No. 8 Oklahoma withstands late rally to claim Red River Rivalry with 28-20 win over Texas

No. 8 Oklahoma beats No. 21 Texas 28-20

DALLAS — Landry Jones threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, DeMarco Murray ran for two scores on hurry-up plays and No. 8 Oklahoma survived another fourth-quarter swoon Saturday to hand No. 21 Texas its second straight loss, 28-20 in the Red River Rivalry.

The Sooners (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) jumped out to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, then got bailed out by a muffed punt late for a second straight week. The Longhorns had scored 10 straight points and were set to get the ball back in the final 62 seconds when Aaron Williams dropped the punt and James Winchester recovered it to let Oklahoma run out the clock.

Two plays earlier, Jared Norton had a chance to give Texas (3-2, 1-1) the ball inside the Oklahoma 10 but instead knocked Jones’ fumble out of bounds.

The Longhorns lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2007, following a surprising 34-12 loss at home to UCLA last week, and are in danger of falling out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in 10 years.

Making his rivalry debut, Garrett Gilbert struggled to get the Longhorns’ offense moving until mounting a late charge against an Oklahoma team that had been outscored 41-10 in the fourth quarter coming in.

Gilbert connected with Malcolm Williams on a 40-yard pass, but the Longhorns had to settle for a field goal after getting inside the 10 for the second time in the second half. Texas then stopped Oklahoma on three plays, including Jones’ fumble that rolled out of bounds at the 6, and seemed poised to get one last chance to tie the game when Williams fumbled — just like Cincinnati’s D.J. Woods did late to help the Sooners come away with a 31-29 win last week.

It was the last in a line of key mistakes that led to Texas’ downfall, mostly in the form of untimely penalties by the defense. Three of Oklahoma’s four scoring drives were extended by Texas penalties on third down, and the Longhorns also had a fumble recovery in the red zone erased after a flag.

When it was all over, Oklahoma defensive captain Travis Lewis trotted around the south end zone of the Cotton Bowl filled with crimson-clad fans with the Golden Hat Trophy tilted atop his head.

The Sooners won for only the second time in the last six years in front of the 65th straight sellout in the series, matching last year’s record attendance of 96,009.

Gilbert finished with 265 yards on 27-for-41 passing with no touchdowns. Until the wild finish, Oklahoma was in control from the start.

Texas needed a fake punt to drive into the Sooners’ territory for the first time on its opening drive of the second half. Linebacker Ryan Roberson took the snap and barely picked up 3 yards — close enough that Stoops challenged it — to gain the first down, and Gilbert hit James Kirkendoll for a 44-yard gain on the next play to set up Ryan Tucker’s 22-yard field goal that made it 21-10.

The Longhorns lost a chance to get even closer three plays later, when Eddie Jones’ recovery of a Landry Jones fumble was wiped away because he lined up offside. Oklahoma added to its lead when Murray went 20 yards for a score on a hurry-up play, three snaps after Jackson Jeffcoat drew a personal foul for shoving an Oklahoma player down after the Sooners had failed to pick up a third-and-29.

Oklahoma sped out to a 21-7 lead, scoring three touchdowns before the Longhorns even had that many first downs.

Oklahoma used its hurry-up offense to score on Murray’s 18-yard run around left end before the Longhorns had set up on defense.

Oklahoma struck again with a 75-yard scoring march after Texas opened with a three-and-out, and freshman Kenny Stills made a nifty over-the-shoulder catch on Jones’ 16-yard TD pass to make it 14-0.

Most of the Longhorns’ first-half offense came when D.J. Monroe sped 60 yards to cut the lead in half after crossing paths with Fozzy Whittaker in the backfield and taking a handoff from Gilbert.

But Oklahoma took advantage of a shanked punt by John Gold and a third-down pass interference penalty against Chykie Brown to extend its lead.

Jones finished the 48-yard drive with a 2-yard scoring pass to tight end James Hanna, who was wide open in the back of the end zone.