The Red River Rivalry never fails to deliver, last year's 49-0 beatdown being an exception.

It's where the finest athletes the Southwest has to offer meet on one field and collectively lose their marbles (See fake punts, blocked punts, and two first quarter interceptions from Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers). It's where the only thing these two rabid fan bases agree upon is a collective boo that rains down when the stadium announces beer sales conclude at the end of the third quarter.

No. 3 Texas lost a 34-30 thriller on a three-yard Dillon Gabriel touchdown pass to Nic Anderson in the back corner of the endzone. But the Longhorns gave this game away with turnovers and a lack of execution.

Three Thoughts

Texas got out-physicaled: Sure, losing starting center Jake Majors in the first quarter was a blow, but Texas was bullied by Oklahoma on both lines of scrimmage.

The Longhorns surrendered five sacks on the day, the most critical coming when Jacob Lacy got to Quinn Ewers on a second down RPO deep into the fourth quarter. Head coach Steve Sarkisian said Texas, at that point up 30-30, was trying to hold the ball for the final possession and score to win the game. But now behind the chains in near-field goal range, Sark was forced to run it on the ensuing third down.

"I wanted to ensure we were in good field goal range," Sarkisian said. "Because if I throw a pass there and it doesn't work out, now we're out of field goal range. Ultimately to get the lead and win the game, that's what we're trying to do."

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables defensive line unit threw Texas for a loop on multiple stunts and made Ewers uncomfortable all day. But on the other side of the ball, Texas was limited to one sack as OU's up-tempo RPO scheme kept a normally ferocious defensive line off balance. The Sooners rushed for 201 yards, 113 of which came from Gabriel on scrambles. Oklahoma also went six-for-six in the red zone.

An armchair coaches' dream situation:  Let's get one thing clear, Sarkisian is a more knowledgeable offensive mind than 99.9 percent of the population, myself included.

But it's easy to question his strategy to take the ball out of Ewers's hands (31-of-37, 346 yards) with first-and-goal at the one-yard-line when Texas trailed 27-20. Sarkisian brought in defensive linemen T'Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy, who spent the afternoon chasing Gabriel, to block for a power run game on three-consecutive tries. Oklahoma's goal-line stand proved to be the deciding factor.

"We take a lot of pride in our goal-line package, it's been very effective for us over the years," Sarkisian said. "We wanted to do what we do and execute the plan that we had."

There's two sides to Sarkisian when he gets deep into his bag of tricks. On the one hand, Texas had a successful fake punt on fourth down with Jordan Whittington to steal momentum early in the first quarter. And the Longhorns did convert three-of-four 4th downs using running back Savion Red in the wildcat and Sarkisian's schemes. But on the other, fans get to question bringing in defensive linemen on the goal line for three straight tries.

"We just got to be physical," offensive tackle Christian Jones said of the sequence. "We gotta play with more grit, play with more heart, play with more edge to make those plays happen no matter what."

Everything is still on the table: At time of publish, the Big 12's only two teams with an undefeated conference record are Oklahoma and West Virgina (playing Houston Thursday night). If the Longhorns bounce-back and win all their remaining games, there's a high likelihood Texas and Oklahoma will meet again in the Big 12 Championship with a potential trip to the College Football Playoff on the line, just like in 2018.

"He (Sarkisian) already told us there was going to be adversity down the stretch and even in this game," linebacker David Gbenda said. "This is something I was prepared for. The way I like to adjust to it, and the reason why I like it (dealing with adversity) is because that just shows you how much more room we have to grow. That means we can be an even better team."

Correction: This article originally stated West Virginia played Houston Saturday night, Oct. 7. West Virginia had a bye week and plays Houston Thursday night, Oct. 12. DCTF regrets this error.