Kyler Murray nearly led No. 7 Oklahoma back from a three touchdown, fourth quarter deficit, but Cameron Dicker‘s 40-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining allowed No. 19 Texas to hang on for a crucial 48-45 win at the Red River Showdown.
Oklahoma trailed 45-24 with 13 minutes remaining, but Oklahoma needed only 10 minutes to come back and tie the game. Needing its own rally, Texas turned to the stellar Sam Ehlinger, who guided Texas 52 crucial yards to set up Dicker’s winning kick, handing Texas (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) its first win over Oklahoma as a ranked team since Colt McCoy did so in 2009.
Ehlinger out-dueled the elder Murray, completing 24-of-35 passes for 314 yards with two touchdowns while rushing for three more -- the most scores by a single player in a Red River game since Sam Bradford did so in 2008.
Murray dazzled as well, throwing for 304 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 92 yards and another score -- but his two turnovers accounted for 10 crucial Texas points.
Oklahoma (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) accepted the ball to open the game and faced zero resistance on its opening drive. The Sooners moved 65 yards in six plays, a drive in which the shortest gain was the scoring play -- a 4-year toss from Murray to Marquise Brown.
Texas answered by turning to its big outside threats. Ehlinger hit Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a 29-yard gain on the Longhorns’ second play, and then a 36-yard gainer to Collin Johnson one snap later. Texas notched an early equalizer with a 3-yard jump pass from Humphrey to Johnson.
On the ensuing possession, Murray made his first mistake of the day, firing an interception to Texas safety Brandon Jones, who returned the ball to the OU 45, and a personal foul staked Texas deep in Sooner territory. But the OU defense stiffened, and Texas took a 10-7 lead on a 44-yard Cameron Dicker field goal.
Oklahoma then forged the game’s second tie with a 32-yard Austin Seibert field goal on the opening play of the second quarter.
Texas rolled down the field on the ensuing possession until a holding call on center Zach Shackelford turned a 2nd-and-1 at the OU 30 into a 1st-and-20 at the 49. But a 19-yard completion on Andrew Beck gave Texas a 4th-and-1 situation, which graduate transfer running back Tre Watson converted on a 3-yard swing pass. One play later, Watson broke free on a wheel route and Ehlinger dropped in a perfect 28-yard touchdown pass, putting Texas up 17-10 with 10:18 left in the first half.
After the touchdown, the Texas defense immediately forced a three-and-out, keyed by a 10-yard sack of Murray by defensive end Charles Omenihu. Given a chance to take control of the first half, the Texas offense took advantage, moving 75 yards in eight plays -- 48 of them on the ground, including a 9-yard keeper by Ehlinger to, putting Texas up 24-10 with 5:12 left before the break.
Texas had a chance to seize complete control of the game when Oklahoma went for a 4th-and-3 at the Texas 29, but Murray hit CeeDee Lamb for a 12-yard gain, then hit him again for a 5-yard touchdown four plays later, pulling the Sooners back within a touchdown with 28 seconds left in the half.
Texas opened the second half the same way it finished the first -- by churning the Oklahoma defense. The Longhorns rolled 75 yards in 11 plays, scoring on another 5-yard Ehlinger keeper.
Facing its second two touchdown deficit of the game, Oklahoma seized momentum, first when Murray nailed Brown for a 77-yard touchdown, and then when its defense forced its first punt of the game -- on a three-and-out, no less.
That momentum was short lived, though.
Murray fumbled the ball on Oklahoma’s next play, handing Texas the ball at the Sooners’ 23. Ehlinger hit Johnson for a 10-yard gain on a 3rd-and-4, and the quarterback covered the rest himself over two plays. A 2-yard keeper gave Ehlinger his third rushing touchdown of the game and UT its third 14-point lead of the game, at 38-24 with 6:21 left in the third quarter.
Facing another 3rd-and-3 in his own territory, Murray put another deep throw right on the money -- but Lee Morris dropped it. After a punt, Texas pummeled an overmatched and exhausted defense, coasting 82 yards down the field in nine plays to push the lead to 45-24 with 56 seconds left in the third quarter. Ehlinger notched his fifth touchdown of the day, hitting Humphrey on a 15-yard strike.
Texas forced another OU punt after B.J. Foster sacked Murray on a 3rd-and-14, and Texas took the ball deep in its own end with a 21-point lead and 13:33 to kill. Oklahoma made it difficult.
Two straight holding penalties killed the Texas possession, and OU scored in six plays to pull the game within 45-31 on an 18-yard pass from Murray to Morris with 8:28 to play.
Texas killed three minutes of clock after that, but the Longhorns punted and Murray needed only one play -- a bobbing and weaving 67-yard run -- to pull the Sooners within 45-38 with 5:11 still to play.
Another holding penalty killed another Texas drive before it began, and all of a sudden, after being dead to rights 10 minutes of clock prior, Oklahoma took the field with a chance to tie the game at its own 43.
The Sooners had 3:34 to work with, but the needed only 56 seconds. Trey Sermon covered all 57 yards himself -- 35 on a screen pass, and then 22 on a pair of runs, tying the game with 2:38 left in the game.
Texas mounted one more drive it when it needed it, though, setting up a possible new dimension in this storied rivalry: a Red River Rematch in the Big 12 Championship on Dec. 1 at AT&T Stadium.