NORMAN - Oklahoma’s punt coverage unit spent a year living with one ugly memory from the 2025 Red River Rivalry, and that frustration showed up in a big way when the Sooners needed it most.
On Monday, special teams coach Doug Deakin pointed back to Ryan Niblett’s 48-yard punt return from Grayson Miller in the Cotton Bowl, a play that caught Oklahoma with enough bodies around the returner to make a routine stop. Instead, Niblett slipped through traffic, got the benefit of a couple of no-calls, and turned it into the kind of return that blew the game open.
"We had nine Sooners to the left of Niblett a calendar year ago," Special Teams coach Doug Deakin said on Monday. "And he literally was able to go in a vertical line down the field and housed it against us."
That play sat with Oklahoma all season, and Deakin said his group saw it again and again. This time around, the Sooners’ punt coverage looked determined to erase it.
"(Niblett's punt return) has been played over and over more than I would love to admit to the fact. I think it motivates them and ticks them off, ‘Coach, we know.’ Yeah, they’ve seen it plenty of times since that day,” Deakin said.
Oklahoma had to be sharp against Texas, because the Sooners punted nine times in the game. Niblett got loose for a 10-yard return on the first punt and added an 11-yard return in the second quarter, but that was about as much daylight as he found.
The rest of the night, Oklahoma’s coverage unit shut the door. Niblett called for fair catches five times and was held to no gain or a loss on the other three punt returns.
"It’s a lot of credit to the drill work and the onus that they have," Deakin said. "It’s important to the guys, and they don’t ever want to give up a return. It’s their belief, and ultimately, execution-wise, they do a great job every week.
Deakin said he has built a culture around runners getting to the returner with, as he put it, "bad intentions."
That edge has shown up throughout 2026. Oklahoma’s longest punt return of the season was a 13-yard runback at the end of the first quarter against Georgia. Outside of Niblett’s pair of 10-plus-yard returns, every other punt has either ended in a fair catch or produced only minimal yardage.
"When you’re the first guy down, take your shot. Don’t go down, running down 40-plus yards not to take your shot on that returner. So, they did a great job of executing," Deakin said.
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