Red River Loss: No. 1 Texas starts slowly with the return of Quinn Ewers before No. 18 Oklahoma wins 34-3

No. 1 Texas overcame a slow start to easily defeat No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3 in Quinn Ewers' first game since Week 3.

After the Longhorns failed to score in the first quarter, the game turned around in the second period. UT took a 7-3 lead on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Ewers to Gunnar Helm and then scored 14 points in less than a minute, a three-point lead that Oklahoma's offense couldn't overcome.

WR Silas Bolden scored the winning point on Texas' second touchdown. Quintrevion Wisner fumbled when he was tackled inside the OU 5-yard line and the ball went into the end zone. Bolden, who was more than 10 yards behind Wisner at the time of the fumble, sprinted into the end zone and recovered the ball to preserve the TD.

Two plays after Texas took a 14-3 lead, Oklahoma QB Michael Hawkins was taken out of the game by Anthony Hill. Vernon Broughton recovered the fumble for the Longhorns and Wisner got his TD on the next play with a 43-yard run.

This result gave Texas a 21-3 lead and Oklahoma was hopeless. Hawkins is a true freshman who took over in the Sooners' loss to Tennessee. There are injuries on the offensive line and Oklahoma entered the game without its top five wide receivers due to injuries.

Oklahoma needed some chaos in the rivalry game to have a chance at victory. And Texas made sure that didn't happen.

Texas dominates on the ground

Ewers made his first start since leaving the third game of the season with abdominal strain. And he looked like he hadn't played in a while on Texas' first few possessions. The Longhorns won the coin toss and elected to receive, giving Ewers an immediate opportunity. On third down, he finally threw his receiver to the ground and the pass was intercepted by Billy Bowman Jr.

Texas punted on its next two possessions before the offense really got going. And when it did, Texas did most of its damage through the run game, not through the air. The Longhorns rushed for 177 yards, while Wisner had 13 carries for 118 yards and five-star freshman Ryan Wingo contributed with a 25-yard run.

Ewers finished the game completing 20 of 29 passes for 199 yards and the TD to Helm. He also added Texas' final touchdown of the game on the ground after wide receiver Matthew Golden got a second shot on a wide receiver pass. Golden completed a long pass to Helm just before Ewers' run after missing a wide-open Wingo with a bad pass early in the game.

It's the second time in three seasons that Texas has beaten the Sooners, after UT went 49-0 in 2022. Things could have been worse for Oklahoma, too. Texas missed a field goal and failed a fourth down attempt in the red zone in the second half.

Oklahoma's tough road lies ahead

Can the Sooners have a successful season? That's a fair question after seeing how the OU offense struggled in both of the team's losses.

The Sooners are truly exhausted. And they're not a bad team. But the schedule doesn't do them any favors either. Aside from a non-conference game against Maine in early November, there are no easy games on the Sooners' schedule.

Four of the five SEC teams remaining for OU are currently in the AP Top 25 and the only team not ranked is a South Carolina team that beat Alabama in a 27-25 loss in Tuscaloosa early Saturday pushed to its limits. As No. 1 Texas heads into a huge showdown with No. 5 Georgia next weekend, Oklahoma is simply trying to get healthy and get the offense going.