Texas-Oklahoma State, TCU-Oklahoma highlight Slovacek's I-35 Showdowns

Slovacek's logoTo honor the loyal football fans that travel great distances to support their favorite team, DCTF and our friends from Slovacek’s in West, Texas are proud to present The Slovacek’s I-35 Showdowns of the Week. Texas (2-1) at Oklahoma State (2-2) 11 a.m. Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK As tumultuous as the last several years have been on the 40 Acres, at least one thing has remained a constant: Texas thrives in Stillwater. While some other Big 12 schools have dreaded their bi-annual trip to Boone Pickens Stadium, the Longhorns are actually undefeated there since before the name was changed from Lewis Field. Since 1999, which was Mack Brown’s first trip to Stillwater with Texas, the Longhorns have won eight straight there. The current Texas team, however, is less focused on keeping that streak going as much as they want to get back to the magic of their opening-night comeback victory over Notre Dame and put their futile defensive effort against Cal behind them. A big part of the late-night debacle in Berkeley was the Texas secondary’s inability to cover Cal receiver Chad Hansen, who torched them for 12 receptions from Davis Webb for 196 yards and two scores. They’ll be facing an even more potent big-play threat against Oklahoma State, as James Washington has become quarterback Mason Rudolph’s favorite target and just the latest in a long-line of lethal deep-threat Cowboy wide outs. Thus far, the Texas offense has been able to lean on their strong run game, as tailbacks D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren are both on pace to gain 1,000 yards this season. They’ll be facing an Oklahoma State defense that, despite losing to Baylor last week, largely kept the Bears’ vaunted running game in check- allowing just 136 yards on the ground. This will put more pressure on Texas’ two-quarterback system, and require Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes to make more big plays in the passing game. Oklahoma (1-2) at TCU (3-1)4 p.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth If the previous four meetings between the Frogs and Sooners are any indication, we’re in for a real treat of a game Saturday afternoon in the Panther City. Oklahoma has won three of the four meetings between the teams since TCU joined the Big 12, but no one has had an easy time in this budding conference rivalry. The Sooners’ 24-17 win in 2012 has been the most lopsided of the bunch, and even that game was not over until a potentially tying touchdown pass was broken up in the endzone as time expired. Over the past four seasons, the average margin of victory between these two teams has been 3.75 points. The closest game during that stretch was Oklahoma’s one-point victory in Norman a year ago when they staved off a would-be miraculous comeback by a TCU team missing Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson. Both teams come into this weekend’s matchup with September non-conference losses on their ledger, which they are looking to forget by focusing on their still-perfect marks in conference play. The Sooners come into Fort Worth with the advantage of a week off, though the loss of defensive starters Matt Dimon and Tay Evans and the inconsistent play of quarterback Baker Mayfield are cause for concern. TCU comes into this week after a dominating defensive effort against SMU, but they have not yet played to the level expected from a Gary Patterson-coached defense. On offense, the Frogs have averaged 576 yards and 43 points per game – but have often shot themselves in the foot with turnovers and drive-killing drops and penalties.