Football defeats No. 12/10 Oklahoma, 36-20, in AT&T Red River Rivalry

Saturday, October 12

Dallas, Texas

11 a.m.

University of Texas

4-2 , 3-0

Oklahoma

5-1 , 2-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Oklahoma

Texas

Football defeats No. 12/10 Oklahoma, 36-20, in AT&T Red River Rivalry

10.12.2013 | Football

Box Score

Johnathan Gray and Malcolm Brown both topped 100 rushing yards; Horns get a pair of non-offensive touchdowns

DALLAS -- Case McCoy threw for 190 yards and two touchdowns, Johnathan Gray and Malcolm Brown both topped 100 rushing yards, and Texas never trailed in a 36-20 victory over No. 12/10 Oklahoma Saturday afternoon in the annual AT&T Red River Rivalry in the Cotton Bowl.

Four different Longhorns scored touchdowns as Texas (4-2, 3-0) defeated the Sooners (5-1, 2-1) for the first time since 2009 and remain in a tie for first in the Big 12 Conference standings. Texas also scored two non-offensive touchdowns in one game for the first time since 2009 - one on a 31-yard interception return from Chris Whaley and another on an 85-yard punt return from Daje Johnson.

McCoy, a senior playing in his last game against OU, engineered six scoring drives, Gray ran a career-high 29 times for 123 yards and Brown added 120 yards on 23 carries. The Longhorns totaled 445 yards of offense, including 255 on the ground, and held on to the ball for 35:15, while limiting Oklahoma to 263 total yards, its lowest output in the series since 2005.

"I'm proud of our guys," said Texas head coach Mack Brown. "The difference in this game was we ran the ball much better than we have in the last two years, we stopped the run better than we did the last two years, we forced more turnovers than we did turn the ball over, and we had a big play in the kicking game even though we gave them one."

Texas took control early and held a double-digit lead for much of the game. With the score tied 3-3 late in the first quarter, Whaley intercepted Oklahoma quarterback Blake Bell when the defensive lineman dropped into coverage on a zone blitz and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown.

On a third-and-11 midway through the second quarter, McCoy connected with Marcus Johnson for a 59-yard touchdown on a beautifully thrown ball down the right sideline. The Longhorns extended the lead to 17-3 on that play and went on to pile up 304 yards of offense and convert 9 of 12 third downs in the first half.

"When you can stay balanced, you win football games," said Brown. "When you stay balanced, I thought (offensive coordinator) Major (Applewhite) called a very good game today…when you stay ahead of the chains then you are going to get half of your third down conversions."

Anthony Fera hit a career-long 50-yard field goal to put Texas on top 20-3 with 3:22 left in the first half.

Oklahoma's Ray Finch set up Oklahoma's first touchdown of the game with a 73-yard return of the ensuing kickoff. Running back Damien Williams capped a five-play, 27-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 20-10.

But the Sooners never got closer as Texas countered by driving 41 yards on six plays in 58 seconds to set up Fera for a 43-yard field goal that gave the Longhorns a 23-10 halftime lead.

Oklahoma opened the second half scoring with a 37-yard field goal by Michael Hunnicut. Texas' defense forced a punt on the Sooners' next possession and the Longhorns got their second non-offensive touchdown of the game when Johnson returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. It marked Texas' longest punt return for a touchdown since 2005, when Aaron Ross had an 88-yarder. The return was also the first of Johnson's career after taking over as the No. 1 returner for this game.

On the following drive, Bell was intercepted by Duke Thomas at the Texas 31-yard line. The Longhorns took advantage of the possession and Mike Davis capped off the drive with his first catch of the game, a 38-yard touchdown reception on another beautifully thrown ball from McCoy.

Oklahoma's Geneo Grissom picked off McCoy - his first interception thrown this season to snap a string of 126 straight passes - and returned it for a 54-yard touchdown, cutting Texas' lead to 36-20 early in the fourth quarter. But the Longhorns held on from there, stopping the Sooners on their final drive and using the running game to bleed out the clock.

Adrian Phillips led Texas with nine tackles, while Jackson Jeffcoat had two sacks. Cedric Reed and Quandre Diggs had one sack apiece. The Longhorn offensive line didn't surrender a sack all game.

Oklahoma finished 2 of 13 on third down while Texas was 13 of 20. Most importantly, the Longhorns were even in the turnover battle after being plagued by those miscues in the three-game losing streak to the Sooners (a combined minus-9).

"Leaving here last year, I knew we came out and we fought pretty hard, but they fought harder than we did and we know that being this Texas team, we have a lot of talent and we're able to play with anybody," Whaley said. "This year, we came out with the mindset that we're going to step out on this field, and we're going to leave it all out there no matter what."