393 of those yards came after the first quarter.

Before the game, the Sooners had not surrendered more than 155 yards or an average higher than 3.35 per carry.

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