Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2022. It has been updated.
Some rivalries are defined by a "big brother vs. little brother" dynamic -- the more successful team vs. the team that lives to destroy the more successful team's season. In the Red River Rivalry, the programs have traded who gets to play each role.
Some rivalries are nonconference affairs between schools that enjoy massive geographic overlap and recruit the same prospects but have never been in the same league. Red River was that ... until it wasn't.
At one point or another, Oklahoma-Texas has been pretty much everything. The schools have met 118 times; since 1929, the only time they didn't play at Dallas' Cotton Bowl was in 2018, when they also played in nearby Arlington in the Big 12 championship game. Starting with a 7-7 tie in 1937, the series has been nearly dead even: 42 wins for Texas, 41 wins for OU and four draws.
The balance of power has shifted repeatedly, from UT's eight-game winning streak in the 1940s to OU's recent run of six wins in the past seven meetings, and few rivalries mark power better than this one: While the two storied programs have combined for 72 AP top-10 finishes, they've pulled off the feat in the same season only 13 times. One team asserts its dominance over the other, and it tends to last a while.
That could make 2023 a pretty big pivot point. A year after they met as unranked foes, both teams are 5-0 and rising in the polls. Texas is third in the AP poll after solidifying its early win over Bama with comfortable victories as a favorite. Oklahoma, meanwhile, is up to 12th, having almost matched last year's six-win total five games in. Texas' 49-0 win last year felt like exactly the sort of dominance assertion that could prompt a long Longhorns run, but OU's early-season rebound has brought that at least slightly into doubt.
Who wins the final iteration of this rivalry before it becomes property of the SEC? What awaits in the years to come? The answer likely lies in the past. From blowouts to game-of-the-year candidates to matchups that signal a changing of the guard, here are 10 games that tell the story of the Red River Rivalry.
1958: No. 16 Texas 15, No. 2 Oklahoma 14
Darrell Royal was introduced to this rivalry as an OU student. He played quarterback and defensive back for the legendary Bud Wilkinson in the late 1940s and had witnessed one of the rivalry's first great momentum shifts, when the Sooners ended an eight-game losing streak to the Longhorns with a 20-14 win in 1948.
When Royal took over as coach in Austin in 1957, at age 32, Texas had lost eight of the past nine in the series. The Horns had crumbled to 1-9 in 1956, Edwin Price's last year in charge, and while they rebounded to 6-4-1 in Royal's first season, they lost to Wilkinson's top-ranked Sooners 21-7.
In 1958, everything changed. The Sooners' storied 47-game winning streak had ended at the hands of Notre Dame the year before; Royal sensed vulnerability and pulled out all the stops in Dallas.
In front of more than 76,000, Texas took an 8-0 lead into halftime thanks to a touchdown on a halfback pass. It was 8-6 in the fourth quarter when OU's Jim Davis, a product of Tyler, Texas, stole a UT handoff and rumbled 24 yards for the go-ahead score. Down 6 late, the Horns drove the length of the field, tied the game on a 7-yard Bobby Lackey-to-Bob Bryant touchdown pass, then went ahead on Lackey's PAT. Oklahoma mounted a late charge, but an interception in the final minute sealed the upset, and Texas fans tore down the goalposts.
Texas would lose only once to the Sooners over the next 13 seasons.
1963: No. 2 Texas 28, No. 1 Oklahoma 7
Wilkinson's incredible run lost steam quickly. The Sooners would win out following the Texas loss in 1958, but they went just 16-16-1 over the next three seasons and change, ceding longtime control of the Big 8 to first Missouri and then Colorado. But before he would retire from coaching to go into politics (briefly) and broadcasting, Wilkinson made one last charge. His Sooners overcame a 1-2 start in 1962 to win seven in a row, losing to Bear Bryant's Alabama in the Orange Bowl but finishing eighth in the AP poll. In 1963, the Sooners began the year fourth in the rankings, but after a win at top-ranked USC, they were back at No. 1 for the first time in five years.
