‘Offense Is Mediocre,’ ‘We Still Have Chances’ — Texas Fans React After Oklahoma Hands No. 1 Longhorns First Loss on Last-Second Field Goal

Texas carried a 10-point halftime lead in the Red River Rivalry and left the Cotton Bowl with its first loss of the season.

Kicker Tate Sandell’s 47-yard field goal on the final play gave Oklahoma a 27-24 win over No. 1 Texas on Saturday in Dallas.

Oklahoma scored the first 17 points of the second half, the last seven when safety Peyton Bowen returned an interception of Texas quarterback Arch Manning 42 yards for a touchdown. After Texas tied it, Manning was intercepted again with 19 seconds left, setting up the winning kick.

Texas Offense Stalls Late as Oklahoma Rallies Past Longhorns

“Final | TEX 24 OU 27,” Texas Football posted after the game.

Texas outgained Oklahoma 382 yards to 238 but punted on its first four possessions of the second half. Two Texas penalties, roughing the passer and pass interference, helped set up Oklahoma running back Lloyd Avant’s tying 2-yard touchdown run, and the roughing call wiped out a Texas interception.

“Defense is elite,” one fan wrote. “But offense is mediocre and scores too few points to have much margin for error. Throw in some horrendous special teams and even bad teams will sometimes beat you.”

Oklahoma’s first touchdown came on special teams, when Dakoda Fields recovered a blocked Texas punt. Later, Manning answered Bowen’s touchdown with a 15-yard scoring pass to Jermaine Bishop Jr. that tied it 24-24. On their next possession, the Longhorns faced fourth-and-2 at the Oklahoma 35 at the two-minute stoppage.

The Longhorns tried a field goal, and Gianni Spetic’s 53-yard kick went wide right with under two minutes left. Texas’ defense then forced Oklahoma’s seventh three-and-out of the game, but Manning was intercepted by Courtland Guillory while throwing under pressure.

Another fan blamed both Manning and coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team ran 32 times for 122 yards. “Arch is mediocre at best so Texas has to be a run first team and if Sark doesn’t know that he should be on his way out.”

Manning threw all three Texas touchdown passes, including a 41-yarder to receiver Cam Coleman, who finished with five catches for 110 yards. Texas completed 19 of 31 passes for 260 yards.

Manning ranks 55th of 165 graded and qualified FBS quarterbacks this season in Pro Football Network’s QB Impact Rankings, with a PFN Impact grade of 79.1.

EVERY QB, GRADED:PFN’s CFB QB Impact Rankings

What Losing to Oklahoma Means for Texas’ Playoff Chances

Before kickoff Saturday, PFN’s College Football Playoff Meter gave Texas a 92.9% chance to make the playoff. With a loss to Oklahoma, the meter projected an 84.5% playoff chance and a 21.3% chance to reach the SEC title game.

BUILD THE CFP FIELD:PFN’s Free CFB Playoff Predictor

Not every fan piled on, though. “We still have chances, don’t worry about that,” one fan wrote.

Sarkisian said earlier in the week that winning was all that mattered. Another fan saw the loss as a possible wake-up call. “Maybe this will help a few of those boys get serious.”

Looking Ahead in Week 7 to Florida

Oklahoma beat a No. 1 team for the first time since a 38-17 win over Missouri in 2007. Oklahoma hosts Kentucky on Oct. 17 in its first SEC home game of the season.

The Longhorns’ remaining schedule includes home games against Ole Miss and Mississippi State and trips to Missouri on Nov. 7 and LSU on Nov. 14. “I hate this for Texas we have a Brutal schedule the rest of the season,” one Texas fan wrote.

Texas hosts Florida in Austin on Oct. 17 in Week 7, the first of three straight home games.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.