AUSTIN – By all appearances, the Red River Rivalry (the official corporate sponsor name is Red River Showdown, but screw that) has returned to its rightful place as one of the best of its kind.
The 115th version Saturday at the Cotton Bowl features No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 11 Texas. The Longhorns’ only loss came by a touchdown to LSU, currently ranked No. 5. Last season, UT won a classic, but the Sooners won the rematch in the Big 12 Championship game and reached the College Football Playoff.
This game matters. Again. And, if the football gods are kind, for a second consecutive season the teams will meet again on the first Saturday in December.
“When you win more games, it makes games like this more meaningful,” Texas senior center Zach Shackelford said. “We’ve put ourselves in this position.”
Just two days into Game Week and there has been some bulletin board material smack talk. Texas offensive tackle Sam Cosmi – who became the fourth O-lineman in school history to score a rushing TD last week at West Virginia – will probably get a Code Red on interviews the rest of this season.
Asked about Oklahoma defensive linemen Ronnie Perkins and Neville Gallimore, he said, “I wouldn’t say they’re super special but they’re good players, solid players. Nothing to worry about too much.”
Informed of the comment, Perkins made it clear he planned to show up Saturday. “He can catch me at 11 a.m. in Dallas with the rest of the Texas football team.”
Then there’s quarterback Jalen Hurts, in his first season at Oklahoma since grad-transferring from Alabama. Asked about The Big Game, Hurts downplayed the Armageddon aspects. “I played in the Iron Bowl,” Hurts said, referring to Auburn-Alabama, but not mentioning playing in two national championship games. “I played in big games before. I’ll be all right.”
That was interpreted as some sort of “dis.” Hurts, remember, is from Houston. He grew up knowing all about Texas and Oklahoma playing in Dallas. Still, any port in a storm; any manufactured controversy in rivalry week.
“It’s very different,” Texas defensive back B.J. Foster answered when asked about Hurts’ nonchalance. “This is Texas. Texas is different. Football is more physical at Texas. The Red River Showdown is way better.”
It is … when both teams are nationally relevant.
Oklahoma leads the nation in total offense and is second in scoring offense. Texas is 13th in scoring and 19th in total offense. The Sooners, with Hurts running a weaponized offense, lead the nation in plays of over 10 yards a game with 120 and has 31 plays of 40-plus yards. The Longhorns have nine such plays.
Hurts is second in FBS in total offense while Texas junior QB Sam Ehlinger is ninth. Hurts has thrown for 14 touchdowns, Ehlinger for 17. Each have thrown just two interceptions.
Last season, the teams combined for 1,033 yards and the Sooners rallied from a 21-point deficit before Cameron Dicker’s game-winning field goal with nine seconds remaining. Ehlinger ran for three touchdowns and passed for two, throwing for 314 yards.
With 45 points and over 500 yards in offense not enough, OU fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops the day after the game. This season his replacement is Alex Grinch, and thus far the coaching change has made a difference.
“I think you just see them playing so hard and flying to the football,” Texas coach Tom Herman said Monday. “Really aggressive. Not terribly complex. Some of the things they do with their line movements and twists and stunts are going to be difficult for our offensive line and quarterback. (Sooner defenders) are in the right place at the right time, and they’re getting there with their hair on fire and really physical.”
Both defenses use a 3-4 alignment but Grinch and Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando each like to present different looks to confuse opponents’ offensive lines.
“That presents challenges, but we have blocking rules we’ve installed and that we tweak and emphasize week to week,” Texas junior right tackle Derek Kerstetter said of facing a defense with ever-changing fronts. “We have to trust each other because the blocking assignments that get called can change as soon as the ball is snapped depending on what the defense does.”
Third down will be the money down. Texas is fifth in FBS, converting 56.6 percent on third down. OU’s defense, thus far, has displayed massive improvement in that area. The Sooners are allowing 24.6 percent conversion rate on third down, fifth nationally; last season they ranked 119th in FBS. Of the 16 third-down conversions, only three have been 10 yards are longer and 43 times have faced third and over five yards to gain.
“It’s going to be a big factor, I think, on all sides,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said of third-down plays. “It always is. Not anything new. It’ll certainly be a little bit of strength versus strength there. As far as kind of how the teams have played up to this point, it’ll be a fairly impactful stat when we look at it after the game.”
Ehlinger went from the high of the rivalry victory in the Cotton Bowl to the low of losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game. At media days in July at AT&T Stadium, he recalled that losing feeling. Handing the Sooners their first loss – again – would prevent it returning.
“Scoring in the red zone, converting third downs, those are big in every game but probably more so this week,” Ehlinger said. “We’ve got certain goals we want to hit each week in terms of those situations. We’ve done a good job on third down this season. Staying on the field, converting third downs has been good up to this point.”
