Oklahoma football: This year’s Red River game highest-scoring ever

With 35 total points scored in the first quarter alone, 28 by Texas, you had the feeling that it was going to be a long one for fans of Oklahoma football.

Forty-five minutes of game time later and over four hours in real time, it was Oklahoma with the most points and an improbable 55-48 victory over archrival Texas.

Down 41-23 with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter, Oklahoma scored 25 unanswered points and outscored the No. 15-ranked Texas Longhorns 32-7 the rest of the way and ripped the heart out of the upset-minded Longhorns.

It took only 20 seconds for Texas to punch Oklahoma right in the face, with wide receiver Xavier Worthy ripping off a75-yard touchdown run on a quick pass to the flat. A minute and a half later, the Longhorns blocked an OU punt, recovering the ball at the Sooner two-yard line. In two plays, Texas was on the board again, stretching the lead to 14-0.

The tone had been set, and it was abundantly clear that Texas had come into the 117th edition of the Red River Showdown with a chip on its shoulder and had come to play.

Oklahoma finally got its act together offensively on its second possession, going 75 yards in 10 plays, with quarterback Spencer Rattler taking it himself the final two yards for a touchdown.

Texas scored two more times before the first quarter was over, and it appeared the rout was on and that Oklahoma had no answer for quarterback Casey Thompson and and the Longhorn offense.

The two teams not only flipped sides coming out of the locker room at intermission but momentum as well.

Here are 12 more notable numbers that tell the story of this record-breaking Red River rivalry game:

1 — Spencer Rattler’s fumble in the second quarter was the first Oklahoma lost fumble of the season through six games. The Sooners have had five passes intercepted, all by Rattler.

4 — It was Oklahoma’s fourth consecutive win over Texas (three in the regular season and one in the Big 12 championship game in 2018). Lincoln Riley is 5-1 against Texas as the Sooners’ head coach, and OU has won 10 of the last 13 meetings and 16 of the past 23.

4-4 — Gabe Brkic was a perfect four for four in field goal attempts on Saturday. His longest was 40 yards.

7-4 — Oklahoma’s record over Texas since the 2000 season when wearing its white uniforms as the visiting team. If you’re curious, the Sooners are 8-3 since 2000 against Texas when they are the designated home team in their crimson jerseys.

14 — The win on Saturday extends Oklahoma’s consecutive-games winning streak to 14 games. With Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M, OU now has the longest active winning streak in college football.

25 — Texas came into Saturday’s game with Oklahoma with a third-down conversion success rate of better than 50 percent. The Sooners held the Longhorns to just 4 of 12 in third-down tries (25 percent).

28 — Texas’ first-quarter output in the first quarter on Saturday. It was the most first-quarter points Oklahoma has ever allowed. The previous high was 22 by Nebraska in 1989.

103 — Total points scored in this year’s OU-Texas game, eclipsing last year’s record of 98 points (53-45 in four overtimes).

137 — Rushing yards against OU by Bijan Robinson of Texas. He is only the second player to rush for 100 or more yards against the Sooners in the last 19 games. Fifty of Robinson’s yards on Saturday came on one play in the second quarter. Otherwise, he might have been held under 100 yards.

217 — Kennedy Brooks’ 217 rushing yards was the fourth best rushing performance by an Oklahoma player against Texas and the first time a Sooners has rushed for 200 or more yards in a game since Trey Sermon rushed for 206 yards against Texas Tech in 2018.

662 — Total yards of offense by Oklahoma on Saturday. That’s the most yards of offense by Oklahoma this season and the most ever by the Sooners against Texas.

92,100 — Attendance at the Cotton Bowl for the Oklahoma-Texas game on Saturday.