Let’s turn back the clock to 2005. Texas was fresh off a Rose Bowl appearance with highly touted returning quarterback Vince Young leading the charge. The Longhorns came into the year as a serious national championship contender with dreams of winning their first title in 35 years.
There was only one problem: Oklahoma and Bob Stoops had their dang number.
Granted, the Sooners were rebuilding in 2005. They lost two games early in the season. They were led by talented but unprepared underclassman quarterback Rhett Bomar. Those are just among several reasons Oklahoma entered the game as two-touchdown underdogs. Still, Texas was riding a five-game losing streak to those darn Sooners. Those losses included two blowouts (63-15 in 2000, 65-13 in 2003) and a 12-0 shutout over Young and Co. in 2004. No one in Burnt Orange at the Cotton Bowl felt safe.
This weekend, history repeats itself. No. 1 Texas is a 14.5-point favorite heading into the Red Rivalry Rivalry against No. 18 Oklahoma. The Longhorns are the nation’s top-ranked team heading into showdown for the first time since 1984. They are 2-7 against the Sooners since 2015, but just like 2005, they have an opportunity to flip the rivalry on its head.
On paper, Texas has every advantage. Its offense rates among the best in the nation. Oklahoma’s, meanwhile, is the worst in the SEC and one of only four nationally to average fewer than 300 yards per game. The Longhorns’ defense actually rates better than Oklahoma across the board, both in raw metrics and advanced stats. Texas holds opponents to the No. 12 success rate in the nation, while Oklahoma sits at No. 34. Oklahoma is better against the run, but the Longhorns’ passing defense is far more effective.
The advantages run deeper, however. Texas had 10 selections to the Preseason All-SEC Team. Oklahoma had two. Texas has three players projected as first-rounders in Mike Renner’s 2025 NFL Mock Draft: tackle Kelvin Banks, quarterback Quinn Ewers and receiver Isaiah Bond. Oklahoma has one player ranked in the top 75: linebacker Danny Stutsman. While Texas starts Ewers, the Heisman contender who’s returning after missing several weeks with an abdominal strain, Oklahoma is starting a true freshman — Michael Hawkins Jr. — for the first time in this rivalry.
These are two programs heading in opposite directions.
Rivalry games come with an air of wackiness, and last season is a perfect example. The Longhorns were better than Oklahoma, earning their first Big 12 title since 2009 and a trip to the College Football Playoff. Against the Sooners, however, they fell 34-30 behind a legacy-making, go-ahead drive from quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Ewers was rattled early and threw interceptions on the first two drives.
Oklahoma has so much to gain from this game; frankly much more so than Texas. A win would essentially lock up bowl eligibility, which looked in doubt after the Sooners’ loss to Tennessee. It would vault Oklahoma up the rankings, perhaps even into the top 10. The recruiting impact could be huge with many of the top players in the country will be visiting. Perhaps as important, it would give OU a 3-1 advantage against Steve Sarkisian.
Meanwhile, for Texas, this is really just the first of two major games with a home date against Georgia looming the following week. It’s not hard to argue that the Red River Rivalry is the less important of the two from a national perspective.
But it’s also a chance for Sarkisian and his team to make a statement. The Longhorns expect to contend for a national title in 2024. And becoming a championship-level program is about burying opponents that are beneath you.
When Texas and Oklahoma played in 2005, the Longhorns smothered the Sooners. Oklahoma didn’t travel 20 yards on a drive until its fifth sequence. UT scored on its opening drive and got an 80-yard breakaway touchdown from a young Jamaal Charles. Bomar threw for 94 yards and the Sooners averaged 2.6 yards per play against a dominant Texas defense. The Longhorns won 45-12 and never looked back on the way to a historic national championship win. It was also the start of a run of success in the rivalry as the Longhorns won four of five matchups from 2005-09.
The 2005 Texas squad was a championship-level team. Oklahoma was mediocre — and the Longhorns treated the Sooners as such. That’s what championship teams do. That’s what 2000 Oklahoma did (63-14). It’s what 1970 Texas did (41-9). Michigan got past Ohio State last year. Georgia crushed Florida during its title runs. Alabama eviscerated Auburn in 2020.
It’s been 40 years since Texas came into this matchup at No. 1, so long that Mack Brown was an assistant on the Oklahoma sideline. Fred Akers’ Longhorns shrunk in that moment, ending with a 15-15 tie and ultimately finishing the year unranked. Behind Ewers, Sarkisian and a stacked roster of contributors, Texas is capable of so much more.
