Oklahoma football: Texas coach tired of Sooners’ Big 12 dominance
By Chip Rouse
The University of Texas is the Oklahoma football program’s biggest rival.
That is a widely known fact. These two schools have been fiercely battling it out on the gridiron long before they became part of the same conference when the Big 12 came into existence nearly 24 years ago.
Oklahoma and Texas actually were part of the same conference once before, but it was a long time ago. The Sooners and Longhorns were both founding members of the Southwest Conference when that league was formed in 1915. Oklahoma remained in the SWC just five seasons, however, leaving in 1919 to be part of the newly formed Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the first iteration of what eventually transformed over the years before becoming the Big 12.
The Longhorns are the only Big 12 school, and one of the very few in college football, that have a winning record against the Sooners. In the 115 games played between the two schools, Texas has won 62, Oklahoma 48 and five contests have ended in a tie.
Since 2000, however, Oklahoma has won 13 conference championships to just three for Texas, and to add further insult to the Red River Rivalry, the Sooners have won 14 of the 21 games, including four of the last five, during that time.
OU-Texas is one of the country’s most heralded football rivalries
All of that has Texas head coach Tom Herman frustrated and fighting mad.
In a recent interview with the Dallas Morning News and cited in an article by OU Insider Brandon Crawford of 247Sports, Herman said the Sooners’ dominance in the Big 12 with five consecutive titles “grates” at the Longhorns.
“They’ve had really good teams and really good coaches,” the Longhorns’ head coach said about Oklahoma. “They’ve had two No. 1 picks in back-to-back years and a second-round pick this past year. They’ve done a phenomenal job of recruting and developing at that position.
So what’s it going to take for Texas to turn the tables on its biggest rival?
“It’s going to take a continued effort to recruit elite talent and to develop that talent, and then one of these days they’ll (Oklahoma) stop having first- and second-round (NFL) picks at quarterback,” Herman said.
"“There’s no moral victories at Texas, especially when it comes to that school,” he said."
You can be sure that the annual Oklahoma-Texas Red River Showdown, as the game is now billed, is circled every year on both team’s calendar and is generally the biggest game of the season for both schools.
The Longhorns next chance to take down the five-time Big 12 defending champions will be the second weekend in October this year at the Cotton Bowl, when the 116th edition of this storied rivalry takes place.