Red River provides the mayhem with an instantaneous classic in

• David Hale, ESPN Staff WriterOct 7, 2023, 05:15 PM ET Close ACC reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012.
• Graduate of the University of Delaware.Oklahoma coach Brent Venables wasn’t

worried about all the pomp and pageantry, ebbs and flows, big plays and fried, well, everything, in this year’s Red River Competition. Rather, he told his group to “accept the mayhem.”

Mayhem was everywhere Saturday.Quinn Ewers tossed picks on two of his very first 6 passes, then finished 19 straight.Oklahoma’s special teams unraveled in amazing fashion.The Sooners

‘defensive front engineered havoc at the line of scrimmage.Dillon Gabriel tossed for 285 lawns, ran for 113 and looked as much a magician as a quarterback.There were 7 lead modifications and 3 ties.And in the most chaotic moment, when Texas got a lead on a 47-yard field goal with 1:17 to play, Venables’group was cool as a cucumber.

(Albeit a fried cucumber covered in chocolate and powdered sugar, we assume.)It was the type of game where, when it’s over, you simply wish to drive the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile out into the middle of the desert, play the bongos naked, and ponder whether time is a human construct or simply the nature of a simulated universe that we’re all living in. Or, you know, whatever Matthew McConaughey has actually planned for the rest of the night.hats off @TexasFootball @OU_Football pic.twitter.com/PgNRK0Y0Vx!.?.!— Matthew McConaughey(@McConaughey) October 7, 2023 Gabriel took his team 75 backyards on 5 plays in just 1:02, evading pressure in his face on one last heave into the back of the end zone to Nic Anderson for a game-winning goal in an absolutely legendary send-off to the Big 12– or was it an early welcome to the SEC?– at the Cotton Bowl.A year back, Oklahoma was annihilated, embarrassed and overloaded in a 49-0 loss to Texas.On Saturday, the Sooners moved to 6-0 on the season, and delivered a destructive blow to Texas’immense hopes for 2023. Here’s the part where we make the joke about Texas frustrating once again. You understand the drill. Almost every year, we all get thrilled that Texas is back, even if, in the back of our minds, we’re specific that go back to the national conversation will be

temporary. Every year we accept its return out of some sense of loyalty or nostalgia, excited to remember a simpler time, just to spend some unfortunate October Saturday doubled over in pain, sobbing and pleading God’s forgiveness for committing ourselves to this wretched abomination of diverse parts that was never intended to be consumed by the masses. play 1:44 Dillon Gabriel shines as Oklahoma gets awesome win over Texas After Texas takes the lead late, Dillon Gabriel comes up substantial on the last drive, giving Oklahoma the Red River Competition win.Basically, Texas is the McRib of college football.And yet, that doesn’t feel right this time around. This wasn’t the usual humiliation of losing to Kansas or blowing a 21-point fourth-quarter lead or texting a disgraced Ohio State assistant”OK, cool. Hook ’em” or”Horns Down”

chants or pet monkeys determined on attacking innocent trick-or-treaters. This was a loss, however in some way felt like an advance– a game in which Texas showed worthy of the hype, simply a little less explosive than the Sooners.On the Crimson side of the Cotton Bowl, Oklahoma had its own share of questions to address. Venables took over a program that, if it wasn’t at the true precipice of college football’s elite, it was definitely close. Then the Sooners went 6-7 in Year 1, Gabriel missed his very first Red River game and the whispers of the Sooners’step in reverse as they got ready for a 2024 move to the SEC grew from whispers to a low grumble.But this year was going well. Oklahoma won its first five games, all by at least 2 touchdowns, but all against entirely pedestrian competition. Saturday was a true test, one filled with emotion and pressure and, yes, chaos.Well, Venables consumes turmoil for breakfast.(Also, Cookie Crisp.)There’s a script where Texas won Saturday, where Oklahoma’s errors on special groups and Ewers ‘late heroics coalesced into a significant success in which the masses actually would’ve argued, preached, believed that Texas was, undoubtedly, back.There’s another script, though, where those special

teams struggles never ever materialized, where Oklahoma cashed in with a TD on that long drive before the half, where all the things that went against them went the other method and it was a Sooners blowout.Neither ended up true, and that’s excellent, because this

game was the type of chaos this season needed.Texas required to take a punch– maybe

