Kevin Sherrington, The Dallas Morning News
Anyone who got up a couple minutes before the half Saturday to beat the rush to a Cotton Bowl restroom pretty much missed the game. A three-play series of fumble-touchdown-fumble turned what had been a dud of an affair into the makings of Texas' second laugher in their last three at the State Fair.
One of these teams doesn't seem quite ready for what its new membership in the SEC requires.
Texas?
The No. 1-ranked Longhorns look like they have an even higher standard after a 34-3 beatdown of 18th-ranked Oklahoma in front of 92,100 sweltering partisans.
"Two years ago when we won the Golden Hat," Steve Sarkisian said, referencing Texas' 49-0 rout and the winner's ceremonial headgear, "you'd have thought we'd won the Super Bowl. This year was like, 'OK, we got the Golden Hat back. All right, let's put it in the trophy case.
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"'Let's keep grinding. Let's keep going.'"
A good mantra, too, because next up at Royal-Memorial Stadium is fifth-ranked Georgia, coming off a less-than-impressive 41-31 win over Mississippi State between the hedges. After that, it's Nashville, the site of college football's second-biggest upset this season; back home for Florida; a return to Fayetteville and the scene of Sark's most embarrassing loss as a Longhorn; another potential trap game against Kentucky; and the resumption of the state's greatest rivalry on Thanksgiving weekend.
A daunting gantlet, no doubt, but the manner in which Texas dispatched its biggest rival Saturday suggests the Longhorns might be capable of running the table.
More to the point, Texas looks like a more complete team than the one that made it to the national semifinals last year.
The Longhorns' defense is more cohesive than it's been in his four seasons, Sark said, which might explain how it's given up double-digits in points just twice this season. They didn't exactly let up against Michigan and Mississippi State, either, yielding 12 and 13 points, respectively.
The Longhorns appear to have a defense typical of the SEC's best. And they don't even feel like they've peaked.
"Our best ball," safety Michael Taaffe said, "is yet to come."
Tell that to Michael Hawkins Jr., Oklahoma's freshman quarterback, who stood in the teeth of that defense all afternoon. On one play in particular, Taaffe got a running start from Plano and planted Hawkins for a 13-yard loss. The Longhorns took away the middle of the field, forced Hawkins to check down (longest completion: 15 yards) or scramble (20 carries for 61 yards) and sacked him five times (34 yards in losses).
Other than the Sooners' first drive -- ending in a field goal set up by Billy Bowman Jr.'s interception on Quinn Ewers' first pass -- Hawkins couldn't mount much offense. The Frisco Emerson quarterback, who replaced Jackson Arnold, certainly didn't get any help from a running game that netted just 89 yards.
But Hawkins appears to be Brent Venables' quarterback, to have and to hold from this day forward.
Did you consider changing quarterbacks at any point?
"No," was all Venables said.
For that matter, Dillon Gabriel, the hero of the Sooners' 34-30 win last year, might have been a nice option. But he was busy Saturday hanging 200 yards and a couple of touchdowns against Ohio State in the first half.
Maybe Venables should have tried a little harder to talk Gabriel out of leaving Norman, at that.
Either he didn't want to risk two more quarterbacks entering the portal at some point this season, or he didn't think it would matter against the Longhorns. He called Texas "a really complete team," adding, against "a really good team, you've got a really small margin for error."
Actually, Texas widened that margin early on. Over their first three possessions, the Horns had eight yards.
Eight.
"It was a rough start," Ewers said.
"Overall, I need to play better."
Especially when your head coach says after the game there's no real difference between the 1's and 2's on his team, quarterback in particular. Considering how Ewers started Saturday, it seemed like both starting quarterbacks might be looking over their shoulders at some point, and not any looming defenders, either.
But, as he usually does, Ewers rebounded nicely, finishing 20-of-29 for 199 yards and forestalling any chants for Arch Manning. He got some help from Quintrevion Wisner, who rushed for 118 yards on just 13 carries. Gunnar Helm, his big tight end, also caught five passes for 91 yards and a touchdown.
Texas' defense took care of the rest, forcing two fumbles just before the half that widened the Longhorns' lead to 18 going into the locker room. Considering the Sooners' struggles against Texas' defense to that point, it seemed like an insurmountable lead.
Didn't do anything for the aesthetics, either. But Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, seemed to enjoy the first game at the State Fair featuring a couple of his own teams.
"I think the people make it special," he said. "It's moved to a different league, but it was special, it is special and will be special."
Frankly, it wasn't so special Saturday, as the Sooners might tell you. But it might have had something to do with a Texas team going places from here on out.
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