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Oklahoma-Texas 'College GameDay' predictions: Who picked Sooners, Longhorns?

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Oklahoma-Texas 'College GameDay' predictions: Who picked Sooners, Longhorns?


Oklahoma football faces Texas in one of college football’s best atmospheres in the Red River Rivalry on Saturday.

The No. 16 Sooners (4-1, 1-1 SEC) take on the No. 1 Longhorns (5-0, 1-0) amid offensive concerns, without their top five receivers due to injury and a true freshman quarterback in Michael Hawkins Jr.

REQUIRED READING: Who has edge in OU football vs Texas? Breaking down key matchups in Sooners-Longhorns

Meanwhile, Texas returns third year starting quarterback Quinn Ewers, who missed its last three games with an injury. Oklahoma’s defense, which has been strong this season under coach Brent Venables, will need a strong showing to have a chance at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

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There aren’t many fans and pundits giving the Sooners a great chance on Saturday.

Here’s how ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew predicted the Red River Rivalry on Saturday morning:

Oklahoma-Texas picks for ‘College GameDay’: Who Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit picked

  • Desmond Howard: Texas

  • Pat McAfee: Texas

  • Kaitlin Olson: Texas

  • Nick Saban: Texas

  • Kirk Herbstreit: No pick

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma-Texas ‘College GameDay’ predictions



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Oklahoma

See how local Texas and Oklahoma commits fared the night before the Red River Rivalry game

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See how local Texas and Oklahoma commits fared the night before the Red River Rivalry game


Texas and Oklahoma will play for the 120th time Saturday, with UT leading the series 63-51-5.

They have played annually at the State Fair of Texas since 1929, according to The Associated Press, and when the Longhorns (5-0, 1-0) and Sooners (4-1, 1-1) meet Saturday for the first time as members of the SEC, it will be the first time in 40 years that Texas will play in the rivalry as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Both schools have recruiting classes that are among the best in the nation for the Class of 2025, with UT ranked No. 6 and OU No. 11. Each team has six commits from the Dallas area, and here is a look at how they did Friday night.

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The five-star recruit, rated the third-best wide receiver in the nation, had four catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in a 63-7 rout of North Garland. For the season, he has 30 catches for 454 yards and six touchdowns for District 9-6A leader Sachse (6-1, 5-0).

The four-star recruit, rated the ninth-best linebacker in the nation, helped hold Lancaster to 10 first-half points before Lancaster rallied for a 30-19 win. Barnes came into the game averaging 12.4 tackles per game, with 62 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and five sacks in five games.

The four-star recruit flipped his commitment from Florida State to Texas on Thursday. The 20th-ranked player in the state had six catches for 86 yards and three touchdowns in a 70-0 rout of Frisco Independence. McCutcheon has 37 catches for 518 yards and 10 touchdowns for Lovejoy (4-2, 4-0), which has won four in a row and is tied with Prosper Walnut Grove for first place in District 4-5A Division II.

The nation’s 11th-ranked team allowed just 160 total yards, including 69 yards on 32 carries on the ground, in a 66-7 win over Mansfield Lake Ridge. North Crowley (6-0, 2-0) has outscored the opposition 327-124 and is a half-game behind District 3-6A leader Crowley.

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Cedar Hill had 473 yards of total offense, including 308 on the ground, in a 28-14 win over Mesquite. Cedar Hill (3-3, 2-1) is tied with back-to-back 6A Division II state champion DeSoto for third place in District 11-6A, one game behind Duncanville and Lancaster.

Showtime: Duncanville 5-stars Keelon Russell, Dakorien Moore erupt in win over DeSoto

Lewisville (4-2, 3-0) dominated on the ground, rushing for 349 yards as it beat Flower Mound 45-17 and remained tied with Coppell for first place in District 5-6A. Fasusi, a five-star recruit, is rated the third-best offensive lineman and 13th-best overall player in the nation.

The four-star recruit, a transfer from Carl Albert (Okla.) and the No. 2-ranked quarterback in the Dallas area, accounted for 241 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-10 win over Hebron. Sperry has thrown for 1,120 yards and 13 touchdowns and run for 306 yards and a score as Guyer (4-2, 2-1) is one game behind District 5-6A co-leaders Coppell and Lewisville.

The four-star recruit had five catches for 103 yards and a touchdown in a 30-19 win against Skyline. Choice has 30 receptions for 525 yards and four touchdowns as Lancaster (3-3, 3-0) has won three in a row and is tied with back-to-back Class 6A Division I state champion Duncanville for first place in District 11-6A.