That final reign lasted only one week. Hours after Roger Staubach and No. 4 Navy had fallen to SMU in the same stadium Friday night, Royal's second-ranked Horns sent a second top team to defeat. OU managed only 16 first-half snaps as Texas hogged the ball and took a 14-0 lead into halftime. An OU fumble set up an easy Longhorns touchdown drive to push the lead to 21-0, and when the Sooners finally got on the board, Texas responded with a 14-yard pass from Marvin Kristynik to George Sauer to complete the blowout.
Oklahoma would rebound to finish 8-2 and 10th overall, but Texas wouldn't relinquish its No. 1 ranking. The Horns survived rough road tests at Arkansas, SMU and Texas A&M, then blew out Staubach and Navy back in the Cotton Bowl to complete a perfect national title campaign.
1971: No. 8 Oklahoma 48, No. 3 Texas 27
Aside from an 18-9 blip in 1966, Texas owned the series in the 1960s, even in its down years. In 1967, the Horns lost their way offensively and went just 6-4, but they still handed Chuck Fairbanks' Sooners their only loss, 9-7. New offensive coordinator Emory Bellard developed a wishbone formation to unlock the Longhorn attack in 1968, and Texas ripped off a 30-game winning streak, won the 1969 national title and took down the Sooners by increasingly large margins.
Unfortunately for the Horns, Royal was a nice guy. He and Fairbanks were friends, and Fairbanks was under pressure after three straight four-loss seasons. To help out, Royal instructed Bellard to show Oklahoma offensive coordinator Barry Switzer the basics of the bone. And the Sooners proceeded to pummel Texas with it.
After losing 41-9 to the Longhorns in 1970, OU would win the next three games in the series by an average score of 42-13. The Sooners already had a speed advantage over Texas, and now they had the schematics too. In 1971, they also had Greg Pruitt. The Houston native (and future College Football Hall of Famer) rushed for 214 yards and three touchdowns against the Horns; OU rushed for 435 yards and didn't punt until the fourth quarter. In just a few hours in Dallas, OU had turned this rivalry all the way around.
1976: No. 3 Oklahoma 6, No. 16 Texas 6
Fairbanks left for the New England Patriots in 1973, leaving Switzer in charge. His Sooners claimed national titles in both 1974 and '75 despite being on NCAA probation. Royal found he didn't much like Switzer, a relentless, by-any-means-necessary recruiter, and with Texas closing the gap on the Sooners -- OU won just 16-13 in 1974 and 24-17 in 1975 -- Royal went so far as to accuse Switzer of authorizing an Oklahoma oilman to spy on Texas' practices heading into the 1976 game. He challenged Switzer to take a lie detector test and told an AP reporter, "Those sorry bastards, I don't trust 'em on anything." Royal was also appalled when the local press omitted the oilman's name in news reports. "It ought to hurt his business," he said.
(As it turned out, OU had spied on Texas. Four years earlier. Switzer: "Darrell four years later in '76 accuses us of spying. There are semantics involved here. When I said me and my staff never spied on Texas, I was telling the truth. Because the spying actually happened in '72 when Chuck Fairbanks was the head coach.")
Royal would retire after the 1976 season, and while he couldn't quite pull one over on Switzer on his way out the door, he did the next best thing. In one of the most intense and absurdly sloppy games in the rivalry's history, the teams combined for just 315 total yards and more than half as many turnovers (eight) as first downs (15). Two Russell Erxleben field goals gave the Horns a 6-0 lead deep into the game, but one last Longhorn turnover -- a fumble by Johnny "Ham" Jones -- gave the Sooners one last shot at a win. Horace Ivory scored on a 1-yard sweep to tie the score with 1:38 left ... and the PAT snap sailed over the holder's head. No one deserved to win this game, and no one did.
1984: No. 1 Texas 15, No. 3 Oklahoma 15
In the early 1980s, these programs' fortunes appeared to have reversed. Switzer's Sooners endured three straight four-loss seasons from 1981 to 1983 and lost five of seven in the series from 1977 to 1983. Royal's successor, Fred Akers, meanwhile, engineered four top-10 finishes in his first seven seasons and came achingly close to a national title in 1983.
In 1984, another tie signified another shift in the rivalry. Texas was No. 1 in the country following early wins over both No. 11 Auburn and No. 4 Penn State (what an incredible nonconference slate that was!), while OU had surged with a series of early blowout wins. Switzer was winning a lot of major recruiting battles again, and new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mack Brown -- yes, that Mack Brown -- had introduced a passing game that was a bit modernized.
