Oklahoma and Texas’ Red River Rivalry opens new chapter in the SEC

Perhaps the only way the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry could have become even more intense happened when both joined the powerful SEC in July.

The series that began in 1900 will immediately rank with the best of the SEC’s older ones — Alabama vs. Georgia, the Iron Bowl between Auburn vs. Alabama, the Egg Bowl featuring Ole Miss and Mississippi State and the Florida-Georgia matchups in Jacksonville, long known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

First, there’s the atmosphere. The Cotton Bowl in Dallas is a neutral site virtually equal distances from the campuses in Norman, Oklahoma and Austin, Texas. The stadium is split with half Oklahoma crimson and half Texas burnt orange. The game takes place during the State Fair of Texas, creating a vibrant scene and a unique experience.

Then, there’s the history. Although Alabama and Georgia have played many high-stakes games in the past decade, even that series doesn’t measure up in the long term. Oklahoma and Texas have 10 AP national titles between them — Oklahoma boasts seven and Texas has three. In each case, the winner in Dallas won the national championship.

There’s plenty at stake this year too — Texas takes the No. 1 ranking into the game for the first time since 1984. Oklahoma, ranked No. 18, would get a huge boost from a win.

“How could you not get excited for this game?” Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said. “This is everything that you want to coach and play for at this level. The pageantry, the emotion, the intensity, the opportunity, all of it. You’re going to have a center stage in college football this Saturday.”

There have been stars aplenty through the years — Oklahoma has seven Heisman winners and Texas has two, with many having helped their causes in Red River Rivalry games.

Legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal played for Oklahoma. But the Sooners have taken much more than a coach from Texas — something Longhorn fans are quick to bring up. Many of Oklahoma’s best players have come from The Longhorn State — Heisman winners Billy Sims, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray are from there, as were star running backs Adrian Peterson, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington and many others.

Back in the late 1960s, Texas won big with the run-based wishbone offense. Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer borrowed it, tweaked it and ran it down Texas’ throat in the 1970s — with a heavy dose of those running backs he recruited from Texas.

The games have often been unpredictable. Last year, for example, Texas was heavily favored, but Oklahoma won on a touchdown pass from Dillon Gabriel to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds remaining. Texas bounced back and made the College Football Playoff.

In perhaps the craziest year of the rivalry, the schools played twice in 2018. Texas won in the regular season, but Oklahoma took the rematch in the Big 12 title game, propelling Murray to the Heisman.

With all that in mind, here are five significant games in the rivalry.

2020: Oklahoma 53, Texas 45 (4 OT)

Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Drake Stoops — son of former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops — in the fourth overtime for the game winner.

In a game that deserved a full house, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the crowd to 24,000 at the 93,000-seat Cotton Bowl, and the state fair was canceled for the first time since World War II.

Those who showed up witnessed a barnburner. Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, who had four rushing touchdowns, threw two scoring passes in the final 3:28 of regulation to help the Longhorns tie the game at 31 and force overtime.

But after Stoops’ touchdown catch, Oklahoma’s Tre’ Brown intercepted Ehlinger to end the game.

2008: Texas 45, Oklahoma 35

Oklahoma was ranked No. 1, Texas was No. 5. Oklahoma twice held 11-point leads in the first half, only for Texas to rally within 21-20 by halftime, with the play of the game coming on Jordan Shipley’s momentum changing 96-yard kickoff return.

The game produced an all-time quarterback duel as Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford passed for 387 yards and five touchdowns and Texas’ Colt McCoy passed for 287 yards and a score. Texas vaulted to No. 1 after the victory and held the spot for three weeks.

Oklahoma ended up winning in the end. Bradford won the Heisman and McCoy finished second. And the Sooners were granted the BCS national championship tiebreaker to earn a berth in the national title game.

2001: Oklahoma 14, Texas 3

This game is remembered mostly for a spectacular play by Oklahoma defensive stars Roy Williams and Teddy Lehman.

Oklahoma led 7-3 late in the fourth quarter, but Texas had a sliver of hope. After a punt, the Longhorns took possession on their 3-yard line with just over two minutes remaining. On Texas’ first play, Chris Simms dropped back into the end zone. Williams leaped into the air and hit Simms while he was throwing. Lehman caught the fluttering pass and returned it 2 yards for a touchdown. Williams would collect an interception later to help the Sooners close it out.

Oklahoma, the defending national champion, won its 18th straight game overall.

1999: Texas 38, Oklahoma 28

The first matchup between Texas coach Mack Brown and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was a doozy that started with trickery.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach wrote up a fake play script for the start of the game and hatched an elaborate plan to have it left near the Texas bench in pregame warmups. It worked when the Longhorns found the script and, thinking they knew the Sooners’ game plan, were lining up in all the wrong places.

Josh Heupel, who would lead the Sooners to the national championship in 2000, had 181 yards passing and two touchdowns as Oklahoma raced to a 17-0 lead. Texas defensive coordinator Carl Reese eventually trashed the bogus script and the Longhorns staged their biggest rally in nearly 35 years to win.

1984: Oklahoma 15, Texas 15

Before the game, Sooners freshman linebacker Brian Bosworth — a native Oklahoman — declared: “I hate Texas, I hate (Texas coach) Freddie Akers and I hate that burnt orange color. It reminds me of people’s vomit.”

On a rainy, soggy day at the Cotton Bowl, No. 3 Oklahoma led the top-ranked Longhorns 15-10 late in the third quarter before a safety pulled Texas within three. Texas was driving for the winning touchdown when an apparent Oklahoma interception was ruled out of bounds. With 4 seconds left, Texas’ Jeff Ward kicked a game-tying field goal. Switzer chased the game officials to yell at them.

″Oklahoma fans were mad,” Ward told the AP in 2000. “Texas fans were mad. Everybody was shouting. You felt miserable because of the rain.”

Bosworth respected Texas even less for the tie as the years went by.

“‘They came and did the unthinkable, trying to tie it up,″ Bosworth said in 2000. ″They were the No. 1 team. That was like shooting themselves in the head.’

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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