Red River Redemption

Texas Longhorns football has been a running joke on social media for the last couple of years. The internet had as much ammo as someone typing in weapons cheat codes into Grand Theft Auto V.

The ammo starts with head coach Mack Brown supposedly recruited every great quarterback in the last couple years to play safety even if that could not be further from the truth minus Johnny Manziel, because that's actually true. It continues with Texas defense as it is a shell of what it was during Will Muschamp's reign leading to Manny Diaz's dismissal and hiring Greg Robinson, the man who ran Michigan's defense in to the ground. The final killshot of the internet laughing at Texas is their revolving door at quarterback since Colt McCoy including his brother who looked more like Ozzie Canseco than Eli Manning. The laughter ended early Saturday afternoon.

Texas dominated rival Oklahoma, 36-20 in a score that is not indicative of the pure domination by the Longhorns taking home the Red River Rivalry for the first time since 2009.  Texas senior class avoided becoming the first class to never beat Oklahoma with strong performances from McCoy, their two-headed running back attack and the Robinson-led defense. Yes, the joke is over about Texas.

Last week, Texas still heard laughs at as they nearly lost to Iowa State on the road. Much was made about McCoy throwing the ball 30-plus time and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite must read message boards  because the virtual opposite happened on Saturday. He went to the best part of the Longhorns, Johnathan Gray and Malcolm Brown. Both of them took care business against Oklahoma combining for 243 yards and 52 carries. Texas ran the ball 60 times. 60. They did not take the foot off the gas whatsoever against their rival and imposed their will in the trenches.  This paved the way for McCoy to do what he was destined to do, be a game manager.

McCoy played his best game as a Texas quarterback even though the box score might not show it but he handled his business. This Oklahoma secondary has given every quarterback problems they have faced so far this season and McCoy was not one of them. His interception went to a defensive lineman on a botched screen play (Quick sidenote, any game that gives you two FAT GUY TOUCHDOWNS, it is a good one). McCoy exploited the secondary for two beautiful deep balls to Marcus Johnson for 59 yards and Mike Davis for 38 yards.  This McCoy featuring him throwing the ball only 20 times a game is the McCoy you want and need for Texas in the coming weeks.

Maybe Robinson figured how to work with this Texas defense, but they made Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell's day a living nightmare. They were sending all sorts of blitzes and ensured he felt about as uncomfortable as walking in on your parents having sex. Texas defense looked alive for the first time in a very long time. Now, Bell might have got exposed as the average quarterback he is, yet there is still something to be said about how this defense played holding the 12th ranked team in the nation to only 13 points including getting a score of their own.

All the sudden, Texas is 3-0 in the Big 12 and seeking a Big 12 title.  The Longhorns have a bye week before heading to Dallas to take on TCU in what will be a much-anticipated game for Horned Frog fans and players alike. The Longhorns do not have a difficult road game after that until December 7th when they face Baylor in Waco in what could be the Big 12 Championship game. There is a lot of time before that, but one thing is clear, Texas is not a laughingstock in college football.

Charlie.