Just got back into Austin. Haven't read Surly at all since the game. My take, for what it is worth, after seeing it live:
1.) We lost the line of scrimmage. We couldn't really establish the run, they pressured Sam a fair amount, we had zero pass rush, and while we defended the run well most of the game, we couldn't stop it when we absolutely needed to on their six minute closeout drive.
2.) We are just a dumb fucking team from the top down. It was telling when they showed the Academic All Conference selections from each B12 team on the jerrytron and we had very, very few contributors on the list. I can't even count the stupid/ sloppy mistakes. How many times did we give ourselves 1st and 15? We were constantly out of position and conceding the edge on OU's predictable bubble screens as if we'd never fucking seen one before. 13 games in and our DBs still have no ball skills and therefore draw flags, and no one on the defense understands angles. Hegar and Boyd, who should be senior leaders, both committed mind-numbingly stupid penalties that really hurt us. That we could just whiff on a corner blitz on our own two is equally stunning. Honestly, I was shocked at how generally unprepared this team looked. Add to that the complete dumbfuckery at the end of the first half and this was a really, really bad game for the coaching staff.
3.) The officiating was putrid. It was clear they wanted one team to win. Yes, it went both ways to an extent - the crew was laughably incompetent. And yes, the majority of our penalties were deserved. OU was clearly playing under a different set of rules, though. They were given free reign to do the things we consistently drew flags for. I criticized the coaching staff above but I don't know what a coach is supposed to tell his guys to keep them motivated and believing when it is pretty obviously not a level playing field. I'm not sure Texas played well enough to win if that is removed but that shit definitely wears on you over the course of a game.