Andy & Ari On3 - Texas CRUSHES Oklahoma, stays alive in the College Football Playoff race

Episode Date: October 11, 2025

The Texas offense weathered first-half offensive difficulties and then came alive in the second half. Meanwhile, the Longhorns’ defense shut down John Mateer and the Oklahoma offense all day. Texas remains alive for the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma must get a lot better if it hopes to survive its next six games without taking two more losses. Andy and Ari break down what it all means. Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel.  This show is also sponsored by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni andcheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Subscribe to On3!  ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati...Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/ Listen to Andy & Ari On3 on podcast! Spotify 🎧: https://open.spotify.com/show/5AhQ4d2... Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Follow Andy Staples on Twitter:   / andy_staples   Follow Andy Staples on Instagram:   / andy_staples   Follow Ari Wasserman on Twitter: https://x.com/AriWasserman Follow us on Twitter   / on3sports   Follow us on Instagram   / on3   Like/Follow us on Facebook   / on3sports   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to an instant reaction edition of Andy and Orion 3 presented by BetMGM. And we are at the Cotton Bowl where Texas players are getting a gold hat right now. Is that real gold? I believe it is real gold. This is everything's golder in Texas. Man, okay. So not that entertaining of a game, but I think a revelatory one. Well, a lot happened.

There's a lot going on. There's a lot to process from this game because we came into this thinking Oklahoma could not Texas out of the college football playoff. Oklahoma could set itself up for a CFP run. Now, Texas is still alive. Yes. Life support, but still alive. And showed a lot of promise for the rest of the season because you saw some of the issues that had played the offensive line early in the game. You saw Arch Manning deal with those effectively. You saw the line get better as the game went on. Yeah, yeah. Andy, I think you made the right point in the middle of the game. and I think that it's very easy to pile on Arch Manning.

This isn't a discussion or re-litigation about whether or not he's lived up to the hype. But I thought he played a really functionally good game. He played a great game with what he was dealing with. Because he was dealing with a ton of pressure early on, and he didn't create any disasters. He didn't make it any worse. And in fact, got them out of trouble a bunch of times. And then as the blocking got better, the offense got better. I think Steve Sarkeesian called a better game for Arch than he has.

there was a lot of quick game. There were some screens. There were some things that used Oklahoma's pressure against them. Now, we would be remiss because here's the difference between this week and the Florida game last week. Texas's defense shut Oklahoma down against Florida. Florida was moving the ball consistently. The Texas offense couldn't really get in a rhythm. Today, the Texas offense was getting the ball back very quickly because the defense was getting it back for them.

Yeah. And like, I think in the first half, Andy, it was kind of like an easy, to isolate Texas as like, well, their offensive line isn't blocking very well, and they don't have a savior-worthy type player who you can take a four-yard pass of the house. And I thought that as the game went on, you would anticipate that the exact opposite of what did happen would happen, which is that Oklahoma and their defensive line would continue to overwhelm the offensive line. Archmanning would be limited in his ability to get it out to players that can make things easier and all those things. And, you know, Texas ended up wearing down Oklahoma.

Oklahoma, as the game went on, became less fundamentally sound. They started making mistakes. The pressure was building. John Mateer obviously didn't play very well. I don't know if that reason is because he was injured or anything else. I don't necessarily think it was because he was injured. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with the way he was throwing the ball. He certainly wasn't afraid to run the ball.

It just looked like there wasn't anybody open, and he was just throwing it up for grabs. There were three interceptions, and one was a deflection. one bounced off a receiver's hands, but he threw it behind the receiver. And then another one, he just threw up for grabs at the end of the first half. And Brent Venables will have to answer for how he handled the end of the first half, but it didn't really matter because they wouldn't get in the end zone all day.

So they could have kicked that field goal. He still would have lost. Yeah, you know, and I think the part of the reason why we thought Oklahoma would cover this game is because I thought we would get more out of their offense. Yeah. Because you got nothing from them at all. No, and that's the thing.

And this is the part that we overestimated. overestimated how much difference Mateer would make when they played a really good defense. And we thought, okay, Auburn's a pretty good defense, but maybe Auburn's not as good of a defense as Texas. And the rest of the way, Oklahoma's schedule is absolutely brutal. So they're not out of the CFP race by any stretch.

I mean, you can be 10 and 2 with this schedule. You might even be able to be 9 and 3 with this schedule. I will die by the take that 9 and 3 gets them in. Look at what they've got left. You know that. But if they are 9 and 3, They might not get in. They also might not go nine and three. Like if they play the way they're playing on offense, the rest of the way,

they're going to have four losses. The rest of the schedule, if you don't know, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, LSU. If they play the way they did today, they will have at least four losses. No question, no question. I don't think I came away from this game feeling like either of those two teams could win the national title this year. I think it's a fair thing to say.

