Oklahoma’s upset of Texas in the Cotton Bowl came with a couple of sophomore storylines front and center.
Trystan Haynes and Trent Wilson, both underclassmen, helped steady the Sooners’ defense in a 27-24 win over the Longhorns. Haynes, a sophomore cornerback, got his first career start with junior standout Eli Bowen out. Wilson, in his second year, was part of the defensive front that kept Texas under wraps for most of the afternoon.
Haynes didn’t have the luxury of easing into anything. Texas went after him right away, forcing him into tackles early and putting him under immediate stress. Cam Coleman beat him for the game’s first touchdown, but Haynes settled in and finished with seven tackles as the game kept moving at Cotton Bowl speed.
“Getting that first pass breakup on the second play… whenever you get that, it's like you kind of get that momentum going and get that confidence up,” Haynes said on Monday. “So yeah, definitely settled me into the game right there.”
Brent Venables credited Haynes’ preparation and pointed to position coach LaMar Morgan, while defensive end Taylor Wein liked the way the sophomore handled the moment.
“I think it says a lot about our coaches,” Wein said. “Young guy had to step up and kind of got thrown into the fire and he responded really well.
“… To see that out of a young cat and to see the way he stepped up and took the challenge head on, it was super encouraging.”
Haynes said the support around him mattered too.
“I feel like it was my teammates that really instilled that confidence in me,” he said. “They believed in me whenever I went out there.
Everybody was trying to talk me up into it. So whenever you have everybody behind your back like that, and the defense that we have, it gives you a lot more confidence going into it.”
Wilson’s biggest moment came late in the first quarter, when he dropped Texas quarterback Arch Manning for a 6-yard sack that pinned the Longhorns on their own 8-yard line.
Steve Sarkisian then let the first quarter run out so Texas could switch ends and get away from the Oklahoma half of the Cotton Bowl noise, but that didn’t do much good. Two plays later, Wein added another sack, and the Sooners’ blocked punt followed soon after.
“Man, (Wilson’s) gotten better,” Wein said. “He’s just progressively gotten better and better and, once again, just trusting his coaching. He didn’t do anything miraculous.
“He’s a great athlete. He’s a great human being.
But he didn’t do anything miraculous. He did his job and this defense will feed you when you do your job.”
Wilson added another tackle to go with the sack, and the performance reinforced a simple point for Oklahoma: the younger defenders can make real noise when their number is called. Haynes played every defensive snap Saturday alongside Courtland Guillory, and Wilson delivered in a key spot when the game was still taking shape.
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