For the better part of this century, the winner of the annual battle royal between Oklahoma and Texas seized the inside road to winning the Big 12 championship. Now that the two storied football programs have moved over to the Southeastern Conference, the game is still of high importance, but far from a gold-paved road to the championship in a league as high-powered as the SEC.
The 121st renewal of the Red River Rivalry will take place in Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on Saturday between two of college football's biggest brands and teams that absolutely don't like each other. As the popular cliche goes, when Oklahoma and Texas go at each other in their annual gridiron dogfight, you can throw out the records and the statistics because history shows they have little bearing on the actual outcome of this game.
What before the season looked like this year's game could be a classic midseason rivalry showdown between two undefeated top-25 teams has taken an unforeseen turn of fate. It is the 5-0 Sooners who are the undefeated and highly ranked team, at No. 6 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. Meanwhile, the Longhorns, the preseason No. 1 team, have already suffered two losses and find themselves in serious jeopardy of being eliminated from College Football Playoff contention after just six games.
Texas leads the overall series against Oklahoma with a record of 64-51-5, but the Sooners have won five of the last seven meetings against Texas, 11 of the last 16, and 17 of the last 26. In addition, Oklahoma has won its last four meetings with Texas when the Sooners were the designated visiting team, which they are in the game on Saturday.
The Oklahoma-Texas rivalry series is not only one of the longest and most nationally recognized in college football, it also is a matchup featuring two teams with the fifth- and sixth-best winning percentages of all-time, respectively. The Sooners are 955-348-53 (.724) all-time, while the Longhorns' overall record is 964-397-33 (.703).
Since the start of the 2023 season, Texas has an overall record of 28-7. Six of those seven losses, however, have come against teams ranked in the top 15.
This will be the 97th consecutive year Oklahoma and Texas will play their annual rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The game will be televised nationally on ABC, beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT. ESPN's top football announcing crew will be on the call: Chris Fowler (play by play), Kirk Herbstreit (analysis) and Holly Rowe (sideline reporter).
What fans need to know about Texas
- Suffice to say, Texas comes into this year's rivalry game with Oklahoma as a dangerous wounded team that is desperate to save its season. Not that the Longhorns need any more motivation to go against their hated rivals from north of the Red River. It is obvious that Texas has not lived up to its lofty preseason expectations, but the Longhorns are still an extremely talented team with an outstanding defense and a former top quarterback recruit in sophomore Arch Manning. And this is Oklahoma-Texas, a rivalry that features numerous examples of logic-defying outcomes
- Impact players for Texas on offense include Manning (completion percentage of 60% for 1,151 yards, 11 touchdowns and 5 interceptions) and top receiving targets Ryan Wingo (17 catches for 263 yards, 4 TDs) and Deandre Moore Jr. (14 catches for 190 yards). Running the football, once a hallmark of this team, has not been a Longhorn strength this season, largely because of injuries to RBs CJ Baxter and Quintrevion Wisner. Wisner returned to action last weekend against Florida, but gained just 11 yards on eight carries. An all-new offensive line has also hindered Texas' rushing attack, which is averaging 172.6 yards per game.
- If Texas is going to beat Oklahoma on Saturday, it will be largely dependent on the offense line protecting Manning, and on the defensive line shutting down the OU run game and creating constant pressure and disrupting the rhythm of the Sooner quarterback (either John Mateer or Michael Hawkins Jr.). The exact same factors, incidentally, apply to Oklahoma as well in this game. Last weekend. the Longhorns allowed six quarterback sacks to a Florida team that had just three in four previous games. The Oklahoma defense has 21 sacks on the season, tied for the national lead.
- Defensively, the Longhorns, like Oklahoma, is loaded with talent and experience on the defensive side of the ball. The best defensive player for Texas is junior linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., who is third on the team with 30 tackles. The Sooners will also have their hands full against Colin Simmons coming off the edge.
What fans need to know about Oklahoma
- The biggest question leading up to the Texas game on the Oklahoma side is who will be the Sooners' quarterback. John Mateer had surgery on his throwing hand a little over two weeks ago, yet the closer we get to Saturday, the more it looks like there is a good chance he will play. How effective he will be throwing the football is also a big question mark. If he does not play, the duty will fall to Michael Hawkins Jr., who has started five games for the Sooners in his career, including Kent State last weekend. Hawkins was actually the starter in this game a year ago, and the Oklahoma coaches are confident in his ability to lead the Sooners' offense.
- Oklahoma leads the nation in six different defensive categories: total defense (193.0 yards per game, opponents yards per play (3.5), sacks per game (4.2), tackles for loss per game (10.0), third-down percentage defense (17.4), opponents punts per game (8.0).
- Oklahoma's opponents have run a total of 276 offensive plays in five games, 133, or 48% of them, have gone for zero or negative yards. Additionally, the Sooners have forced more punts (40) in the first five games than points allowed (36).
- If Saturday's game come down to special teams play, Oklahoma punter Grayson Miller ranks second nationally with a 49.8-yard average. Eight of his 16 total punts have been over 50 yards, with seven being downed inside the 20-yard line. Tate Sandell is 9 of 10 on field-goal attempts with a long of 55 yards and a perfect 18-of-18 on extra-point kicks.
Key matchup
Oklahoma's defensive line against the Texas offensive line could easily be the difference in this game. Manning and the Longhorns struggled against the Ohio State defense earlier this season, and the Sooner defense may be the best defense Texas faces all season. In comparison to Ohio State, Oklahoma ranks No. 1 in total defense through five games (allowing 193.0 yards per game). Ohio State is third in that national category at 215.8 per game.
Prediction
Picking a rivalry game between teams like Oklahoma and Texas is certainly not an exercise based on statistical facts and logic. If anything, its more like a crapshoot or game of luck. Too many times in this rivalry the outcome has defied the experts based on the known facts or available information going into the game. I don't see Saturday's 121st reunion between these two college football behemoths going any differently.
Much, of course, depends on Mateer's availability for Oklahoma. Not that the Sooners couldn't win the game with backup Michael Hawkins Jr. at the controls, but OU's chances are much better if Mateer can play and plays effectively. I do think the team that plays the best defensively will win a close, one-score game. The Sooners are the better defensive team, but whether they will be the best on Saturday is one of the quirks of this rivalry.
Oklahoma 20, Texas 17