That said, that doesn't mean that Texas can't stop. start feeling better about itself. Well, and that's the thing. You know, we all buried Arch prematurely, and I think Arch didn't have the greatest game today, but Arch got them out of trouble. Arch was not the problem. And there were times against Florida where Arch was still the problem, but it was more the offensive line.

Yeah, I actually think I would give him an A plus for navigating dirty pockets in this game. He certainly did. So 21 to 27, 166 yards, one touchdown, and the key stat, zero interceptions. and he got out of a lot of sacks that would have just killed drives. And sometimes he had to throw it away. But a lot of times he got out of there and found somebody open, checked it down, got something out of nothing. Yeah, there's no question. I thought he played a good game.

You know, if your idea was that he was going to be Superman and would single-handedly win you games, that's not what you're getting from him. But I think that with the defense that Texas put on the field there, that's more of the defense that we were anticipating that they would have. Like, that's the thing that's been so confusing about this Texas team all year, Andy. It's not just that Arch Manning has been the biggest flop in the history of the world. That's not what's surprising to me is that their offensive playmakers aren't making it easier. Their offensive line can't block. Their defense got blown off the ball against Florida. It's not like the entire team was like not functioning well.

And for the entire first half of that football game out there, football game, I thought that, you know, it looked like they didn't have any answers. People were asking in the press box at halftime. What is, what is Sark supposed to do? Nobody on offense can do anything. When we were criticizing Venables's handling of the end of the first half, it was because we thought, Scoring nine might be enough. And it turned out it wasn't going to be enough. And the drive that Texas went on to finally reach the end zone to become the first team to reach the end zone,

you thought, okay, they're going to win this game because Oklahoma can't do this. Oklahoma, and it really, and one of the commenters put it right, we whistled past the graveyard all week, the lack of Oklahoma's run game. And I've said that their run game was mostly John Mateer based. Yeah. But it really showed up today that they don't have somebody that they can just hand the ball to. And look, Florida handled Texas's defense because Florida has Jaden Baugh. Jadenbaugh is a 230-pound wrecking ball who's very hard.

He was gaining yards that the Oklahoma running backs could not gain. And that made a huge difference in that game. You know the one thing, too, I've got a few Texas fans in my ear all the time. It's like college football is an or a sport. And like when you are a team like Texas and you spend all week getting criticized and everybody's bearing you, I think they, that they deserve that. Oh, but it helps you. Yeah. And I don't even know if I'm saying they came out and won this game, but I think that, you know, it's a lesson that I need to take a better, you know, track of.

And I think I tried my best this week to at least acknowledge that Texas could win this game that, like, teams aren't always. is cooked. Now, Penn State, on the other hand, they're cooked. They're cooked. Yeah, Penn State's cooked. But like, you know, Texas lost to Florida, and that was a bad loss, but, you know, they're still very much alive. And when you spend so much time just assuming, like, think about all the stuff that everybody assumed this week. Everybody assumed that Oregon would blow out. We did. We both picked Indiana to cover, not to win. Tyler Shoemaker picked him to win. Everybody just assumes that Penn State's going to beat Northwestern. We shouldn't be assuming anything.

And I think it was dangerous that so many people were on Oklahoma. And I think part of the reason why is because Meteer played and you thought you were going to get, like Meteer didn't play like Meteer today. And I don't know if it was because he was banged up or because he hasn't practiced much. I think he had people in his face and nobody opened. Yeah, I mean, that might be it too. Like you said, you know, this is going to be a conversation in that room in five minutes when Brent Venables walks in is, did you rush him back and do you think that you made the right decision?

But the thing is if Michael Hawkins had played, the result would have been the same. I'm sure what have been. The receivers wouldn't have been open and the backs would have any yards and it would have been worse because Hawkins isn't as good to run. I wonder if you take away some of the turnovers. I wonder if like the passes that were behind receivers that turned into picks were as a result of not feeling well. I don't know.

It's all. I'm just speculating right now. But like if Oklahoma got the material that is top five and everyone's Heisman poll right now today, it would have been a closer game and they didn't get that. But I don't know if we if that material exists because we haven't seen the material against this level of defense yet

and might be that just is just who he is. And this level of defense got destroyed by Florida last week. So it's good to see that Texas might be their defense might be back. If they can start drawing up a game plan to make the offensive line. Because here's the thing with Texas.

