No. 1 Texas starts slowly in Quinn Ewers’ return before rolling No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3

No. 1 Texas overcame a sluggish start to easily beat No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3 in Quinn Ewers’ first game back since Week 3.

After the Longhorns didn’t score in the first quarter, the game flipped in the second period. UT took a 7-3 lead on a seven-yard TD pass from Ewers to Gunnar Helm and then scored 14 points in less than a minute for a three-score lead that Oklahoma’s offense was incapable of overcoming.

WR Silas Bolden made the play of the game on Texas’ second touchdown. Quintrevion Wisner fumbled as he was tackled inside the OU 5 yard-line and the ball shot toward the end zone. Bolden, who was more than 10 yards behind Wisner when the fumble happened, sprinted into the end zone and recovered the ball to preserve the TD.

Two plays after Texas went up 14-3, OU QB Michael Hawkins was stripped by Anthony Hill. Vernon Broughton recovered the fumble for the Longhorns and Wisner got his TD on the next play with a 43-yard TD.

That score put Texas up 21-3 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 injury.

Oklahoma was going to need some rivalry game chaos to have a chance at the win. And Texas ensured that didn’t happen.

Texas dominates on the ground

Ewers was making his first start since leaving the third game of the season with a strained abdomen. And he looked like he hadn’t played in a while on Texas’ first possessions. The Longhorns won the coin toss and elected to receive and give ewers a chance right away. He ended up overthrowing his receiver on a third down and the pass was intercepted by Billy Bowman Jr.

Texas punted on its next two possessions before the offense got clicking. And when it did, Texas did most of its damage through the run game than via the air. The Longhorns rushed for 177 yards as Wisner had 13 carries for 118 yards and five-star freshman Ryan Wingo chipped in with a 25-yard run.

Ewers finished the game 20-of-29 passing for 199 yards and the TD to Helm. He also added Texas’ last TD of the game on the ground after wide receiver Matthew Golden got a second shot at a wide receiver pass. Golden completed a long pass to Helm right before Ewers’ run after he missed a wide-open Wingo with a bad pass earlier in the game.

It’s the second time in three seasons that Texas has blown out the Sooners after UT won 49-0 in 2022. It could have been worse for Oklahoma too. Texas missed a field goal and failed on a fourth-down attempt in the red zone in the second half.