The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
AT&T Red River Rivalry set for Saturday in Dallas
10.07.2013 | Football
Texas-Oklahoma kicks off at 11 a.m. CT from Cotton Bowl
Texas-Oklahoma Game Notes | Longhorns Gameweek
Texas Wins On Road, Gets Ready for Oklahoma: Texas improved to 2-0 in the Big 12 on Thursday with a come-from-behind 31-30 road win over Iowa State. Case McCoy scored on a 1-yard QB sneak with 51 seconds left and the defense forced a turnover on the Cyclones' final possession to seal the win. The Longhorns now gear up for their annual showdown with No. 12/10 Oklahoma, which held off TCU, 20-17, Saturday in Norman. UT and OU, along with Texas Tech, are tied for first in the league standings.
108th AT&T Red River Rivalry Game: A classic matchup is once again in place as one of the nation's oldest and most-unique rivalries — the Texas/Oklahoma series — is set for its 108th renewal on Saturday (11 a.m. CT/ABC) at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The rivalry, which pits the two Big 12 Conference foes on a neutral field with the crowd split evenly, is in its eighth year of sponsorship with AT&T and is officially tagged the AT&T Red River Rivalry. The two teams alternate as hosts of the game and the Longhorns are the home team this year. Texas will wear burnt orange jerseys and be seated on the home bench (west/press box side).
Big-Time Rivalry: There is no rivalry quite like the Texas/Oklahoma series, which is being played for the 108th time. The series, which began in 1900, has been played in Dallas since 1912 and at the Cotton Bowl since 1929. Dallas' Cotton Bowl is located an equal distance from Austin and Norman, Okla. The stadium is split evenly among Longhorn and Sooner fans at the 50-yard line. It is the second-oldest UT series and tied for the 19th most-played rivalry in NCAA history. Only Texas A&M has met Texas on more occasions (117 times). Since 1900, the only years Texas and Oklahoma have not met were 1918, '20, '21 and 1924-28. The series resumed in 1929 at the State Fair of Texas and has remained a fixture since. This is the 91st meeting in Dallas between the teams.
The Texas-OU Series: Texas and Oklahoma first met in 1900 in Austin with the Longhorns registering a 28-2 victory. Texas holds a 59-43-5 series lead, including a 47-39-4 edge in Dallas. The teams have split the last eight meetings, though the Sooners have won the last three. UT is the only Big 12 Conference team that holds an all-time series lead against the Sooners. As for records by decade, Oklahoma led 6-4 in the 2000s, while the Horns led 7-2-1 in the 1990s. That comes after the Sooners held a 5-4-1 advantage in the 1980s. The rest of the series records by decade saw UT lead 9-2-1 in the 1900s; OU lead 6-3 in the 1910s; UT lead 3-0 in the 1920s; UT lead 6-3-1 in the 1930s; UT lead 8-2 in the 1940s; OU lead 7-3 in the 1950s; UT lead 9-1 in the 1960s; and OU lead 6-3-1 in the 1970s.
First-and-Goal:
• Case McCoy will make his second-career start against Oklahoma after QB David Ash was ruled out for the game. McCoy started the 2011 game and started twice this season in place of Ash. On the season, he has completed 61 percent of his passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
• Texas lost its second defensive player for the season in the last two games when CB Sheroid Evans suffered a torn ACL vs. Iowa State. LB Jordan Hicks ruptured his Achilles tendon vs. Kansas State.
• With the 31-30 win over Iowa State, the Longhorns have now won 19 of their last 21 (.905) games decided by three points or less.
• UT is averaging 459.0 yards of total offense which ranks No. 39 in the nation. The Horns are averaging 192.2 yards on the ground (No. 48) and 266.8 in the air (42nd).
• Ash was ranked 28th nationally in passing efficiency (156.3 rating) and tied for 21st in total offense (304.0 yards per game) heading into last week's game, but dropped out since he's now played in less than 75 percent of the games. Ash missed the Ole Miss contest with head and shoulder injuries, but returned vs. Kansas State only to leave at halftime when symptoms of his head injury re-emerged and not played since then.
