Tag: 2023 Red River Showdown

OU-Texas By the Numbers: Who has the Red River Rivalry edge?

OU-Texas By the Numbers: Who has the Red River Rivalry edge?

The Oklahoma Sooners put their undefeated record on the line in a game featuring two top 12 teams when they take on the Texas Longhorns. The annual meeting of two of the premier programs in college football carries a a great deal of weight.

The winner will control its own postseason path the rest of the season. A Big 12 title and College Football Playoff berth would be well within the grasp of the victor.

The loser would still have a path to meaningful postseason football, but it would need some help along the way.

How do the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns matchup heading into the 119th meeting in the Red River Rivalry? Let’s take a look!

Should Oklahoma be nervous heading into the Red River Rivalry? Joel Klatt thinks so

This is a different Oklahoma team but Joel Klatt still feels the Sooners should be “nervous” this week.

The Oklahoma Sooners are off to a 5-0 start to the 2023 college football season. Across the board, you can see improvement from this team compared to last year’s team.

But the Sooners schedule is one of the weaker ones in college football to this point. So, there’s a lot we still don’t know about both offensively and defensively.

This weekend the Sooners take on the Texas Longhorns who are No. 4 in the nation and beat the Sooners 49-0 last season. Texas also has a win on the road over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Because of all of that Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt said on his show, The Joel Klatt Show, Oklahoma should be nervous heading into this weekend.

I don’t know what (the Sooners) are upfront on the offensive line, which is a dangerous place to be against a Texas team that owned Alabama at the line of scrimmage, in particular in that game with a couple of sacks in the fourth quarter. So they better buckle up because Texas is physical. They’re balanced. That’s why I’m nervous for OU. – Klatt

But it’s not just upfront. Klatt feels Oklahoma can’t take advantage of the weaknesses of Texas in the secondary. He went on to say he feels Gabriel holds OU back a little bit because his strength isn’t throwing the deep ball.

Combine that with a much improved Texas team as well and Klatt doesn’t feel too confident in the Sooners.

This is a team that beat Oklahoma 49-0 last year. Handed it to ’em. I understand Dillon Gabriel wasn’t on the field, but he doesn’t make up 49 points and the version of Texas that you’re about to see in the Cotton Bowl is better than what you saw last year. -Klatt

Gabriel doesn’t make up 49 points. But anyone who watched that game knows that score isn’t indicative of both teams last season. That’s a game that’s probably a 45-35 type of game if Gabriel is healthy.

This season both teams have improved so the keys will be who improved more and who shows it on the field.

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OU-Texas, Red River Rivalry game time and broadcast information set

The greatest rivalry in all of sports has a kick off time for the Cotton Bowl in Dallas for this year’s Red River Rivalry.

The Oklahoma Sooners are off to a 4-0 start to the season. They’ve looked promising on both sides of the ball, but there’s one game that will tell the tale of the Sooners’ development.

Iowa State is the focus for the program with the Cyclones coming to town this Saturday evening for a primetime affair. However, a number of observers are pointing to the October 7 clash with the Texas Longhorns as the true litmus test for this team.

And now we have a time and television channel for the annual showdown in the greatest rivalry in sports.

Oklahoma and Texas will kick off in the Cotton Bowl at 11 a.m. CT on ABC.

The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to wipe away the memory of the 49-0 shutout they suffered at the hands of the Longhorns in last year’s matchup. Presumably, Dillon Gabriel will be available this year after missing the showdown a year ago due to a concussion.

But he and the Sooners defense are playing good football right now. They’re one of the best defenses in the country and are proving to have one of the best passing attacks in college football.

Texas will have to contend with an ever-improving Kansas Jayhawks team in Austin before assuming they roll into Dallas undefeated. However, if OU and Texas both hold serve, there’s a chance this year’s Red River Rivalry game is a top 10 matchup of undefeated teams.

