Nickey Nearly Perfect As Sooners Trounce Longhorns
Boone Tillman // Sooner Born • Published: October 11th, 2031
The Oklahoma Sooners entered the Red River Shootout undefeated against our most hated rival under head coach Armando Leon, a fact Leon will proudly be able to boast for another year after his Sooners throttled the Longhorns 49-24 at the Cotton Bowl under the blazing Texas' sun.
Both offenses were in peak form during the electric first half, with a pair of sacks on the Longhorns' second drive the only thing that kept the boys in burnt orange from keeping up with our crimson and cream heroes. In fact, the Sooners were a perfect four-for-four in the first half, needing a 3-yard completion to Maurice Lucky on fourth down to extend their lead to 21-7.
However, while the Sooners were a slow, yet steady, engine churning down the field, the Texas Longhorns were a Ferrari. Each of Oklahoma's four scoring drives exceeded at least ten plays each, while Texas' own drives were five plays or less. After an electric kickoff return following Lucky's third touchdown catch of the afternoon, that pushed the Sooners' lead to 28-10, Spiegel and the Texas offense only needed two plays, spanning 32 yards, before Spiegel found Tony Vallejo in the endzone to cut into the Sooners lead going into the half trailing 28-17.
After the first half explosion, many thought the second half would bring more of the same. The Oklahoma Sooners got the memo, but the Longhorns appeared to be used up after the break. Oklahoma scored 21 straight points, two more Maurice Lucky touchdowns before Nickey earned a rare rushing touchdown for himself, before Spiegel could muster a final drive to buoy the Longhorns' shattered confidence.
While Maurice Lucky set the Sooners' new single-game receiving touchdown record, all of the talk after the game was about Markelle Nickey's dazzling performance. Nickey was nearly perfect on the afternoon, going a crisp 41 of 44 for 398 yards and five touchdowns, marking his second straight game with five or more touchdowns after the rough outing against the Oregon Ducks.
Post-game, Armando Leon praised the work of his sophomore quarterback following the humbling loss.
•••
Question One - James McDavid (OU Daily): "Coach Leon. Two games ago, Markelle Nickey threw three interceptions and barely completed over 50% of his passes in the narrow loss to Oregon. Since then, he's nearly had as many touchdowns (10), as incompletions (12). How can you explain his sudden streak of pin-point accuracy?"
Armando Leon: "There's no secret to it, James. He simply put in the work. Some guys would pull their horns in after that humbling loss, get conservative, and play timid. Not Nick. He got back in the lab, fine-tuned his mechanics, and made sure that when he was on that field, he knew exactly where he was going with the ball. That's not luck, that's commitment to excellence. There is a reason he's the captain; he exemplifies what Sooner Football is all about."
Question Two - Meg Semental (SEC Network): "Speaking of Luck, let's talk about Maurice Lucky's record-breaking outing. Was it part of the game plan to target him early and often in the red zone, or was it more of Markelle taking what the defense gave him, to the tune of five touchdowns?"
Armando Leon: "They were playing one of their linebackers on Mo most of the night, and to be frank, we loved that matchup. Watching film from last year, there were more than a few plays that Mo had his man beat and Nick just didn't see him. We went into the preparation this week knowing that and looking to exploit it. Markelle knew the call; if Mo had one of the slower Texas linebackers on him, that was his first read, regardless of what the play call was. Game planning only gets you so far though, so hats off to both Nick and Mo, they made the plays that won the game and ultimately, got them in the record books."
Question Three - Mick Moorestead (The Daily Texan): "All of the talk about this game is going to center on Markelle Nickey's performance, but what about Ethan Spiegel? If it wasn't for Nickey's outstanding game, he'd be the talk of the town with only three incompletions and over 300 yards. When he had time, he shredded your defense. What did you see from him and the Longhorns offense that makes them scary in a potential SEC Championship rematch?"
Armando Leon: "Texas always has an explosive offense, Mick, no debates there. The difference is, we put them in as many long yardage situations as possible and live with the results. They got some chunk plays on us. But I think the most important stat to consider is this: Texas had fewer offensive yards as a team than Spiegel did passing yards. Because of sacks and tackles for loss. Those plays matter, and we made them count tonight. Should we match up again this season, I have no doubt they'll get some more chunk plays. We'll get ours, too."