• Johnathan Gray leads the team (439) and ranks third in the Big 12 and 41st nationally in rushing (87.8 per game). He is averaging 102.8 rushing yards over the last four games. Gray has three rushing touchdowns in the last two games after posting four in the first 16 contests of his career.
• Jaxon Shipley leads the team with 27 receptions and ranks fourth in the league at 5.4 per game. Sixteen of his receptions have gone for first downs, including two on fourth down plays. Mike Davis, who missed the K-State game with an ankle injury, has 26 receptions and ranks second in the Big 12 (31st nationally) with 6.5 per game. Davis has a team-high four TD receptions which is tied for 31st in the nation.
• Kendall Sanders has emerged as a receiving threat. The sophomore has started the last four games and posted a career-high 80 receiving yards, including a 63-yard TD, vs. Kansas State. He is averaging a team-best 102.0 all-purpose ypg (No. 10 in the Big 12).
• Six players have at least one catch of 45 yards or more this season.
• After surrendering an average of 7.0 yards per carry to BYU and Ole Miss, the UT defense has held its last two opponents (K-State - 3.0; Iowa State - 4.0) to a combined 3.6 ypc.
• Despite being out for the season (ruptured Achilles), LB Jordan Hicks has a team-best 41 tackles. LB Steve Edmond is second with 35 and DE Cedric Reed third with 34. Edmond missed the first half of the Iowa State game due to a targeting penalty incurred in the second half of the K-State game, but still had seven tackles vs. the Cyclones.
• Reed leads the team with four pass breakups and is tied for the lead in tackles for loss (6).
• DE Jackson Jeffcoat has a team-high 3.0 sacks and ranks tied for third in the Big 12 at 0.60 per game. He is tied for the team lead in TFLs (6).
• DT Malcom Brown had perhaps his best game as a Longhorn against Iowa State. The sophomore had a career-high 10 tackles, including one sack and one TFL, as well as one PBU. He shared the team's defensive player of the game award with Jeffcoat whose interception on the Cyclones' final drive helped seal the win. It was the first interception by a UT defensive lineman since Nov. 14, 2009 when Eddie Jones picked off a pass vs. Baylor and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown.
• Texas ranks tied for 12th nationally in turnover margin at +1.2 per game. Texas has lost the ball just five times this year which is tied for 13th in the FBS. UT was plus-3 in turnovers vs. K-State after going minus-13 in the previous five meetings. The Horns were plus-1 vs. Iowa State.
• Anthony Fera ranks 26th nationally in punting average (43.6). Fourteen of his 28 punts (50 percent) have gone inside the 20 and 15 have been fair caught. Three of his eight punts vs. Iowa landed inside the 10-yard line. He has also gone 5-for-6 on field-goal attempts.
Traditional Powers: Texas and Oklahoma are two of the six winningest programs in NCAA history based on total wins and winning percentage. UT and OU have combined to produce a record of 1,706-646-86 (.717) over 240 years of football. The Longhorns rank sixth in all-time winning percentage (.715), while Oklahoma is just ahead in fourth (.719). Texas currently ranks second in all-time wins (see chart below) and Oklahoma stands sixth. Texas has played in 51 bowl games and Oklahoma has made 46 bowl appearances.
Sold Out: This year's game is expected to be the 68th consecutive sellout at the Cotton Bowl, which has a current capacity of 92,200.
Conference Foes: Texas and Oklahoma met as conference opponents in 1996 for the first time in 77 years. The Longhorns and Sooners first met as league foes when the Sooners were a member of the Southwest Conference from 1915-19 and now have conference bragging rights on the line for the 17th year as members of the Big 12. Oklahoma leads 10-7 in Big 12 games and holds a 13-8 lead in all-time conference games against the Longhorns.
Off To The Fair: The Texas/Oklahoma game is once again a part of a state festival with the State Fair of Texas surrounding the event. That continues a tradition which began in 1929. That year, the game was played in an old wooden structure called Fair Park Stadium, which was located on what is now a parking lot at Fair Park. A new stadium, also named Fair Park Stadium, was built in 1930 and renamed in 1936 as the Cotton Bowl. The name change came about because, at the time, Dallas was the largest interior spot cotton market in the world.
