Texas vs Oklahoma: 100 Years of Rivalry, Shootouts, And Showdowns
By: Tony Thomas
October 6, 2019
In college football, one of the most heated rivalries exists between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Texas holds a 62-47-5 advantage in the series and these two blue bloods of college football have combined to produce the following:
- 11 National Championships
- 9 Heisman Trophy Winners
- 1811 total wins
- 737 NFL draft picks
- 92 NFL 1st round draft picks
Known by many names, such as The Red River Shootout, The Red River Rivalry, and most recently as The Red River Showdown, this game has a permanent circle drawn around the date on the calendar each year by the fans in both states.
This rivalry began in 1900 and has been played annually since 1929. And during the 100 years of this rivalry, Texas and Oklahoma have produced some notable players:
Texas
- Bobby Lane
- Tommy Nobis
- Johnny Treadwell
- Earl Campbell
- Jerry Gray
- Kenneth Sims
- Ricky Williams
- Tony Brackens
- Vince Young
- Colt McCoy
- Quentin Jammer
- Jordan Shipley
- Earl Thomas
- Sam Ehlinger
Oklahoma
- Billy Vessels
- Tommy McDonald
- Steve Owens
- Lucious Selmon
- Dewey Selmon
- Lee Roy Selmon
- Joe Washington
- Greg Pruitt
- Billy Sims
- Jamele Holieway
- Brian Bosworth
- Tony Casillas
- Josh Heupel
- Jason White
- Adrian Peterson
- Sam Bradford
- Baker Mayfield
- Kyler Murray
Some legendary coaches have left their mark on this game as well, including Bud Wilkinson, Darrel Royal, Barry Switzer, Fred Akers, Bob Stoops, and Mack Brown.
And this year, the game should continue to live up to the hype. Texas (4-1) is currently ranked #11 in the AP Poll and Oklahoma (5-0) is ranked #6. In 2018, with 0:09 seconds left, Texas beat the Sooners 48-45 on a 40 yards field goal by freshman kicker Cameron Dicker. But Oklahoma avenged that loss in the Big 12 title game, beating the Longhorns 39-27 and moving on to the College Football Playoff.
QB Sam Ehlinger leads the Longhorns, throwing for 1448 yards, 17 TDs, and 2 INTs. He is completing 69% of his passes.
The Sooners are led by QB Jalen Hurts, who has produced the following offensive numbers:
- 1523 yards passing
- 14 passing TDS
- 2 INTs
- 75% completion percentage
- 499 rushing yards
- 7 rushing TDs
- Averaging 8 yards per carry
Oklahoma has a Top 5 offense, leading the nation in total offense at 643 yards per game. The Sooners are also #4 in rushing offense (288 yards), #2 in scoring offense (53 points/game), and #5 in passing offense (355 yards/game).
So far, Texas hasn’t exactly set the world on fire defensively. The Longhorns are allowing opponents just 116 yards per game, but rank near the bottom of the FBS rankings in total defense and passing defense. Statistically, the Sooners are better on defense and are ranked in the Top 50 in three major defensive categories, and are allowing just 19 points per game.
Since 2010, the Sooners have won this game 7 times. The winner of this year’s game will come down to which quarterback has the better performance.
Thanks for reading.
Material for this article sourced from http://sports-reference.com http://cfbstats.com http://winsipedia.com http://sportslogos.net http://flipboard.com http://heavy.com
