Oklahoma football: Notable numbers from a marathon OU victory
By Chip Rouse
If in this weird and wacky 2020 Oklahoma football season, if the college game were just three-quarters long, the Sooners might be 4-0.
Oklahoma has exploded out of the gate in the opening quarter in its four games, outscoring its opponents by a whopping 58-3 margin. That advantage grows to 96-37 by halftime and 127-61 after three quarters.
On Saturday, in the 116th edition of the annual rivalry game billed as the Red River Showdown, the Sooners led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter and 31-17 after three quarters. But this game did not end after three quarters. Fortunately for the Sooners, it wasn’t over after four quarters, either.
The Longhorns were effectively left for dead with just 5:02 remaining in the game and Oklahoma with a 31-17 lead and the ball. The Texas defense rose to the opportunity, forcing consecutive three and outs by the OU offense, and quarterback Sam Ehlinger, true to form, made the Sooners pay, turning those two possession exchanges into two game-tying scores, sending the game to overtime.
It took four extra sessions and nearly five hours of total game time before a final decision was reached in this, the highest-scoring and longest game in the history of the longtime OU-Texas rivalry.
Senior cornerback Trey Brown intercepted an Ehlinger pass in the end zone in the fourth overtime to end the game and give Oklahoma a dramatic 53-48 win.
At day’s end, the up-and-down Sooners kept fighting to the very end and avoided falling to 0-3 in the Big 12 and suffering a third consecutive defeat for the first time since 1998.
Here are some of the other notable numbers that help tell the story of the game:
2 — This is only the second OU-Texas game to go into overtime. Oklahoma won the other overtime game in the series, 30-27 in 1996.
3 — Spencer Rattler is only the third Oklahoma quarterback to beat Texas as a freshman starter.
4 — Four times since 2000, Oklahoma has come into its game with Texas having lost the game immediately before, and all four times the Sooners have rebounded from the loss with a win over the Longhorns.
6 — Touchdowns accounted for in the game by Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger (4 rushing and 2 passing).
14 – Oklahoma is now 16-0 against Texas when they have led the Longhorns by 1t least 14 points after three quarters.
15/25 — The Sooner defense sacked Texas QB Sam Ehlinger six times in Saturday’s game. That gives OU 15 sacks and 25 tackles for loss in its last two games against Texas.
41-8 — Since the start of the 2012 season, Oklahoma is 41-8 in games away from Norman. They have scored at least 30 points in 41 of the 49 games.
56 — The Sooners have scored at least 28 points in 56 consecutive games.
98 — Total points scored in the game (36 coming in overtime), making the 2020 game the highest-scoring in the history of the rivalry series. The previous high was 93, scored in Texas’ 48-45 win in 2018.
24,000 — Attendance at the Cotton Bowl for the 2020 Red River Showdown. That is the smallest crowd to attend an OU-Texas games since 1930.