Stock Report: After defeating Texas, the Sooners are trending upward
The Oklahoma Sooners have had a fantastic start to the 2023 season, going 6-0 going into their bye week and having just defeated the team that was supposed to be their toughest opponent.
The Sooners now need to make sure they don’t disappoint in their final six games of the campaign.
But let’s continue to reminisce about the Sooners’ thrilling 34-30 victory over the Texas Longhorns with this week’s stock report before we start to look forward to the remainder of the season.
The Oklahoma Sooners had a very poor season in terms of their defensive performance. The team began to gel during the last few games of the regular season. With 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks in the last four games, and 18 total tackles, Ethan Downs was one of the few shining lights in November.
Similar to numerous players on the defensive end, Downs is making a significant contribution in his second season in Brent Venables’ defense.
Downs has 17 total tackles through six games, including five tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Pro Football Focus claims that he leads the Oklahoma Sooners in pressures applied.
He performed exceptionally well against Texas, recording three total tackles.
Billy Bowman’s game was outstanding. At the goal line, he separated Ja’Tavion Sanders from the ball and popped it into the air, where Kendel Dolby made the interception. In the fourth quarter, he played a crucial role in the goal-line stand, working with Dasan McCullough to block Xavier Worthy on a fourth-and-goal.
For the Sooners, Bowman is a fantastic football player. On Saturday, his physicality was needed.
Following fall camp, Dasan McCullough gave up the starting cheetah job to Justin Harrington; however, Harrington’s season-ending injury forced McCullough back into the starting lineup.
Additionally, McCullough was recovering from his own injury at the time.
Since then, he has only improved his performance. The Texas Longhorns made several attempts to run in his direction during the goal-line stand. And each time he made the play and prevented Texas from reaching the end zone, he either muted or outwitted the blocking.
We’re starting to understand why everyone was so thrilled when Dasan McCullough was added to the transfer portal.
Oklahoma and its supporters had to endure “49-0” repeatedly for over a year. Though the Sooners’ 34–30 victory wasn’t nearly as convincing, it was a significant accomplishment for a team that experienced significant turmoil before the 2022 campaign.
That’s the reason the four-point loss has Longhorns fans so upset. Texas and their supporters believed they were light years ahead of the Sooners after their 49-0 victory. that Oklahoma is in some way reflected in the Red River Rivalry defeat from a year ago.
Texas fans are reacting so badly to the loss because of this.
Simply accept your loss and go on.
The football team from Texas is good. They had a great chance of winning that match. However, they didn’t. Oklahoma was one of them.
Losing to your fiercest opponent is no reflection on your character, and Texas has accomplished plenty in 2023. Its season doesn’t end either.
The likelihood of the two meeting again in December is high. To qualify for the Big 12 championship game, both teams still have six games remaining. They appear to be the two best teams in the conference and among the best in the nation after the first half of the season.
These are two competitive teams. The future SEC teams will be competing for a Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoffs, barring an error somewhere along the way.