I think that they should feel good about the win today. Obviously, it completely changes the script of the season. If they would have lost today, it would have been an absolute dumpster fire, all the things. Message board post talking about whether or not Steve Sarkesian getting back together with his wife is the reason why he doesn't have enough time to prepare. All that stuff. Or the Steve Sarkesian

needs to hire an offensive corner. You're like turning Steve Sarkesian into Billy Napier all of a sudden. But Texas has issues that were apparent in the first half of this game and have been apparent at multiple times at different points in the season aren't fixed. Those are still going to come back later on in the season. But we put up Oklahoma's remaining schedule earlier. Texas's remaining schedule is a lot easier than Oklahoma's.

It's not easy. Like they still have to go to Georgia. They still have to play Texas A&M. But it's much easier than what Oklahoma has to face. Is the word manageable. But the thing. The thing is, no room for error whatsoever. They cannot lose because they are not in the position where their schedule is so difficult that they can get in at nine and three.

They have to keep winning. Well, you know, the thing that we were going to do or I was going to do, one of us was going to do before the game or when it seemed like Oklahoma was going to win was revisit the question of Brent Venables. Yeah. That he last year in that room right across the hallway there, somebody asked him if he was concerned about the gap that was between Texas and his program and he said no. We don't have to re-litigate the answer. but my question to you is how should Oklahoma fans feel about Brent and Venables right now? The gap manifested itself right out there. Did the gap happen again?

Because it wasn't John Meteer necessarily. Like if your offensive line blocks better, if your backs break more tackles, if your receivers get open, then you win the game. Okay. And that is you don't have as talented a roster as they have. Yeah. At least this game was competitive, but then as the game went on, it started to feel like last year. It did. And it felt hope.

hopeless after Texas scored that time. It was only 13-6. Yeah. There's one possession game. It felt hopeless at that point for Oklahoma. Yeah. Because I think that the entire thought process about BV in Oklahoma this year was, you know, they're not supposed to go win the national title this year,

but you want to see market improvement. You want to see them play a close game. Remember we used to say play Texas? You can lose that game, play them close, and you still have your entire season ahead of you. Would you consider that game being played close? No. No.

And that's the problem is like, When you are struggling with Texas's past rush, you're going to go play South Carolina next week. Dylan Stewart is an alien. You may be dealing with something similar. You may be dealing with something similar next week. You're going to be dealing with something similar against Missouri, something similar against LSU,

something similar against Alabama. Yeah. I mean, look at what Alabama did today. Yeah. Alabama went to Missouri and went an incredibly tough game. Yeah. So that's what Oklahoma faces is, is an absolute gauntlet.

And it's interesting because Texas, again, their backs are against the wall, but I actually feel like Texas has a better chance of making the college football playoff than Oklahoma does. Yeah, probably, because Texas is schedule. It's more manageable. Now, you've got to go to Athens

and win against a team you couldn't beat twice last year. Texas is better. Their extra losses against Ohio State. They have a head-to-head win over Oklahoma and they, you know, I mean, I don't know how you could say with a straight face at Oklahoma. Well, I'm not talking about it. If they are competing head-to-head for the spot, I'm talking

more likely in general yeah yeah but still both both both scenarios texas has the advantage so yeah well i tell you what it it was it was hopeless when they scored the touchdown the niblet with the punt return yeah was the end that was the dagger yeah once we saw him running down the sideline it was over and that's the thing like texas needed something like that they needed a big special teams player an athlete being a better athlete they're going to need that all year they need people to step up and turn average plays into great ones they need to lift up arch their defense needs to get stops They need to create turnovers, and they need to score on special things. But I will say for as much as we buried the Texas offensive line, and it was shaky early in this game.

Tightened up, yeah. It was better as the game went on. And I think it may be that Steve Sarkesian has figured out how to call the game a little bit better based on what he has. I'm also very curious, too, of what this does to propel Texas moving forward in terms of confidence, what this does to propel Arch Manning's play. To get a win in a rivalry game, you know how important that is. you know, a Texas fan will tell you great players perform in games

like legends play. Legends perform in this game. And, you know, I don't know that Arch Manning did anything out there that would make him a legend, you know, other than win it. But, you know, confidence in a young player and doing good things against what we, I mean, I still think that Oklahoma is a quality team. Right. I think that that's a good thing.

So Texas is, I don't know that they're a top 10 team by any stretch of the imagination, but they certainly have their chance to play back into it. And we will see if they can and we'll see if Oklahoma can hang on. That's the best part. of all this. It's not over yet. Context. Not over for Texas, not over for Oklahoma. Texas survives. Oklahoma's backs, probably against the wall now. We'll see how it plays out the rest of the way.