Oklahoma football: Five unforgettable OU-Texas battles of the last 50 years
By Chip Rouse
2008 — Texas 45, Oklahoma 35
The 2008 Red River rivalry game featured top-ranked Oklahoma and No. 5 Texas in another classic top-five showdown. The teams were led by future All-American quarterbacks Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Colt McCoy of Texas.
The Sooners jumped out in front early, leading by as many as 11 points twice in the first half before Texas rallied late in the opening 30 minutes to close within 21-20 at the intermission.
The Longhorns received the second-half kickoff but were forced to punt after being held to a three-and-out by the OU defense. Bradford directed the Sooners on a 51-yard scoring drive on the ensuing possession to increase the Oklahoma lead to 28-20. That’s when things began to fall apart for the Sooners.
Texas answered the Oklahoma score with a touchdown of its own to pull within a point again at 28-27. A failed fake punt on fourth down by Oklahoma turned the ball over on downs to Texas on the Texas 47-yard line. The Longhorns advanced the ball to the OU 28-yard line, where Hunter Lawrence kicked a field goal to give Texas its first lead, 30-28. It marked the first time in six games that the Sooners had trailed.
Oklahoma regained the lead, 35-30, scoring a touchdown three minutes into the fourth quarter, but Texas scored 15 unanswered points after that to put an explanation point on the come-from-behind win and hand top-ranked Oklahoma its first loss of the season.
The two teams combined for 973 yards of offense (438 by Texas and 435 for the Sooners). All but 26 of OU’s total yards came through the air. Bradford completed 28 of 39 passes, including five touchdown throws.
The Red River loss to Texas would be the only Oklahoma loss in the regular season. The Sooners tied with Texas and Texas Tech for the championship of the Big 12 South Division that season, but owned the tiebreaker because of their higher ranking in the BCS standings. They defeated Missouri in the Big 12 championship game. As the No. 2 team in the final BCS standings, OU played No. 1 Florida in the national championship game, but lost to the Tim Tebow and the Gators 24-14.