5 or six– and show it was difficult enough to keep getting off the mat. It did, even in a losing effort.Oklahoma required to make a few errors in order to reveal that this team had actually grown from the immature, irregular, undependable group that lost seven games a year earlier. Certainly, the Sooners showed they had not simply grown, but had internalized those hard lessons and became something more than simply gifted or skilled or, well, good.They’re survivors, and turmoil feels similar to house for a team like that.LSU wins a shootout Jayden Daniels ran for 134 backyards and a goal, threw for more than 12 lawns per pass and 3 more TDs, and LSU still had to sweat out its Week 6 game vs. Missouri.Such is life with the SEC’s most exasperating defense.A week after LSU allowed Ole Miss to circumnavigate the world on offense, the Tigers looked almost as inept against Brady Cook and the, um, other Tigers.Cook threw for 411 backyards– consisting of 149 to Luther Concern III– and Missouri led 22-10 at one point, however Cook’s streak of 365 straight pass efforts without an interception was snapped on an extremely athletic grab by Harold Perkins Jr. in the second quarter. Cook likewise threw a pick-six at the game’s end

, and Perkins later on foiled Lex Luthor’s plan to rob Fort Knox. play 0:40 Harold Perkins Jr. leaps up and picks off Brady Cook for an LSU INT Brady Cook’s SEC-record 366 pass efforts without an

interception pertains to an end at the hands of LSU’s

Harold Perkins Jr.If you’re counting– and, honestly, we hope you have access to a quantum computer if you are– LSU has permitted 94 points and 1,233 backyards in its previous 2

games. Naturally, it has actually also represented 98 points and 1,170 yards of offense.According to ESPN Stats & Details, LSU games have now reviewed the wagering point total 10 straight times and, according to guv Kim Reynolds, all Bayou Bengals games will come with a specific content caution when displayed in Iowa.Where’s _ hi _ State’s O?If Week 5 was the moment we were all required to ask whether Georgia was the elite team we ‘d come to anticipate in 2023,

Week

6 raised the exact same concerns about Ohio State.Editor’s Picks Yes, the Buckeyes ultimately cruised past Maryland 37-17 by scoring the game’s last 27 points, however with TreVeyon Henderson out and the run game scuffling, there were more than a couple of moments Saturday when Ohio State’s offense, which looked as explosive as any in the country on paper,

appeared woefully except weapons.Of course, one of those weapons was Marvin Harrison Jr., which resembles stating you’re short on cash aside from that trillion-dollar costs in your back pocket.For the game, Ohio State balanced 1.9 yards per rush.(That’s bad.

)Harrison, on the other hand, balanced 20.4 yards per catch. (That’s excellent.)Kyle McCord targeted Harrison 15 times– majority of his 29 tosses– for 8 catches and 163 yards. The remainder of the offense, overall, handled

just 219 yards on

47 plays.It’s totally possible we’ve yet to see anything near the complete artillery at Ohio State. Henderson’s health matters, and the ground game will have better days. It may be Ohio vs. the world, however it definitely doesn’t need to be Harrison doing all the fighting.But in this year’s Huge Ten, there’s not much margin for error, and Ohio State’s offense– 23 points vs. woeful Indiana, 17 vs. a strong Notre Dame– requires to discover a new gear if it’s going to survive the rest of a season that still features dates with Penn State, at Wisconsin and at the Huge House.Another Eagles get away Simply looking for a little drama on Saturday? Boston College games are essentially one long episode of”Lost “– unusual, mysterious, badly plotted however seriously enthralling.Through 6 weeks,

the Eagles are 3-3. All three wins, including Saturday’s 27-24 squeaker against Army, have visited 3 points. 2 of the 3 losses have likewise come by a field goal or less.Basically, the

“C”in BC represents”cardiologist.” BC lost its opener in OT after storming back from a 21-7 deficit in the 4th quarter.It took a top-five Florida State team to the wire, only to be dropped in a ruthless late flag.It almost blew a 10-point lead against Holy Cross. It erased a 21-7 deficit versus Virginia to win.And Saturday, Thomas Castellanos’4th goal run of the game provided BC another win, just minutes after Army had seemed to put the game away with a long TD pass recalled by a penalty.Struggling Georgia Tech, UConn, Virginia Tech and Pitt are all left on the schedule, so BC definitely has a course towards a championship game, if it can prevent quite so much drama progressing. Or

it can follow the”Lost “formula, drag things out to the final week versus Miami, and then get eaten by a smoke monster.