What is college football all about? Tradition. Passion. Rivalries. The Red River Shootout is one of the greatest examples of that, and why we love college football so much. Strangers become friends, while friends become temporary enemies. One visit to Dallas during the Texas vs. Oklahoma weekend and you will witness it firsthand. It never mattered to either side coming in that Oklahoma was ranked #11, while Texas remains on the outside looking in at the Top 25 under new head coach Charlie Strong. The only thing that mattered was beating your rival and doing so in an embarrassing fashion.
Oklahoma came out the gates with that mentality jumping out to a 17-3 lead early in the 2nd quarter without even scoring a touchdown on offense. Thanks to a nice kickoff return and a poor throw by Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, the offense wasn’t needed until later in the game. But, we must give credit where credit is due as Swoopes maintained his composure coming back throwing a TD strike only a few plays later.
After the half, the intensity picked up as Oklahoma tried to pull away but Texas refused to go away quietly. Oklahoma scored twice, pushing their lead to 31-13, then we witnessed the maturation of Tyrone Swoopes as he threw for one touchdown and ran in another late in the 4th quarter. His stat line of 27/44, 334 yards and 2 scores looks impressive but the early interception would eventually prove to be the difference in the game.
Oklahoma escaped 31-26 after almost giving it away. Katy Perry favorite Trevor Knight had a decent outing throwing for 129 yards and a touchdown to lead the Sooners to another Red River victory.
Better luck next time Texas.