TX-OU. The Red River Shootout. The best rivalry game in all of football.

[Cincydawg]

It was Phil, as you note in my comment section.

The SEC was really down back then.  The had a couple decent years and then some Ohio State fellows showed them how it was done.

[CousinFreddie]

My own sincere take.  Texas will win tomorrow.

Now, I say this having only watched them against Maryland and K State.  In Maryland, Texas didn't even seem to know how to tackle.  They looked incredibly lame, and on offense were really uncoordinated.  But by K State, they seem to have fixed many of those problems, and Manhattan is not an easy place to win, period.

I've watched at least bits and pieces of every Sooner game.  We have an incredibly porous defense, as you just pointed out JCG.  That is more than an Achilles heel - it's like an Achilles thigh, calf and heel.  The Texas offense doesn't impress me particularly but I think they're at least as tough as any OU has faced this year, and for example Baylor lit us up by 33.  UT has recently played at least that good, if not better.

I do think Oklahoma will hold their own on offense, and will likely have a few big plays and keep this interesting.  BUT, I've seen too many of these RRS games to think that we'll be able to run N-S.  Losing Rodney Anderson took us out of that possibility, and besides Texas always comes into this game ready to fight hard at the line.  There have been years where we've overcome them at the line and/or torched their backfield, and at times have totally worn them out and embarrassed them big.  I don't see anything to suggest though that this year will be like that.

Anyway, turnovers could change all this in either direction.  But if I were betting I'd say Texas wins this by a TD.

[Cincydawg]

I'm still pondering how a rivalry based on some red river can possibly be compared in national import and significance to a rivalry that takes place coincident with a very large cocktail party.  And played outdoors to boot, with gators, not soft cotton.

[CousinFreddie]

It wouldn’t be the gators, but the skeeters! that I’d worry about down there in that swampy part of the country. 

So, what - you tailgate excessively with hard liquor to get drunk enough so you can endure all the bug bites?  Have you guys never heard of OFF?  Deet?

And what’s the prize?  A boat oar to, what, navigate the Okefenokee?  Seriously?  

[Cincydawg]

We don't play fer no "prize" like some oaken bucket or oar or anything silly like that.

We play for cocktails, and beer. Skeeters that bite us fall over dead drunk soon enough.

[utee94]

If Florida and Georgia were actually rivals that would be a good rivalry game.  But they're not.  And it's not.

[CharleyHorse46]

It's a lovely name, I'll hand you that.   And it conjures an uneasiness as well.  Picture Palm Springs types in sky blue pants and sweaters, drinking cocktails while holding a putter and it looks cute.  Move the same scene and populate it with people who are renowned historically for their very bad judgment, and it's just scary as hell.

But then you see who's playing and you're like, "meh."  It's insignificant.  It's irrelevant.  It might as be Odessa Permian versus Midland Lee or the Pluto Brown Dogs against the Martian Marvins.  Who, but the local yokels, even care?

There are nine relevant universities.  In alphabetical order they are  - Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame,  Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas and USC.  Everybody else is just tagging along.

But Nebraska isn't good anymore.  Shut up.

But Georgia's really good.  Shut up.

But Florida was good in the 2000s.  Shut up

But Michigan hasn't won a national championship in ages.  Shut up.

But what about Herschel Walker.  Shut up.

Texas and Oklahoma are both relevant.  Georgia and Florida are not.  

End of subject.  Next.

[utee94]

You spent about 500 more words than I would have, but yup, true enough.

And none of that changes that it's 4:34 PM and ou still sucks.

[CharleyHorse46]

I wove a tapestry of tasty images.

[utee94]

I liked the Palm Springs bit.  

[CharleyHorse46]

I like to allude to the Rat Pack every seven years.  Regular as clockwork.  

[utee94]

I think what's most amusing are:

1) The false notion that a bunch of Bud Light swilling yokels from the dirty south might actually be drinking cocktails, instead of bonging bad macroswill out of a Pennzoil funnel

and

2) The thought that it's the largest outdoor anything, when there are going to be roughly 200,000 Longhorns and Okies swarming the State Fairgrounds all day long.  There are literally more people outside the stadium than inside, and that's with a stadium that seats 92,000 fans, which is way more than puny 77,000 that the soulless NFL stadium in Jacksonville seats.

[utee94]

And finally, ou still sucks

[utee94]

My own sincere take.  Texas will win tomorrow.

Now, I say this having only watched them against Maryland and K State.  In Maryland, Texas didn't even seem to know how to tackle.  They looked incredibly lame, and on offense were really uncoordinated.  But by K State, they seem to have fixed many of those problems, and Manhattan is not an easy place to win, period.

I've watched at least bits and pieces of every Sooner game.  We have an incredibly porous defense, as you just pointed out JCG.  That is more than an Achilles heel - it's like an Achilles thigh, calf and heel.  The Texas offense doesn't impress me particularly but I think they're at least as tough as any OU has faced this year, and for example Baylor lit us up by 33.  UT has recently played at least that good, if not better.

I do think Oklahoma will hold their own on offense, and will likely have a few big plays and keep this interesting.  BUT, I've seen too many of these RRS games to think that we'll be able to run N-S.  Losing Rodney Anderson took us out of that possibility, and besides Texas always comes into this game ready to fight hard at the line.  There have been years where we've overcome them at the line and/or torched their backfield, and at times have totally worn them out and embarrassed them big.  I don't see anything to suggest though that this year will be like that.

Anyway, turnovers could change all this in either direction.  But if I were betting I'd say Texas wins this by a TD.

I think Texas CAN win this.  Any folks out there thinking the Sooners are going to run away with a win, haven't been watching either team, or this rivalry, very closely.
OU is favored for a reason. On offense they're better at pretty much every position, except maybe WR a full 3-4 deep.  Even though Kyler Murray has to stand on a step stool to brush his teeth at a kid-sized sink, he's still got great timing and game sense.  And a lot of weapons.  And an o-line.
Texas' defense started to gel around this time last year, hopefully we'll see it happen again tomorrow.
I never predict this game, or at least rarely.  Given the recent record, it's tough to think Texas is ever going to get the upper hand again.
So all I will say is that this year, I think Texas CAN win, and a Sooner win wouldn't surprise me, but a blowout in favor of the Sooners would.