Lights, Camera, Action: ABC is broadcasting this year's game, which marks the 61st time the Texas/Oklahoma matchup will be televised. ABC will be carrying the game for the 22nd time in the past 23 years. FOX Sports Southwest's telecast of the 1998 game snapped a string of seven consecutive contests carried by ABC. Forty-two UT/OU games have been network telecasts. The first-ever television appearance came in 1948 when a Fort Worth station carried the game live. Excluding OU television probation years (1974-75 and '89), the game is being televised for the 37th year in a row.
The Battle Line: One of the unique characteristics of the Texas/OU rivalry is the colors. With the tickets divided equally, burnt orange and crimson split down the middle. OU claims the south horseshoe from the 50-yard line and UT the horseshoe north of midfield. As the home team, the Longhorns will wear orange jerseys and occupy the west bench area (the press box side) with that role reversing next season.
The Golden Hat: To the victor goes the Golden Hat, a rotating trophy representing the winner of the Texas/Oklahoma contest. It's a gold cowboy hat mounted on a large block of wood and it has been a part of the series since the State Fair of Texas donated it in 1941. The only change has been the actual color. When it first arrived, it was known as the "Bronze Hat" and actually was bronze. When that hat was reworked in the 1970s, it came out gold, hence it is now officially known as the Golden Hat.
Governor's Cup: The Governor's Cup is exchanged by the Governors of Texas and Oklahoma following the AT&T Red River Rivalry. The tradition started when Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe donated the trophy, and each year it is transported from the office of the previous year's winning Governor to Dallas. It is displayed in the Hall of State on game day and then transported to the office of that year's winning Governor after it has received its engraving.
UT/OU Torchlight Parade: The annual Torchlight Parade is set for Wednesday night at 8 p.m. at the Main Mall on the UT campus. Head coach Mack Brown and the team will be on hand at approximately 8:30 p.m.
Streaks, Trends and Milestones:
• After the win at Iowa State, UT has won five of its last seven on the road.
• Texas registered its 30th second-half comeback, including 19 in the fourth quarter, in the win over Iowa State. It is the sixth second-half comeback win since the beginning of the 2011 season (vs. Oregon State, at Kansas and at Oklahoma State in 2012; at Texas A&M and vs. BYU in 2011). Case McCoy engineered four of the last six. He came off the bench in the fourth quarter at Kansas last season, was under center when the Horns came back at Texas A&M, and led the game-winning drive vs. BYU.
• After posting 2.0 sacks over the first three games of the season, the Horns have racked up 9.0 over the last two games, including 5.0 vs. Iowa State.
• McCoy has not thrown an interception in his last 106 pass attempts (dating back to the 2012 Kansas State game). That total ranks tied for fifth (with Chance Mock) on the UT all-time list and sixth on the FBS active list. McCoy already owns the third-best streak in school history (124 in 2010-11). Major Applewhite had a school-record 156 in 1999.
• Mike Davis posted six receptions for 64 receiving yards vs. Iowa State. He moved from sixth to fifth on the UT career receptions list and from seventh to sixth on the receiving yards list. Davis now has 175 career catches and 2,313 receiving yards. He passed Kwame Cavil (1997-99), who had 174 career catches and 2,279 yards, on both lists.
• Jaxon Shipley had his string of eight straight games with at least five receptions snapped vs. Iowa State. He posted three receptions for 29 yards.
• WR/TE John Harris has just five catches on the season, but has made them count. He posted his second touchdown catch of the season at the end of the first half of the Iowa State game. He pulled in the 44-yard 'Hail Mary' from Case McCoy as time expired. Harris is averaging 28.2 yards per reception this season.
• DE Jackson Jeffcoat has 44 career tackles for loss. He needs 3.0 more to reach the UT career top 10. Tony DeGrate (1981-84) with 47 is 10th.
• OG Mason Walters leads the team with 43 straight starts, which is tied for the second-longest streak in the nation among offensive linemen (44, Gabe Jackson, OG, Mississippi St.). CB Carrington Byndom leads the defense with 31 consecutive starts. Quandre Diggs had his streak of 26 straight starts snapped vs. Kansas State when the Horns started three linebackers. OT Josh Cochran (shoulder injury) had his streak of his 19 consecutive starts snapped vs. Kansas State and has missed the last two games.