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Oklahoma flips three-star Northwestern QB commit Brendan Zurbrugg

Oklahoma flips Northwestern quarterback commit Brendan Zurbrugg as he joins Oklahoma’s 2024 class.

Oklahoma had one of the worst offensive displays in a long time in their rivalry game against Texas last season.

In the offseason, Oklahoma brought in five-star signee QB Jackson Arnold. He’s the program’s future at the position. He’ll likely be QB2 on the depth chart come game one against Arkansas State.

Beyond Arnold, the depth chart could use a bit more freshening up. Enter three-star Brendan Zurbrugg, who flipped his commitment from Northwestern to Oklahoma today.

Zurbrugg had been committed to Northwestern Since June 26. Over that time frame, Northwestern fired head coach Pat Fitzgerald amid hazing allegations.

Oklahoma swooped in and offered Zurbrugg an opportunity to join four-star quarterback Michael Hawkins in the 2024 class. Oklahoma’s been diligently searching for a second QB to add to this group to add depth to a position group that options should injuries arise.

 

Zurbrugg has excellent size at 6-foot-4. He visited Oklahoma for “Party at the Palace” over the weekend. Last season for his Alliance High School team, he went 154/202 with 2,184 yards passing and 23 touchdown passes.

Last year’s debacle at the Cotton Bowl between Oklahoma and Texas has left a permanent mark in Oklahoma’s mind. The Sooners aren’t going to allow themselves to be without a capable quarterback option again should the starter get hurt.

Landing not one but two quarterbacks in 2024 who can be developed into starting options down the road is intelligent team building.

It shows a willingness to correct mistakes.

With Zurbrugg in now, Oklahoma remains at No. 15 in team recruiting rankings but has closed the gap between itself and Alabama. A mere five points separate the two right now.

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Red River Showdown among College Sports Wire’s ‘must see’ of 2023

College Sports Wire’s Patrick Conn chose OU-Texas as the “must-see” game for week 6 of the 2023 season.

The 2022 Red River Showdown was a surreal experience. Sometimes it’s hard to believe it actually happened.

It was a performance [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag], the Oklahoma Sooners, and their fan base are eager to forget. Texas fans try their darndest to remind their Red River Rivals to the north of the historically bad loss for the Sooners at every turn.

This year’s edition of the greatest college football rivalry game will be even more highly anticipated. But this year’s game should go much differently.

Brent Venables and his staff want to show that what happened in the Cotton Bowl last season was nothing more than an aberration. The Sooners will have a better defense and a much better offensive plan than what they rolled into Dallas with last October.

Every year, the game is must-see television, but because of what happened last year, it’s going to carry more weight. Taking a look at each week of the college football season, Patrick Conn of College Sports Wire chose one game from each week that is “must-see” television. For Week 6, he chose Oklahoma-Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

The Sooners have had to deal with the sour taste of that loss for a year, and by the time the game kicks off they will be champing at the bit to return the favor. Last year [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] was sidelined after a vicious hit by Jamoi Hodge of TCU the week prior. The offense gets a boost with Austin Stogner returning after one year at South Carolina.

The Texas offense will be absolutely loaded this season despite losing Bijan Robinson to the NFL draft. Quinn Ewers will have Xavier Worthy and Jordan Whittington catching passes, along with a pair of newcomers. Isaiah Neyor who missed last season with a torn ACL returns and the team added former UGA WR A.D. Mitchell. Ja’Tavion Sanders might be the biggest weapon from the tight end position. – Conn, College Sports Wire

Texas is still an incredibly talented team and will go into the game as the favorites. However, the Sooners are a much-improved team. They have an improved quarterback situation with the signing of [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] and the development of [autotag]Davis Beville[/autotag]. The Sooners will not look anything like the team that walked out of the Cotton Bowl a year ago.

As it does every year, this game will be a big key to Oklahoma’s season. The two teams could very well be undefeated heading into the matchup, putting even more importance on the second Saturday in October.

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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.