Oklahoma Football: Winners and Losers from Sooners' Win over Texas Longhorns

Sooner Nation dominated from the opening bell and the Longhorns had no chance, thus proving how far the Longhorns have fallen off from the days of Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley.

In the process of handing the Longhorns a 55-17 beat down, Boomer Sooner also proved that they are still worthy of being—and should still be—ranked No. 1 in the country.

Yesterday’s game told us significantly more than the obvious—the obvious being the Sooners won and the Longhorns lost. It told us that there were some standout performances and some forgettable performances that came out of this game.

Winner: Landry Jones

With his performance against the rival Longhorns, Landry Jones has positioned himself as one of the true elite quarterbacks in college football.

Dicing the Longhorns for 367 yards and three touchdowns—now averaging 362 yards per game through five games—only strengthens his Kung Fu grip on being the No. 2 quarterback prospect (behind Andrew Luck) and a top 10 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Going forward, if Jones keeps up this torrid pace, he will most assuredly receive an invite to the Nokia Theatre in Times Square as a Heisman Trophy Finalist.

Loser: Case McCoy

Long gone are the years of Colt McCoy and his 3-1 record in the Red River Rivalry. This time around, Colt’s younger brother, Case, was at center stage.

Case didn’t fare too well in his first start in this famed rivalry game, fumbling twice and not throwing a touchdown. In fact, the younger McCoy hasn’t tossed a touchdown since September 17^th against UCLA.

While you can’t totally blame him for not getting comfortable under center, due to Head Coach Mack Brown’s quarterback merry-go-round, patience with the young sophomore will run thin if he doesn’t start displaying some of the magic Colt created during his great tenure.

Winner: Oklahoma Sooners' Defense

The Sooners' defense had a monster day—one fantasy footballers dream of. They collected eight sacks, three fumble recoveries and two interceptions. (Now if I could only find a college fantasy football league to get into—life would be grand.)

They also chalked up three touchdowns, which is one less than what the offense put on the board.

Lost in all the talk about how OU's defense rang up three TDs is how they smothered a Longhorns ground attack that, up until this past weekend, was averaging 206 yards per game. The Sooners shut them down to the tune of 56 yards on 44 carries.

Continuing this kind of dominance on defense will be critical if Oklahoma wants to continue their pursuit of a National Championship.

Loser: Mack Brown

Coach Brown took over the program at Texas in 1998. In that time, his record against the hated rivals to the north stands at 6-8.

Having lost the last two meetings to Coach Bob Stoops and the Sooners, Brown may have already started feeling some heat coming from the A.D. as well as boosters.

If he doesn’t find a way to turn things around fast, he could find himself under real scrutiny.

The main focus for high-profile teams like Texas is the National Championship, but during a retooling stage like Texas is in, the annual rivalry game becomes the biggest game of the year.

If you don’t believe they’re that important, just ask former Michigan Wolverines Head Coach Lloyd Carr.

If you think Carr was under fire in Michigan for his struggles against Ohio State, imagine what Brown must be feeling right about now. After all, everything is a bit bigger in Texas.

Winner: Jaxon Shipley

Despite all the problems that plagued the Longhorns on Saturday, Shipley shined as the lone bright spot on offense.

He totaled 89 yards on nine catches and also came up with a score late in the fourth quarter.

Unlike his teammate, Case McCoy, Jaxon, the younger brother of Jordan Shipley, is showing he possesses the same skill-set that Jordan displayed during his college playing days.

He’s emerged as the clear No. 1 target for both Texas QBs and will likely remain as such for the next few years. 

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