An OU-Texas title game possibility makes the Oct game slightly less important
The Oklahoman
July 28, 2019
Berry Tramel
Sooners and Longhorns invaded the Dallas Metroplex, put on the pads, walked onto the field of an iconic stadium doused in crimson and burnt orange, and entered an alternate universe.
They were in Arlington, not Dallas. In JerryWorld, not the Cotton Bowl. In the shadow of Six Flags, not the State Fair of Texas. In December, not October.
Strange. Very strange.
“Did feel a little weird,” Lincoln Riley said. “The game felt different, the atmosphere, the vibe, everything around it was a little different.”
That’s the opposite of OU-Texas in October. That game FEELS the same every year. No matter the records. No matter the rankings. No matter the coaches. No matter the quarterbacks. The Red River Rivalry is unassailable. The same yesterday, today and forever.
But now comes a fraternal twin. OU-Texas in December, in the Big 12 Championship Game. We had it last season. We’re projected to have it this season, with the Sooners picked first and the Longhorns second. And the championship game was different.
“It wasn’t so much OU-Texas,” Riley said. “We were both playing for a championship. We were playing for a playoff berth, too. Kyler (Murray) was probably playing for a Heisman Trophy. There was a lot of different … it is weird to say, but a lot of bigger storylines than the fact that it was OU-Texas.”
All parties are quick to say a rematch didn’t detract from the October classic.
OU nose guard Neville Gallimore: “It’s a game you’re playing for pride, playing for the Golden Hat. We know how we feel about them. We know how they feel about us.”
Sooner receiver CeeDee Lamb: “It was a fight. It's like, man, it was a blow-for-blow two times in one year. I tip my hat off to them guys. They come out every year with their best foot forward and they fight. And so do we.”
But still. The truth of the 2018 OU-Texas game in the Cotton Bowl was that it was not even the biggest OU-Texas game of the season. The Sooners lost in Dallas (a 48-45 thriller) yet still won the Big 12 (a 39-27 thriller) and made the national semifinal Orange Bowl.
The Red River game remains glorious. But its impact has lessened, just a tad. Even to this extent. In my annual rankings of every upcoming Big 12 game, from most important to least important, I don’t have OU-Texas No. 1. Iowa State-Texas gets that slot.
I know, that sounds counter-intuitive. But remember what we just talked about. OU-Texas last October did NOT determine a spot in the conference title game. When the Big 12 had divisions, OU-Texas usually was a division title game. When the Big 12 had no championship game, OU-Texas could be a title elimination affair.
But now, OU-Texas can be like the insufferable title to the CBS pregame show before the NCAA basketball finals – Prelude to a Championship.
Meanwhile, other games could hold greater consequences. Iowa State-Texas, for instance. The ‘Horns are picked second, the Cyclones third. If the preseason Big 12 poll holds form, ISU-Texas will determine a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. Iowa State making the Big 12 title game, at Texas’ expense or otherwise, would be a historic achievement for the Cyclones and a great thing for the conference, in terms of parity.
So I put Iowa State-Texas No. 1. OU-Texas is No. 2, because even a prelude to a championship is a big deal when it’s an ancient holy war.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby made the case that the October game is bigger now than ever before.
“I think it can't do anything but enhance the rivalry, although it's fair to argue that that rivalry couldn't be enhanced any more than it already is,” Bowlsby said. “It's pretty highly anticipated. I think this year's game with OU and Texas picked one and two in the league probably has more anticipation to it than what we may have had before, and of course that is multiplied by the fact that they played in the championship game last year.”
It’s certainly possible that the “weirdness” of December, playing a high-stakes game but in a more sterile environment than the pandemonium of the State Fair, will make OU-Texas fans appreciate the October game even more. Will help fans realize what they have.
OU-Texas is a game that inflames passion whether it’s a battle of unbeatens or a repeat of 1997, when the Sooners entered 2-3 and the Longhorns 2-2, having beaten only Rutgers and Rice.
But in 2019, with the addition of a fraternal twin, OU-Texas stakes have dipped ever so slightly.
Berry Tramel