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Texas: Time For Another Red River Showdown

By brandon Houser

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The Texas Longhorns square off with No.10 Oklahoma Sooners in the 110th meeting of the Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Over the years the Red River Shootout, or Red River Showdown as it’s now being called, has grown into one of the most watched games during the college football season. During those years it has been a game that has rarely let fans down when it comes to excitement and big plays. Some players have even made their names in this classic matchup between two of the biggest programs in the nation.

On Saturday, Texas faces No.10 Oklahoma Sooners in the 110th meeting between the two schools at historic Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

The Sooners have been firing off all cylinders so far this season while running their overall record to 4-0, while the  Longhorns are barely hanging on to life with a 1-4 record.

Junior quarterback Baker Mayfield has a man on a mission since transferring to OU from Texas Tech by completing 65.2 percent of his passes for 1,382 yards and 13 touchdowns while only having three balls picked off.  Mayfield has also added another four touchdowns on the ground while running for 138 yards on 44 carries.

Sophomore running back Samaje Perine has also had a good start to his season. Perine has carried the ball 72 times for 328 yards and two touchdowns on the ground with seven receptions for 22 yards and another score as a receiver.

Along with having an explosive offense, the Sooners defense is pretty solid from front to back  in allowing 22.3 points per game. Not sure if that bodes well for a Longhorns offense that only managed seven points against TCU while watching their defense surrender 50 to the Horned Frogs.

If Texas wants to knock off their most hated nemesis, they cannot afford to fall behind like they have done in all but one game this season. This is a team that has to play from ahead if they want any chance at winning.

This Texas offense is pretty good even though it is being run by a freshman quarterback that is just getting his feet under him. Until the TCU game, Jerrod Heard had the Longhorns offense playing pretty well and kept his team in position to win, but Texas couldn’t get the job done when the game was on the line.

There’s only so much one guy can do. There comes a time when the defense and special teams have to step up, take responsibility for their play, and stay off social media at halftime when they are getting blown completely out of the DFW area.  As long as the Longhorns defense can somewhat slowdown the Sooners offense they will have a chance to pick up their second win of the season with Heard leading the way.

The Sooners are 17 point favorites in this one but that does not really mean anything when these two schools meet. OU was favored last season when they faced a 2-3 Longhorns team and barely escaped with a four point win after holding off Texas late.

Texas holds the lead in this series 60-44-5, but the Sooners have won four of the last five meetings. If this game is anything like some of the others in recent years, we should see a lot of offense with just a touch of defense from time to time.

Look for the Sooners to pull off another huge win to hold onto the Golden Hat for at least one more year while the Longhorns continue to rebuild their program. Once the Longhorns fully recover from transitioning to the Charlie Strong Era, that ‘Hat will come back to the Lone Star State where it belongs.

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