Ennis beat Greenville 52-15 after losing four of its first five games. Harris entered Friday averaging 103.6 receiving yards per game, with 30 catches for 518 yards and three touchdowns. He had also thrown a touchdown pass and run for 142 yards and two scores.

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Emerson led 17-14 at halftime but lost 44-31 to Anna. Hawkins, the nation’s 47th-ranked cornerback, is the brother of Michael Hawkins Jr., who will be the first true freshman quarterback to ever start for Oklahoma against Texas on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.

The nation’s 59th-ranked interior offensive lineman had a bye in Week 7.

Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Oklahoma and Texas, one of college football's most storied rivalries, opens new chapter in the SEC

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Oklahoma and Texas, one of college football's most storied rivalries, opens new chapter in the SEC


Perhaps the only way the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry could have become even more intense happened when both joined the powerful Southeastern Conference in July.

The series that began in 1900 immediately will rank with the best of the SEC’s older ones — Alabama vs. Georgia, the Iron Bowl between Auburn vs. Alabama, the Egg Bowl featuring Ole Miss and Mississippi State and the Florida-Georgia matchups in Jacksonville, long-known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

First, there’s the atmosphere. The Cotton Bowl in Dallas is a neutral site virtually equal distances from the campuses in Norman, Oklahoma and Austin, Texas. The stadium is split with half Oklahoma crimson and half Texas burnt orange. The game takes place during the State Fair of Texas, creating a vibrant scene and a unique experience.

Then, there’s the history. Although Alabama and Georgia have played many high-stakes games in the past decade, even that series doesn’t measure up long-term. Oklahoma and Texas have 10 AP national titles between them -– Oklahoma boasts seven and Texas has three. In each case, the winner in Dallas won the national championship.

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There’s plenty at stake this year too — Texas takes the No. 1 ranking into the game for the first time since 1984. Oklahoma. ranked No. 18, would get a huge boost from a win.

“How could you not get excited for this game?” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “This is everything that you want to coach and play for at this level. The pageantry, the emotion, the intensity, the opportunity, all of it. You’re going to have a center stage in college football this Saturday.”

There have been stars aplenty through the years — Oklahoma has seven Heisman winners and Texas has two, with many having helped their causes in Red River Rivalry games.

Legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal played for Oklahoma. But the Sooners have taken much more than a coach from Texas — something Longhorn fans are quick to bring up. Many of Oklahoma’s best players have come from The Longhorn State – Heisman winners Billy Sims, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray are from there, as were star running backs Adrian Peterson, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington and many others.

Back in the late 1960s, Texas won big with the run-based wishbone offense. Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer borrowed it, tweaked it and ran it down Texas’ throat in the 1970s — with a heavy dose of those running backs he recruited from Texas.

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The games often have been unpredictable. Last year, for example, Texas was heavily favored, but Oklahoma won on a touchdown pass from Dillon Gabriel to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds remaining. Texas bounced back and made the College Football Playoff.

In perhaps the craziest year of the rivalry, the schools played twice in 2018. Texas won in the regular season, but Oklahoma took the rematch in the Big 12 title game, propelling Murray to the Heisman.

With all that in mind, here are five significant games in the rivalry.

2020: Oklahoma 53, Texas 45, 4 OT

Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Drake Stoops — son of former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops — in the fourth overtime for the game-winner.

In a game that deserved a full house, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the crowd to 24,000 at the 93,000-seat Cotton Bowl, and the state fair was canceled for the first time since World War II.

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Those who showed up witnessed a barn burner.

Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, who had four rushing touchdowns, threw two scoring passes in the final 3:28 of regulation to help the Longhorns tie the game at 31 and force overtime.

But after Stoops’ touchdown catch, Oklahoma’s Tre’ Brown intercepted Ehlinger to end the game.

2008: Texas 45, Oklahoma 35

Oklahoma was ranked No. 1, Texas was No. 5. Oklahoma twice held 11-point leads in the first half, only for Texas to rally within 21-20 by halftime, with the play of the game coming on Jordan Shipley’s momentum changing 96-yard kickoff return.

The game produced an all-time quarterback duel as Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford passed for 387 yards and five touchdowns and Texas’ Colt McCoy passed for 287 yards and a score. Texas vaulted to No. 1 after the victory and held the spot for three weeks.

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Oklahoma ended up winning in the end. Bradford won the Heisman and McCoy finished second. And the Sooners were granted the BCS national championship tiebreaker to earn a berth in the national title game.

2001: Oklahoma 14, Texas 3

This game is remembered mostly for a spectacular play by Oklahoma defensive stars Roy Williams and Teddy Lehman.

