Oklahoma, Texas open new chapter in SEC | News, sports, jobs

FILE – The Cotton Bowl is shown at the 100th game between Texas and Oklahoma in an NCAA college football game in Dallas, Saturday, October 10, 2005. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

ORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Perhaps the only way the rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas could have grown more intense was when both joined the powerful Southeastern Conference in July.

The series that began in 1900 will immediately rank among the best of the SEC’s older ones – Alabama vs. Georgia, the Iron Bowl between Auburn vs. Alabama, the Egg Bowl with Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and the Florida vs. Georgia matchups in Jacksonville . Long known as the largest outdoor cocktail party in the world.

Firstly, there is the atmosphere. The Cotton Bowl in Dallas is a neutral site located nearly equidistant from the campuses in Norman, Oklahoma and Austin, Texas. The stadium is split half Oklahoma Crimson and half Texas Burnt Orange. The game takes place during the State Fair of Texas, creating a lively scene and a unique experience.

Then there is the story. Although Alabama and Georgia have played many high-stakes games over the past decade, even this series doesn’t hold up in the long run. Oklahoma and Texas have a combined 10 AP national titles – Oklahoma has seven and Texas has three. In each case, the winner in Dallas won the national championship.

There’s a lot at stake this year as well – Texas takes the No. 1 ranking into play for the first time since 1984. Oklahoma. in 18th place, would get a huge boost from a win.

“How could you not get excited about this game?” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “That’s everything you want to train and achieve at this level. The pageantry, the emotion, the intensity, the opportunity, all of it. This Saturday you will be the center of attention in college football.”

There have been plenty of stars over the years – Oklahoma has seven Heisman winners and Texas has two, and many have championed their causes at Red River Rivalry games.

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

In the late 1960s, Texas won a major victory with the run-based Wishbone offense. Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer borrowed it, tweaked it, and let it run down his throat in Texas in the 1970s, with a heavy dose of the running backs he recruited from Texas.

The games were often unpredictable. Last year, for example, Texas was heavily favored, but Oklahoma won with 15 seconds left on a touchdown pass from Dillon Gabriel to Nic Anderson. Texas rebounded and reached 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 won the rematch in the Big 12 title game, advancing Murray to the Heisman.

With that in mind, here are five important 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.

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced attendance at the 93,000-seat Cotton Bowl to 24,000 and the state fair was canceled for the first time since World War II.

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