•••
I gotta tell ya, folks, how Markelle Nickey responded after that Oregon loss is GROWN MAN football. He didn't pout, didn't point the finger. He went right back to work and proved why he's a champion.
Texas thought they were finally going to catch us slipping. Thought they saw some chinks in the ol' armor. Instead, they got handed back-to-back losses and are firmly on the outside looking in for the SEC Championship Game, and potentially even the postseason.
Take that explosive offense and shove it, Mick, because when push came to shove, your boys got pushed out of the game.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
| Oklahoma | 7 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 49 |
| Texas | 7 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 24 |
| Q | Team | Time | Play | Oklahoma | Texas |
| 1st | Oklahoma | 5:12 | Dillon Slye, 24 Yd Run | 7 | 0 |
| 1st | Texas | 4:02 | Darrelle Jones, 62 Yd Pass From Ethan Spiegel | 7 | 7 |
| 2nd | Oklahoma | 9:56 | Maurice Lucky, 2 Yd Pass From Markelle Nickey | 14 | 7 |
| 2nd | Oklahoma | 5:01 | Maurice Lucky, 3 Yd Pass From Markelle Nicky | 21 | 7 |
| 2nd | Texas | 3:32 | Josh Iosivas, 43 Yd FG | 21 | 10 |
| 2nd | Oklahoma | 0:32 | Maurice Lucky, 14 Yd Pass From Markelle Nickey | 28 | 10 |
| 2nd | Texas | 0:16 | Tony Vallejo, 5 Yd Pass From Ethan Spiegele | 28 | 17 |
| 3rd | Oklahoma | 5:46 | Maurice Lucky, 16 Yd Pass From Markelle Nickey | 35 | 17 |
| 3rd | Oklahoma | 1:57 | Maurice Lucky, 1 Yd Pass From Markelle Nickey | 42 | 17 |
| 4th | Oklahoma | 6:36 | Markelle Nickey, 2 Yd Run | 49 | 17 |
| 4th | Texas | 3:36 | Klay Steinmetz, 13 Yd Pass From Ethan Spiegel | 49 | 24 |
Oklahoma Texas Passing | Stats Passing | Stats ----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------ Markelle Nickey | 41/44, 390 Yds, 5 TD Ethan Spiegel | 21/24, 302 Yds, 3 TD Rushing | Stats Rushing | Stats ----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------ Dillon Slye | 11 Att, 46 Yds, TD Oscar Cherodpr | 7 Att, 15 Yds Tyler Ryder | 15 Att, 85 Yds Ethan Spiegel | 5 Att, -30 Yds Receiving | Stats Receiving | Stats ----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------ Maurice Lucky | 11 Rec, 110 Yds, 5 TD Zach Shepley | 6 Rec, 70 Yds Johnny Chubb | 7 Rec, 76 Yds Klay Steinmetz | 5 Rec, 98 Yds, TD Dillon Slye | 6 Rec, 69 Yds Darrelle Jones | 2 Rec, 70 Yds, TD Defensive | Stats Defensive | Stats ----------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------ LB Fredrick Garbutt | 6 Tkl, 2 TFL, 2 Sacks FS Nick Carmazzi | 12 Tkl, TFL MLB Gordon Paul | 5 Tkl, 3 TFL, Sack LB Darren Hynoski | 9 Tkl, 2 TFL SS Quincy Enagbare | 5 Tkl, TFL DE Alani Marts | 8 Tkl, 4 TFL
SEC Week Seven Results
21 Ole Miss (4-3) @ Vanderbilt (2-3) 7
17 New Mexico State (3-3) @ LSU (4-2) 56
23 Mississippi State (4-3) @ Arkansas (3-2) 24
38 Georgia State (3-2) @ South Carolina (1-6) 27
28 #23 Missouri (6-1) @ Kentucky (3-3) 24
49 #25 Florida (5-1) @ #17 Alabama (4-1) 35
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