DALLAS — Quinn Ewers returned from injury to lead No. 1 Texas to a 34-3 win over 18th-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday, throwing for 199 yards and the go-ahead touchdown and running for another score in the teams’ first Red River Rivalry matchup as SEC members.
Quintrevion Wisner ran for 118 yards and a touchdown for the Longhorns (6-0, 2-0 SEC), and his fumble at the end of another long run was recovered in the end zone by teammate Silas Bolden for a TD.
Ewers overcame a sluggish start and finished 20-of-29 passing in his first game since an abdomen strain four weeks ago. He was sacked for the only time on the game’s first play and threw an interception on his first pass.
The first meeting under their new conference logo was the 120th in the series that dates to 1900 and has been played annually during the State Fair of Texas since 1929. Oklahoma (4-2, 1-2) won five of the last six times they played while together in the Big 12, but the Longhorns have a 64-51-5 series advantage.
Texas went ahead to stay when Ewers rolled to his right, then threw back left to Gunnar Helm for a 7-yard TD early in the second quarter for a 7-3 lead. That was after the Longhorns trailed in a game for the first time this season.
Michael Hawkins Jr., the first true freshman quarterback to start for Oklahoma against the Longhorns, was 16 of 24 for 120 yards. He ran 20 times for 27 yards, including being sacked five times, while the Sooners had only 225 total yards.
Bolden’s heads-up recovery in the back corner of the end zone with 2:21 left in the first half came at the end of a 36-yard run by Wisner, who had the ball knocked out by Robert Spears-Jennings inside the 5.
Hawkins fumbled on the first play after the 2-minute timeout, stripped by Anthony Hill Jr., and Wisner had a 43-yard TD on the next snap for a 21-3 halftime lead in one of the hottest Red River games. It was 92 degrees at kickoff at the Cotton Bowl, one below the record.
