Red River Rivalry: Is ‘GameDay’s’ presence a good or bad omen for Sooners?

The Red River Rivalry game is set for the 11 a.m. TV window on Saturday, but Texas and Oklahoma football fans will be descending on Fair Park in Dallas, home of the State Fair of Texas and the Cotton Bowl, as early as three hours before game time.

And when they get there, they will be joined by ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which will be making its eighth appearance at the classic rivalry game — the 119th in the longtime series — between Oklahoma and Texas.

Despite the historic significance of this game and the fact that both teams come in undefeated and nationally ranked for the first time since 2011, Big 12 commissioner has chosen not to attend the game. That wouldn’t have anything to do with the Sooners and Longhorns being considered persona non grata in their final season in the Big 12, would it?

“College GameDay,” however, does see it important enough to be there live and in person for its weekly pregame college football preview program.

Texas holds a 63-50-5 advantage in the overall rivalry series, but the Sooners have the edge, 4-3, in games at which “GameDay” has been present. This is the second time this season “GameDay” has been at a Texas game. The show was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in Week 2 for Texas-Alabama, won by the Longhorns 34-24.

The No. 3-ranked Longhorns are a 6.5-point favorite over 12th-ranked Oklahoma in this year’s game, the final one as members of the Big 12, but we’ll have to wait to see if Lee Corso follows the betting line or sides with the underdog Sooners when he dons the much-anticipated headgear in the popular closing segment of the show.

Another popular feature of the program is the celebrity guest picker that joins show co-hosts Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Kirk Herbstreit in predicting the winners of top games on the weekend schedule. ESPN announced on Thursday that former OU quarterback and Heisman winner Baker Mayfield will be the guest picker this week. Any question who Mayfield will pick in this year’s Red River Rivalry game?

Mayfield is available because this is a bye week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mayfield is the starting quarterback for the Buccaneers this season, his sixth NFL season. Baker being Baker had some choice words to share about OU and the Red River Rivalry this week on “The Rich Eisen Show” on the Roku Channel. Asked about Saturday’s game and Texas being “back,” Mayfield quipped:

“Yeah, but I still have more Big 12 championships than they do.”

(Editor’s note: Not exactly true, since both Baker and the Longhorns have three. What he probably meant was he had three when he played at OU, while Texas had none.)

Mayfield was the starting QB at Oklahoma from 2015-17 and played in three Red River Rivalry games. He was 2-1 in those games. “College GameDay” was present at four Oklahoma games during his college career: wins over Baylor, Oklahoma State and Ohio State on the road and a loss to Clemson in 2015 in the College Football Playoff.

“GameDay” has appeared 39 times at an Oklahoma football game since the program first aired in 1993. That is the fourth most of any team behind Ohio State (57), Ohio State (55) and Florida (42). The Sooners are 26-13 in “GameDay” appearances.

Here are the seven previous ESPN “College GameDay” Red River Rivalry games:

2021 — Oklahoma 55, Texas 48

2018 — Texas 48, Oklahoma 45

2011 — Oklahoma 55, Texas 17

2009 — Texas 16, Oklahoma 13

2008 — Texas 45, Oklahoma 35

2002 — Oklahoma 35, Texas 24

2001 — Oklahoma 14, Texas 3