When an unranked team knocks off the No. 1 team in college football, a lot of things have to go right. That's exactly what happened when the Oklahoma Sooners defeated the Texas Longhorns on Saturday in the Red River Rivalry.
The Sooners won the turnover battle, forcing two turnovers. They turned one of those turnovers into a touchdown when safety Peyton Bowen returned an Arch Manning interception 42 yards for a touchdown. Courtland Guillory picked off the other interception with 19 seconds left in the game. That interception eventually set up Tate Sandell's game-winning field goal. On top of that, Oklahoma blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown.
ESPN's Matt Barrie said that while many wrote the Sooners off before the game, a few things
gave him pause.
"This was a recipe for an upset from the outset for a couple of reasons," Barrie said on 'The Matt Barrie Show.' "One, Oklahoma came in with a good defense. No matter what you said about Mateer and the offense, they have a good defense. They have only given up one touchdown pass all year. So, despite the offense, they were really good defensively against an offense in Texas that hadn't really been good offensively... then you throw in the tangibles of a rivalry, a neutral site, historically weird things happen. It was just a recipe for an upset."
Oklahoma proved that its defensive strength and ability to capitalize on critical mistakes can make it dangerous even when the offense isn't firing on all cylinders. The Sooners got timely contributions from defense and special teams, turning key plays into points and setting themselves up to win late. That formula could serve them well as they look to build on the upset and find more consistency on offense.
The next step for Brent Venables and his team is proving the Texas win was a sign of what Oklahoma can become, not an isolated result. If the defense continues creating opportunities and the offense takes better care of the football, the Sooners have a path to make noise in the SEC and keep their postseason ambitions alive. Saturday will show they can compete with the nation's best; now they need to sustain that level of execution.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Matt Barrie explains why he saw Oklahoma's upset over Texas coming
