Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has directed most of his completions this season to veteran receivers Jordan Shipley and Quan Cosby.
Between them, the two seniors have combined to catch 56 passes, including 10 for touchdowns. But McCoy said he expects some key completions Saturday to go to the third receiver in the Longhorns’ three-receiver set if No. 5 Texas (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) is going to knock off No. 1 Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0) in the Cotton Bowl.
Typically, that spot is manned by freshman Malcolm Williams (six catches, 33 yards) or sophomore James Kirkendoll (five catches, 80 yards).
"This is a game where everyone on the field’s number will be called at some point,"
McCoy said. "They’re going to give us open spots. But they’re going to make us search for them. Most of the time, [the open receiver] will be a guy who hasn’t played as much. A lot of time, it will be the wide side of the field and that will be one of our young receivers who rotate in and out. Whoever is in there is going to have to be sharp. We’ll be looking for them to make some plays."
Speed rushers
Although the Oklahoma offensive line is one of the nation’s largest and most decorated, Texas defenders are confident they can create havoc in the pass rush with their speed. Texas leads the nation in sacks (3.8 per game) and Oklahoma has allowed an average of only one per game.
The idea, said linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy, is to "see how many hits we can get"
on Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford in an effort to rattle him. How can Texas do that?
"I believe our speed is going to play a major role Saturday,"
Muckelroy said. "We have speed across the board on defense.
"With any quarterback, if you come out and blitz him and get a couple of hits on him, you’ll cause a guy to get nervous in the pocket. We feel like we’ve just got to get out there and see how many hits we can get on him. We want to get him out of his routine. Once we get him out of his routine, that plays into our hands."
Seeing red
Texas’ offense has scored on 96 percent of its trips into the red zone this season (25 of 26), with 23 touchdowns. The only time the Longhorns failed to score after crossing an opponent’s 20-yard line came in the UT-El Paso game.
Colt McCoy said coaches consider an 80 percent success rate in the red zone to be "a championship standard."
One problem: Oklahoma will carry a 100 percent conversion rate (24-of-24) into Saturday’s game, including 23 touchdowns.
McCoy said it will be "important"
for the Longhorns to maintain their red-zone production rate Saturday to help out the Texas defense.
Liking Lawrence
Texas has attempted only four field goals this season, but kicker Hunter Lawrence has yet to miss. Included was a 46-yarder in last week’s 38-14 victory over Colorado, the longest of Lawrence’s career. If Saturday’s game comes down to a crunch-time kick, coach Mack Brown said he’s confident he has the right guy.
"You hope you don’t need field goals in a game,"
Brown said.
"But Hunter has shown good range. He’s not only been 100 percent, it’s been true. He hasn’t been close [to missing]."
