Longhorns and Sooners bring dominant defense and sputtering offense to Cotton Bowl rivalry

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Top-ranked Texas and Oklahoma square off this week in their annual rivalry, bringing two elite defenses to the Cotton Bowl. They will need them.

Offensively, the Longhorns (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) and Sooners (2-2, 0-1) have struggled and sputtered through long stretches behind units that were expected to deliver much more punch than the penalties, punts and blooper-reel turnovers they have so far.

“I see flashes of who we want to be,” said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, who remains the Longhorns' play-caller in his sixth season with the program. “My biggest critique is the consistency.”

Texas enters the game ranked No. 1 for the past month after beating previous No. 1 Ohio State on Sept. 12. But since then, quarterback Arch Manning has been wildly inconsistent, the offensive line has struggled to protect him and penalties have stalled drives.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, is searching for anything from struggling quarterback John Mateer to jump-start a unit that ranks No. 104 nationally and complement a defense that can hold out only so long.

Put these teams on the field Saturday and a scene like Oklahoma's classic 14-3 win in 2001, sealed with Teddy Lehman's deflected pass interception in the final minutes, may be set for a replay.

It might seem a stretch to critique an undefeated No. 1 with the best resume over the first month of the season. But the Texas offense has been anything but the well-oiled machine that was expected from the sum of its expensive parts.

Sarkisian used the offseason to load up on transfer playmakers he could sprinkle throughout the offense around Manning. He landed wide receiver Cam Coleman and running backs Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers. And he bragged that the program upgraded at each position.

Coleman leads the team in touchdowns catches with four but had just one catch in the last game against Tennessee for 30 yards. Brown scored two touchdowns against Tennessee and he and Smothers have rushed for 394 total yards. Yet the Longhorns are averaging less than 4.0 yards per attempt and haven't shown much of a breakaway threat since Smothers went for 45 yards on the first play of the season.

Manning led the electric 21-point fourth-quarter comeback against Ohio State but completed just 50% of his passes a week later against UTSA. Against Tennessee, Manning was twice penalized for attempting a pass beyond the line of scrimmage. He also was sacked six times and Texas had eight offensive possessions of six plays or fewer in a game in which the Longhorns totaled just 262 yards.

The silver lining against Tennessee was a second-half drive for a field goal that gave the Longhorns a two-score cushion they would need when Tennessee rallied late.

“What we’ve done well is we won,” Sarkisian said. “I feel like we’ve had moments where we needed to be at our best and we responded.”

Manning certainly expects more from the offense than it's produced so far.

“We’ve got a mature group. We need to be at our best more often in the game," he said. "Not just when we need it.”

Oklahoma made the College Football Playoff last season and the hope was that another year with a healthy Mateer could get the Sooners' offense up to par. The hype around him in preseason training camp teed up the expectations.

Nothing has worked so far.

The Sooners have topped 17 points just once and that came in the opener against UTEP. Mateer has six turnovers, including three on consecutive possessions in a 41-13 loss at No. 2 Georgia. One was a fumble near the Bulldogs' end zone that was returned for a touchdown, a lowlight that will live in Sooners' infamy. Oklahoma coach Brent Venables acknowledged that there were discussions about replacing Mateer at halftime.

“The fact that I haven’t performed is disappointing,” Mateer said. “But I’m blessed to play ball today and to get better.”

Oklahoma's struggles on offense go deeper than quarterback. The Sooners average just 99 yards rushing, ranking next-to-last in the SEC. The offensive line has surrendered 13 sacks. The Sooners now face Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons, who set a school record with 5 1/2 sacks against Tennessee.

“We have a good football team. We haven’t put it all together yet, and at times, we’ve looked not very good at all," Venables said.

Oklahoma was undefeated and ranked No. 6 and Texas already had two losses when the teams met last season. Mateer played that game less than three weeks after surgery to repair an injured throwing hand and tossed three interceptions as Texas won 23-6 .

Oklahoma started this season No. 10 but is now unranked. It has seven wins over a No. 1 opponent in program history, but none came when the Sooners were unranked.

Oklahoma hasn't scored a touchdown against Texas since a 34-30 victory in 2023.

“Everybody’s anxious to have an opportunity,” Venables said. "Winning kind of cures a lot.”

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