Oct. 18, 2009
Players of the Week
Offensive Honors
Offensive Player of the Game: Fozzy Whittaker
Boss Hawg: Adam Ulatoski
Biggest Contributors: Cody Johnson
Great Play: Marquise Goodwin
Defensive Honors
Defensive Player of the Game: Earl Thomas
Hard Hat: Fozzy Whitaker (for his hit on the sidelines of teammate Earl Thomas)
Mack Brown on hard hat award: “We did have one last light-hearted moment from the game when we presented Fozzy Whittaker with the Hard Hat Award for best hit on the play where he knocked Earl Thomas back on the sideline. We’re thankful everyone was okay and both of them, and all of us, had a nice laugh at the meeting.”
Great Play: Aaron Williams (for running down DeMarco Murray on a screen pass and making a TD-saving tackle on the Sooners opening drive of the game)
Ball Hawks: Emmanuel Acho, Curtis Brown, Alex Okafor, Earl Thomas, Aaron Williams and Malcolm Williams
Special Teams Honors
Special Teams Players of Game: Hunter Lawrence
Mack Brown
“I’m proud that the kids fought hard and found a way to win. We gave up more big plays than we want to on defense and offensively, left too many plays and points on the field that we need to capitalize on. We’ve looked at the series since we’ve been here, and the team that has historically won is the team that wins the rushing game, turnover battle and specialty teams. We won all three of those phases on Saturday and came out with a big win. I told the guys at today’s meeting, ‘You know beating OU is a special feeling for you, our fans and everyone around our University and program. Enjoy that, but now it’s time to move on to Missouri. We have a lot of work to be done, and the toughest games always are the games before and after OU. Missouri is a great team, playing at home and in front of another national TV audience. It is going to be as tough of a game as we’ll have all year, and we need to work hard and get ready.”
On the BCS Standings: “The polls have more legitimacy when the BCS standings come out than they do the first of the year. We’re proud of the guys that they’ve worked hard and won their first six games and are in the top three of the first poll. We talked about that at today’s meeting, like we’ve done every Sunday for the past 10 years or so, and now we move forward. We address the polls on Sunday and then it’s our job to earn our spot on Saturday. All of our attention has moved to Missouri. We have a tough Big 12 road game, and the rest of the discussion about things that involve the end of the season is very unimportant. The guys understand that and are moving forward.”
Notables
Balanced attacks: Texas ranks second nationally in scoring differential. The Longhorns have scored 252 points and allowed 88 for a 164-point advantage. Florida has the slight edge, leading the nation with a 166-point differential (218 points scored and 52 allowed).
Finishing: The Horns’ defense didn’t allow the Sooners into Texas territory on their final four drives to end the game, allowing just 35 yards on 17 plays (2.1 ypp) and intercepting two passes.
Point of emphasis: Forcing more turnovers was a point of emphasis for Texas this season and it’s off to a great start in that category. The Longhorns 19 forced turnovers are tied for fifth-best nationally (Texas' 10 interceptions are tied for seventh, and nine fumble recoveries are tied for eighth). That compares to Texas' six-game total of nine forced turnovers (four interceptions and five fumble recoveries) in 2008. As a matter of fact, Texas' 19 forced turnovers are already more than the 16 the Horns forced in the entire 2008 season.
Rushing D: Texas held Oklahoma to minus-16 yards rushing, which is the second-best rushing defense effort in the nation this year.
Grouding it out: The Longhorns rushed for 142 yards against an Oklahoma defense that had only been allowing 53.6 yards per game, which was third nationally at the time. In utilizing the ground game, the Horns held the ball for over nine minutes longer than the Sooners (34:52 to 25:28).
Out-rushing the Sooners: For the second straight year of the Red River Rivalry, the Longhorns won the rushing game. Texas held an Oklahoma ground game that was averaging 187.8 yards per game to minus-16 yards rushing (lowest for OU in the series history) on Saturday. That came one year after the Horns held another strong OU rushing attack to just 48 yards on the ground. Over the last two seasons against Oklahoma, Texas has outrushed the Sooners by 271 yards. Texas rushed for 303 yards on 75 carries (4.0 ypc) while allowing OU just 32 yards on 48 carries (0.8 ypc).
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