These top teams put on a controversial classic in monsoon conditions. Thanks to a pair of Oklahoma turnovers, Texas ended up with more scores (two) than first downs (one) in the first half and led 10-0, but two Steve Sewell touchdowns sandwiched a safety off of a bombed punt snap. OU led 15-10 heading into the fourth. Then came the controversy.
First, following a dramatic goal-line stand, Switzer made the iffy decision to take an intentional safety instead of punting out of the OU end zone with 2:10 left. That made it 15-12, Sooners. Then, with the Longhorns having driven to the OU 15 with 10 seconds left, the Sooners' Keith Stanberry picked off a pass in the end zone; it would have clinched the win, but officials incorrectly waved it off as incomplete. Finally, instead of going for the touchdown and the win again, Akers elected to settle for a tie with a 32-yard field goal from Jeff Ward. According to local media reports, an OU coach yelled "Chicken s---" at the Longhorns as they left the field.
Ball don't lie, eventually, I guess. Akers would go 17-14 over the rest of his Texas tenure, and OU would win the next four games in the series by an average of 33-10. The Sooners also won the 1985 national title, albeit with Brown gone and the triple option back in place.
1994: No. 15 Texas 17, No. 16 Oklahoma 10
The 1990s weren't the most memorable time for either of these programs. Coming off another round of NCAA sanctions, Oklahoma made awful hires in Howard Schnellenberger (1995) and John Blake (1996-98) and averaged just 5.5 wins per year from 1992 to 1999. Texas upset Nebraska to win the inaugural Big 12 title in 1996, but didn't enjoy a single top-10 finish between 1984 and 2000.
Even if the teams are misfiring, however, rivalries can produce classics. The games can sometimes mean even more under those circumstances -- just ask quarterback Peter Gardere, a Houston native and four-year Texas starter who produced an incredibly forgettable career record and stat line, but became a Longhorns legend for beating the Sooners four times. Seven of nine Red Rivers between 1989 and 1997 were decided by one score, and the 1994 battle was the best of the bunch.
With Texas quarterback Shea Morenz injured, freshman James Brown found out he would be starting just minutes before kickoff. He proceeded to complete 17 of 22 (mostly short) passes and both throw and run for a touchdown. It was just barely enough. The Longhorns led 17-10 late in the fourth quarter when Gary Gibbs' Sooners mounted a last-minute rally. They faced a fourth-and-goal from the Texas 3 with 43 seconds left and attempted a bit of misdirection. Quarterback Garrick McGee sprinted right but handed to James Allen sprinting left. Big Stoney Clark, a 318-pound nose tackle, stoned Allen at the 1. Texas had its fifth rivalry win in six years.
2000: No. 10 Oklahoma 63, No. 11 Texas 14
With Texas' hiring of Mack Brown in 1998 and Oklahoma's hiring of Bob Stoops in 1999, both programs soon ignited. The Longhorns won nine games in each of Brown's first three seasons, then ripped off seven top-10 finishes in nine years, winning the 2005 national title and coming achingly close in both 2008 and 2009. OU, meanwhile, took the national title in 2000, played for titles in 2003, 2004 and 2008 and recorded top-10 finishes 11 times in his 17 years in charge. Those 13 occasions when both teams finished the season in the top 10? Four of them happened in the 2000s.
We didn't know any of that was coming early in the 2000 season. We knew that Brown was recruiting like gangbusters, and we knew that Stoops had brought some life back to the Sooners program with a 7-5 debut season in 1999. But OU had beaten only UTEP, Arkansas State, Rice and Kansas when Red River dawned, and Texas had dropped out of the top 10 following a road loss to Stanford. Both programs seemed to still be in transition.
Three months after this one, OU was celebrating a national title.
This was the first in a set of three wins -- victories over No. 2 Kansas State in Manhattan, then No. 1 Nebraska in Norman would follow -- that completely changed the trajectory of Stoops' program, and it was by far the most resounding. Houston native Quentin Griffin rushed for six touchdowns and Josh Heupel threw for 275 yards. The Sooners outgained the Longhorns 534-154, taking a 35-0 lead just 19 minutes in and never letting off the throttle. Only a pair of turnovers kept them under 70 points.
