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The Red River Showdown is not leaving the Cotton Bowl anytime soon.
The Red River “Rivalry,” “Showdown,” “Shootout,” or whatever you want to call it is one of the most iconic matchups in college football. Continue reading “Texas AD Chris Del Conte speaks on the future of Texas-OU rivalry”
Steve Sarkisian is in search of his first Red River Shootout win on Saturday.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is in search of his first Red River Shootout win on Saturday. It is perhaps the greatest regular season spectacle in college sports, but certainly the biggest game of the regular season for both teams.
Earlier this week, Brent Venables downplayed the game indicating it was no more significant than any other game. The veteran defensive mind is probably smarter than that, but the quote was noteworthy.
Sarkisian will certainly take a different approach. Last year, the Longhorns set off first quarter fireworks with 28 points in the first period of the game. Unfortunately for Texas, Pete Kwiatkowski and company had no answer for Caleb Williams or the Oklahoma running game.
This season, Texas will have an opportunity to perform better on both sides of the football. Let’s examine what a win would mean for Steve Sarkisian.
The Oklahoma Sooners made it official that Spencer Rattler will be the starter. This sets up a matchup with senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger.
In the most obvious breaking news of the day, the Oklahoma Sooners announced that Spencer Rattler would be the starting quarterback. Rattler had been in a “quarterback competition” with Tanner Mordecai. However, the news that Rattler will be the starter sets up the Red River Rivalry showdown.
The young inexperience redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler against the savvy veteran senior Sam Ehlinger. This year will mark the fourth rivalry matchup for Ehlinger, who debuted in the 2017 matchup. After being down 20-0 with 4:32 left in the first half, he would lead the Longhorns back to take the lead with 8:01 left in the game. Ultimately falling 29-24 to the Sooners.
Ehlinger is 1-2 in his career against the Sooners in the Red River Rivalry. After their loss in the Big 12 Championship, Sam is 1-3. Ehlinger could even the series with victories on Oct. 10 and in the Big 12 Championship game. In his lone win, he bested a quarterback debuting in the rivalry. Kyler Murray made one start in the series, losing 48-45 to the Longhorns on a last second kick by Cameron Dicker.
For Rattler, a quarterback debuting in his first taste of the rivalry haven’t faired well as of late. In fact, three of the last five quarterbacks to debut in this game have lost. Blake Bell, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray all fell in their first matchups against Texas as the starter.
While you can argue that Spencer Rattler is more talented than the other three from a recruiting standpoint, he will have his work cut out for him. No Kennedy Brooks and no CeeDee Lamb this year. Lincoln Riley knows how to put his guys into a position to win. In the biggest game of the year for the Big 12 Conference, this will be a battle worth every penny.
The Red River Rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners is one of the top games. Where does it rank among CFB’s best?
What is college football without rivalries? For the Texas Longhorns, their biggest rivalry is with the Oklahoma Sooners. The Red River Rivalry is one of the top games in any season with what is at stake. Not to mention to rivalry of border states Texas and Oklahoma. With the death of the Texas-Texas A&M game, the Red River Rivalry became the premier matchup in the Big 12 Conference.
Related: Texas ranked 14th in preseason poll
The heated Red River Showdown (nee Shootout) has its own venue – the Cotton Bowl in Dallas- and three trophies, the most notable a gold 10-gallon hat mounted on a block of wood. It resides in the offices of the winning athletic department. The Sooners have had it so much lately, that they let Texas keep it after OU won the postseason rematch in 2018.
When the Heisman Trophy winner is on the field, these teams have split their 10 meetings. Unfortunately for Texas, OU has six of those nine Heisman winners and (uh-oh, here comes another mention of that damn 2018 rematch) Kyler Murray got to play against the Longhorns a second time. So, the Heisman Trophy winner is actually 8-2 all-time in this matchup. Only Sam Bradford (2008) and Murray (2018) have felt the sting of losing the Shoot, er, Showdown but were still able win the Heisman.
Texas Longhorns defensive tackle Keondre Coburn has a message for new Oklahoma commit.
In the ongoing war between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners, defensive tackle Keondre Coburn took to twitter to respond to Chandler Morris commitment video as he commits to Oklahoma.
Lol I mean this so much disrespect I could of swore OU has a hand signal for their school but aye I love it see you soon buddy đ¤đž https://t.co/opBtIR5fEe
— Keondre Coburnâšâš (@KeondreCoburn99) January 2, 2020
The new Sooners quarterback might have to soon deal with the repercussion of his decision. Coburn finished the season appearing eight games for the Longhorns with 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and one forced fumble.
If Morris can win the job and get on the field for the upcoming season, he might just get to feel Coburn’s message in person. The Longhorns will look to get back on the wining side of the rivalry after losing this past season in Dallas.
