Longhorns vs. Sooners
Texas Longhorns before scoring a touchdown on one of the greatest days of my life.
Watching the Sooners Lose Is Always Best in Person
Destinations | Entertainment and Sports
I have bled burnt orange since I was in elementary school, and I am a college and pro football fan. The game my Texas Longhorns MUST win every year is against our deeply hated archrival, the Oklahoma Sooners. And while the pre-Sarkisian years were a bit of a drought for us, there is one game during the lean years that stands out.
Each year in October, the Texas State Fair in Dallas provides a neutral location for the Red River Showdown, where the Horns and Sooners gather to battle it out at the Cotton Bowl, located on the fairgrounds.
I call it the Texas-Blow-U game. Haha…see what I did there!
Watching Texas beat Oklahoma on TV is beyond satisfying enough, and the happiness of a good drubbing, like the 49-0 shutout we delivered in 2022, can last for years.
(I even got to gloat at afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason in London during my 2022 holiday trip. By golly, the American couple sitting at the table next to me were Sooners, and they graciously allowed me to get a jab in. They knew I had to do it. Hey, all in good fun! We still got along, don’t worry.)
Remember, love the person, hate the team.
But I digress. One of the best days of my life was watching Texas beat Oklahoma in person on 10 October 2015. A friend had an unused ticket, giving me a rare opportunity to attend the Red River Rivalry game in person. I made my way to Dallas a bit nervous because my Horns weren’t really performing as we came to expect for a team that went to the National Championship in 2009.
Going into the game, Oklahoma was ranked #10 in the AP Poll, and Texas was ranked two spots below dog doo-doo.
Since Mack Brown was shown the door after the 2013 season because, by GOD we could not have an 8-5 season, the Charlie Strong / Tom Herman years were a bit…tough. But Coach Strong did deliver a fantastic win, and I get to write about it here.
In the first quarter, the Horns took the lead at 14-0, which was not even close to a comfortable lead at that time. Oklahoma can easily come back from a 14-point deficit. Determined to enjoy the game regardless, I was happy if we didn’t get embarrassed.
But as the game progressed, we kept the lead.
At the end of the 2nd quarter, we led 14-3.
The end of the 3rd quarter? Still holding the lead 17-10.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, I was able to hold out real hope we’d pull this off. We scored again at 13:52 left in the game, but it was too soon to relax. Indeed, the Sooners scored with 8:00 left, making the score 24-17; it became tense again.
For the rest of the 4th quarter, I watched nervously as Texas held a one-score lead and the Sooners fans started for the exit. It wasn’t until that game clock hit 0:00 that I knew we upset a Top 10 team and I was experiencing one of the best days of my life.
ESPN has preserved the gamecast.
It became real when The Showband of the Southwest gathered at the Texas endzone to play The Eyes of Texas.
A week later, I saw an advertisement for a commemorative plaque. Of course, I stopped what I was doing and said, “TAKE MY MONEY.” It hangs in my Longhorn-decorated office to this day.