Oklahoma led 7-3 late in the fourth quarter, but Texas had a sliver of hope. After a punt, the Longhorns took possession on their 3-yard line with just over two minutes remaining. On Texas’ first play, Chris Simms dropped back into the end zone. Williams leaped into the air and hit Simms while he was throwing. Lehman caught the fluttering pass and returned it 2 yards for a touchdown. Williams would collect an interception later to help the Sooners close it out.

Oklahoma, the defending national champion, won its 18th straight game overall.

1999: Texas 38, Oklahoma 28

The first matchup between Texas coach Mack Brown and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was a doozy that started with trickery.

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Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach wrote up a fake play script for the start of the game and hatched an elaborate plan to have it left near the Texas bench in pregame warmups. It worked when the Longhorns found the script and, thinking they knew the Sooners’ game plan, were lining up in all the wrong places.

Josh Heupel, who would lead the Sooners to the national championship in 2000, had 181 yards passing and two touchdowns as Oklahoma raced to a 17-0 lead. Texas defensive coordinator Carl Reese eventually trashed the bogus script and the Longhorns staged their biggest rally in nearly 35 years to win.

1984: Oklahoma 15, Texas 15

Before the game, Sooners freshman linebacker Brian Bosworth — a native Oklahoman — declared: “I hate Texas, I hate (Texas coach) Freddie Akers and I hate that burnt orange color. It reminds me of people’s vomit.”

On a rainy, soggy day at the Cotton Bowl, No. 3 Oklahoma led the top-ranked Longhorns 15-10 late in the third quarter before a safety pulled Texas within three. Texas was driving for the winning touchdown when an apparent Oklahoma interception was ruled out of bounds. With 4 seconds left, Texas’ Jeff Ward kicked a game-tying field goal. Switzer chased the game officials to yell at them.

″Oklahoma fans were mad,” Ward told the AP in 2000. “Texas fans were mad. Everybody was shouting. You felt miserable because of the rain.”

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Bosworth respected Texas even less for the tie as the years went by.

“They came and did the unthinkable, trying to tie it up,″ Bosworth said in 2000. ″They were the No. 1 team. That was like shooting themselves in the head.”

AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.



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Oklahoma and Texas, one of college football's most storied rivalries, opens new chapter in the SEC

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Oklahoma and Texas, one of college football's most storied rivalries, opens new chapter in the SEC


NORMAN, Okla. — Perhaps the only way the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry could have become even more intense happened when both joined the powerful Southeastern Conference in July.

The series that began in 1900 immediately will rank with the best of the SEC’s older ones — Alabama vs. Georgia, the Iron Bowl between Auburn vs. Alabama, the Egg Bowl featuring Ole Miss and Mississippi State and the Florida-Georgia matchups in Jacksonville, long known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

First, there’s the atmosphere. The Cotton Bowl in Dallas is a neutral site virtually equal distances from the campuses in Norman, Oklahoma and Austin, Texas. The stadium is split with half Oklahoma crimson and half Texas burnt orange. The game takes place during the State Fair of Texas, creating a vibrant scene and a unique experience.

Then, there’s the history. Although Alabama and Georgia have played many high-stakes games in the past decade, even that series doesn’t measure up long term. Oklahoma and Texas have 10 AP national titles between them -– Oklahoma boasts seven and Texas has three. In each case, the winner in Dallas won the national championship.

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There’s plenty at stake this year too — Texas takes the No. 1 ranking into the game for the first time since 1984. Oklahoma. ranked No. 18, would get a huge boost from a win.

“How could you not get excited for this game?” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “This is everything that you want to coach and play for at this level. The pageantry, the emotion, the intensity, the opportunity, all of it. You’re going to have a center stage in college football this Saturday.”

There have been stars aplenty through the years — Oklahoma has seven Heisman winners and Texas has two, with many having helped their causes in Red River Rivalry games.

Oklahoma’s Billy Sims (20) goes airborne in an effort to score from the two -yard line in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against Texas, Saturday Oct.7, 1978, in Dallas. Credit: AP/Anonymous

Legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal played for Oklahoma. But the Sooners have taken much more than a coach from Texas — something Longhorn fans are quick to bring up. Many of Oklahoma’s best players have come from The Longhorn State – Heisman winners Billy Sims, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray are from there, as were star running backs Adrian Peterson, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington and many others.

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Back in the late 1960s, Texas won big with the run-based wishbone offense. Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer borrowed it, tweaked it and ran it down Texas’ throat in the 1970s — with a heavy dose of those running backs he recruited from Texas.

