Oklahoma
How Oklahoma Players Prepare Newcomers for Red River Rivalry, an Experience Like No Other
Every Oklahoma player who was asked simply struggled to find the words to describe the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl.
The Sooners will travel down to Dallas to play Texas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the usual spot in the epicenter of The State Fair of Texas. The teams will bus through a state fair crowd, rather than a college campus. One half of the stadium will be as homey as Norman, while the other is as hostile as Austin.
“Embrace it,” OU linebacker Kobie McKinzie said. “You can’t really explain that. We’ve all been there for that game. From the moment you literally drive in the fairgrounds it’s like no other game. It’s not comparable. But enjoy it at the same time. These are the moments that you’re going to remember for the rest of your life.”
The Longhorns currently sit at the top of college football, while OU is ranked 18th in the AP Poll. But even during a season in which Texas won the Big 12 title and made the final four-team College Football Playoff, the Sooners still got the best of the Longhorns thanks to a goal line stand.
“The very end, the fourth-down stop, fourth-and-inches, that was really fun,” OU defensive end Trace Ford remembers a year later. “That was one of the coolest things I got to experience, just how loud that stadium got. Just the whole atmosphere after the game, walking around. The whole experience was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. It was really fun.”
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Last season was Ford’s first experience in the Red River Rivalry. As an Oklahoma State transfer, he has been on both sides of Bedlam. From nearby Edmond, OK, he grew up watching OU and Texas clash from the comfort of home. But still, nothing prepared him for actually being there – no other rivalry, no amount of viewing from afar.
Ford understands now, though, but many others throughout OU’s locker room do not. Maybe they also grew up watching the game on TV or played in rivalry games at their old schools, but not like this one.
The Sooners nearly overhauled their roster with transfers and freshmen for the 2024 season. Michael Hawkins Jr. will become the first true freshman to ever start at QB in the Red River Rivalry for the Sooners. On defense, Ford will be alongside eight guys on the defensive line alone projected to make their Red River debut Saturday, including Miami (OH) transfer Caiden Woullard.
“He’s been asking, and I didn’t understand the spectrum of the game until last year,” Ford said. “I watched that game growing up my whole life, and I told him the same thing. You got to experience it. It’s incredible. It’s fun, and he’s got to experience it. But you know he’s confident. He’s ready. I know he’s going to do really well this Saturday.”
Said defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings: “This’ll probably be the biggest rivalry you’ll ever play in in your life, but it is just another game, but it is a cool experience. Just soak it all in.”
On a Thursday afternoon, and even most Saturdays, there’s nothing special about the Cotton Bowl. Most of the time, it’s a dormant cement structure in the center of the quietfairgrounds. It makes for a longer walk from the Fletcher’s Corny Dog stand to Big Tex. There’s nothing special enough about the venue itself for regular tours or to even keep hosting its own bowl game. But for one Saturday every October, when the Sooners and Longhorns are visiting for the Red River Rivalry, it’s a spectacle you cannot comprehend until experienced.
“I like it, to be honest with you,” McKinizie said. “I love it. Because everybody’s right there. There’s nowhere to go, I feel like. It’s all inclusive. Everybody gets the same experience, ’cause it’s only one experience of the Red River, you know?”
The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of their opening-round series. The OKC Thunder are hoping that they can repeat their Sunday afternoon performance in this contest. Game 2 will be an interesting test with the Suns having more time to prepare.
Phoenix was up against a rock and a hard place in the series opener. The Oklahoma City Thunder not only have the talent advantage but the rest advantage as well. Phoenix punched their ticket to the NBA Playoffs on Friday night by staving off the Golden State Warriors on Friday night before landing in Oklahoma City on Saturday and playing on Saturday afternoon to the tune of a 119-84 blowout Thunder victory.
The NBA has seen plenty of upsets already. The Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers have all stolen games from the higher seed. The Thunder know they have to keep the foot on the gas in this contest.
“These series are unpredictable. No 2 games are the same. The minute you make an assumption, you are overconfident, or the minute you go down and you’re overly urgent, that can impact your ability to be present in the next game,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said pregame on Wednesday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are seeing the Suns make an adjustment with their starting lineup by inserting Collin Gillespie to give Phoenix a trio of ball handling scoring options alongside Devin Booker and Jalen Green. This gives the Suns hope to be able to find better shot quality against this stifling Thunder defensive unit.
Oklahoma City is healthier now than they have been all season. The Thunder only are missing rookie Thomas Sorber (ACL) who is out for the year. This allows the Bricktown Ballers to roll out their traditional first five in this contest.
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns, Game 2 Starting Lineup
Oklahoma City Thunder Starting Lineup
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G
- Lu Dort, G
- Jalen Williams, F
- Chet Holmgren, F
- Isaiah Hartenstein, C
Phoenix Suns Starting Lineup
- Devin Booker, G
- Jalen Green, G
- Collin Gillespie, G
- Dillon Brooks, F
- Oso Ighodaro, C
The series will shift to Phoenix this weekend as the Oklahoma City Thunder hope to head into Saturday afternoon’s Game 3 with a 2-0 advantage in the series.
Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the NBA Playoff run for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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