2001: No. 3 Oklahoma 14, No. 5 Texas 3
One of the sport's most lasting "You remember where you were when you saw it" moments*: Roy Williams' Superman act.
On Oct. 6, 2001, Roy Williams flies through the air and hits Texas QB Chris Simms, forcing an INT to Teddy Lehman to secure the Sooners' win.
It was the easiest touchdown of Teddy Lehman's life and a moment that might have kept Texas out of the BCS championship game.
(* I was in a friend's living room in Stillwater, getting ready to go watch a far less important Missouri-Oklahoma State game. No one understood what happened watching it live, and everyone went absolutely nuts when the replay aired.)
2008: No. 5 Texas 45, No. 1 Oklahoma 35
OU won five in a row in the series from 2000 to 2004, playing for three national titles and shutting out Vince Young and the Longhorns in '04. But Young and company responded with a 45-12 romp in 2005 on their way to UT's first national title in more than three decades. The programs split the games in 2006 and 2007, and both had title-caliber teams heading into 2008. The Sooners had moved to No. 1 following USC's upset loss to Oregon State, and Texas, winner of 11 of its past 12 games behind quarterback Colt McCoy, had eased into the top five.
OU took control of this one early, going up 21-10 thanks to a trio of Sam Bradford touchdown passes. It was 28-20 when star Sooners linebacker Ryan Reynolds -- no, not that Ryan Reynolds -- injured his knee. Texas scored on each of its next four possessions and took the lead for good on a Cody Johnson touchdown with 7:37 left.
Will Muschamp's Longhorns defense held the Sooners scoreless on four of their last five drives -- no small feat considering OU would soon rip off a streak of six straight games with at least 58 points -- and Texas moved to No. 1 in the polls. But thanks to a famous upset at Texas Tech three weeks later, the Horns ended up decimal points behind OU in the year-end BCS rankings. Oklahoma, not Texas, would get a shot at Florida (and lose) in the national title game.
(Once again, ball eventually don't lie. Texas made the national title game in 2009, while Stoops' Sooners fell to 8-5.)
2021: No. 6 Oklahoma 55, No. 21 Texas 48
Looking solely at wins and losses, OU owned Red River in the 2010s. Following UT's 16-13 win in 2009, the Sooners took 10 of the next 13 meetings. They finished in the AP top 10 for seven straight years with streaks of six consecutive conference titles and four CFP bids in a row. Meanwhile, Texas enjoyed only one top-10 finish or Big 12 championship game appearance in 13 seasons. Despite these programs' uneven fortunes, that Big 12 championship one-off in 2018 (a 39-27 OU win) was the only game from 2013 to 2021 decided by more than one score. We were blessed with nail-biter after nail-biter, and each year the bar seemed to get raised a little higher.
Following 2020's masterpiece -- a 53-45 Oklahoma win in four overtimes -- the 2021 battle, played in front of a packed Cotton Bowl again after 2020's COVID restrictions, somehow topped it. It also signified an impending changing of the guard in Norman, even if we didn't realize it at the time.
Texas played one of its best ever first quarters, scoring on a 75-yard Xavier Worthy catch-and-run on the first play of the game, picking off a Spencer Rattler pass and bolting to a 28-7 lead.
After another Rattler turnover, freshman Caleb Williams, having already scored on a 66-yard keeper early in the second quarter, took over behind center for the Sooners. His first touchdown pass to Marvin Mims Jr. made it 41-30 Texas heading into the fourth quarter, and a 52-yard Williams-to-Mims bomb tied the game at 41-41. But things were just ramping up. OU recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and a Kennedy Brooks TD gave the Sooners their first lead. Worthy tied the game at 48-48 with a 31-yard score with 1:23 left. Were we headed to OT again? Nope. Brooks took a handoff with 10 seconds left and raced 33 yards for a shocking touchdown and a 55-48 win.
A couple of months later, both head coach Lincoln Riley and Williams were headed to USC. After coming so close in his rivalry debut, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian would engineer a 49-0 romp over the Sooners in 2022. Did that prompt the next great winning streak in the series? Or can Brent Venables and OU get things back on track Saturday?