The games often have been unpredictable. Last year, for example, Texas was heavily favored, but Oklahoma won on a touchdown pass from Dillon Gabriel to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds remaining. Texas bounced back and made the College Football Playoff.

In perhaps the craziest year of the rivalry, the schools played twice in 2018. Texas won in the regular season, but Oklahoma took the rematch in the Big 12 title game, propelling Murray to the Heisman.

-Texas quarterback Chris Simms (1) is hit by Oklahoma's Roy...

-Texas quarterback Chris Simms (1) is hit by Oklahoma’s Roy Williams (38) in the fourth quarter, causing Simms to throw an interception to Oklahoma’s Teddy Lehman, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2001, in Dallas. Lehman returned the interception 2 yards for a touchdown and Oklahoma won 14-3. Credit: AP/Tim Sharp

With all that in mind, here are five significant games in the rivalry.

2020: Oklahoma 53, Texas 45, 4 OT

Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Drake Stoops — son of former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops — in the fourth overtime for the game winner.

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In a game that deserved a full house, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the crowd to 24,000 at the 93,000-seat Cotton Bowl, and the state fair was canceled for the first time since World War II.

Those who showed up witnessed a barnburner.

Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, who had four rushing touchdowns, threw two scoring passes in the final 3:28 of regulation to help the Longhorns tie the game at 31 and force overtime.

But after Stoops’ touchdown catch, Oklahoma’s Tre’ Brown intercepted Ehlinger to end the game.

2008: Texas 45, Oklahoma 35

Oklahoma was ranked No. 1, Texas was No. 5. Oklahoma twice held 11-point leads in the first half, only for Texas to rally within 21-20 by halftime, with the play of the game coming on Jordan Shipley’s momentum changing 96-yard kickoff return.

Advertisement

The game produced an all-time quarterback duel as Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford passed for 387 yards and five touchdowns and Texas’ Colt McCoy passed for 287 yards and a score. Texas vaulted to No. 1 after the victory and held the spot for three weeks.

Oklahoma ended up winning in the end. Bradford won the Heisman and McCoy finished second. And the Sooners were granted the BCS national championship tiebreaker to earn a berth in the national title game.

2001: Oklahoma 14, Texas 3

This game is remembered mostly for a spectacular play by Oklahoma defensive stars Roy Williams and Teddy Lehman.

Oklahoma led 7-3 late in the fourth quarter, but Texas had a sliver of hope. After a punt, the Longhorns took possession on their 3-yard line with just over two minutes remaining. On Texas’ first play, Chris Simms dropped back into the end zone. Williams leaped into the air and hit Simms while he was throwing. Lehman caught the fluttering pass and returned it 2 yards for a touchdown. Williams would collect an interception later to help the Sooners close it out.

Oklahoma, the defending national champion, won its 18th straight game overall.

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1999: Texas 38, Oklahoma 28

The first matchup between Texas coach Mack Brown and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was a doozy that started with trickery.

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mike Leach wrote up a fake play script for the start of the game and hatched an elaborate plan to have it left near the Texas bench in pregame warmups. It worked when the Longhorns found the script and, thinking they knew the Sooners’ game plan, were lining up in all the wrong places.

Josh Heupel, who would lead the Sooners to the national championship in 2000, had 181 yards passing and two touchdowns as Oklahoma raced to a 17-0 lead. Texas defensive coordinator Carl Reese eventually trashed the bogus script and the Longhorns staged their biggest rally in nearly 35 years to win.

1984: Oklahoma 15, Texas 15

Before the game, Sooners freshman linebacker Brian Bosworth — a native Oklahoman — declared: “I hate Texas, I hate (Texas coach) Freddie Akers and I hate that burnt orange color. It reminds me of people’s vomit.”

On a rainy, soggy day at the Cotton Bowl, No. 3 Oklahoma led the top-ranked Longhorns 15-10 late in the third quarter before a safety pulled Texas within three. Texas was driving for the winning touchdown when an apparent Oklahoma interception was ruled out of bounds. With 4 seconds left, Texas’ Jeff Ward kicked a game-tying field goal. Switzer chased the game officials to yell at them.

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″Oklahoma fans were mad,” Ward told the AP in 2000. “Texas fans were mad. Everybody was shouting. You felt miserable because of the rain.”

Bosworth respected Texas even less for the tie as the years went by.

“‘They came and did the unthinkable, trying to tie it up,″ Bosworth said in 2000. ″They were the No. 1 team. That was like shooting themselves in the head.’

___

AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.

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