Peterson: Steve Sarkisian said it best… there’s nothing like the Red River Rivalry
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DALLAS — As it would seem, Quinn Ewers’ father used to say the rivalry between Texas A&M and Texas was hotter than the Red River feud between Oklahoma and Texas. And Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Wednesday at SEC Media Days he’s gotten the impression Arkansas fans hate Texas more than they like Arkansas. (A reporter and Arkansas graduate confirmed this claim moments later, much to the amusement of Sark.)
Sarkisian said it multiple times during his media appearances on Wednesday: How many schools get the privilege of playing the kind of 3 high-intensity rivalry games Texas will play during the 2024 season?
Reigniting the rivalry with the Aggies is a big deal for the SEC. Commissioner Greg Sankey touted his league’s additions as the only ones that actually restored historic rivalries. The billing around that Nov. 30 game will be incredible. And the Texas-Arkansas meeting dates back to 1894.
“That’s one of the beauties of making this move,” Sarkisian said.
But UT offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. said it best: “The Texas-OU rivalry is going to be big no matter what conference we’re in.”
There’s something about Red River.
There’s nothing like it.
“I’ve been part of the Iron Bowl. I’ve been part of the Apple Cup in Washington. I’ve been part of SC-UCLA. I’ve been part of some great games,” Sarkisian said. “This is the most unique game for sure that I’ve ever been a part of.”
It was in keeping with comments the Texas athletic director made more than a month ago.
The Red River Rivalry is an SEC game now, and Texas AD @_delconte is comin’ in hot! pic.twitter.com/Tn50PVIWpo
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) May 29, 2024
The Texas campus sits roughly 200 miles from the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma’s campus sits roughly 190 miles away. When students convene ahead of the game each year, hotel lobbies in the area turn into turf wars. The Cotton Bowl fairground is crawling with fans from both sides who have no intention of venturing inside the stadium yet will sit in front of TVs and yell all the same.
The tunnel out onto the field invites conflict. The locker rooms separating Oklahoma and Texas are some 20 feet apart. When Texas takes the field, it runs out of the designated Oklahoma side. “We’re staring at a sea of burnt orange, you just want to get there,” Sarkisian said. The stadium is split down the 50, Oklahoma on one side and Texas on the other. It’s a home game for one half, and a brutal road game for the other half. I have been in plenty of raucous environments. None have stood up to a Red River Showdown.
Before the 2019 game, every single player on both sides was issued an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for a pregame dust-up.
“This is the greatest rivalry in college football,” the head official said during the coin toss that day. “I expect the game to be hard-fought and well-played. We’re going to play this game with sportsmanship – is that clear?”
It usually is. Except when it’s not.
Darrell Royal once accused Barry Switzer of spying on his team. Switzer made the “Beat Texas” hat famous on the sideline during the 1984 game.
The series lore is remarkable. Quentin Griffin set the NCAA record for rushing touchdowns (6) in this game. Roy Williams became Superman. Stone Cold Stonie Clark made one of the best stops you’ll see.
Twice, both sides have met when ranked as the top 2 teams in the country. They’ve played 11 games when both were ranked inside the AP Top 5. They’ve met as ranked opponents 35 times since 1963.
(For what it’s worth, the Iron Bowl has not featured a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. Both sides have met as top-5 opponents only twice since 1963. And they’ve met for a ranked-on-ranked game 23 times.)
An unranked Texas team beat a ranked Oklahoma team 4 consecutive years from 1989-92. Jason Kirk referred to the series as the most “chaotic” rivalry in college football back in 2019.
The student newspapers at both schools used to exchange editorials — one bashing the other in print, each side trying to be that much more clever. Oklahoma fans will, in games that involve innocuous schools like Kansas or Iowa State, flash the ‘horns down‘ hand signal when the TV cameras pan to them.
At the end of the Texas fight song, fans will chant “O-U sucks!” When a “Boomer Sooner” chant breaks out in the wild, it usually ends with a “Texas Sucks!” When Texas lost a game in the late 2010s, I watched on the field as OU students shaved friar tuck haircuts on sad Texas students.
“I have a Longhorn tattooed on my body. Like, it means that much to me. You go to bed thinking about how big of a deal it is. You look at every single person in the state of Oklahoma, every single person in the state of Texas, and you know how much it means to them,” said OU linebacker Danny Stutsman. “That’s one game in the season once a year that these two states can compete against each other in the biggest sport in the United States, and it’s going to go on. It went on long before me. It’s going to go on long after me. I get a little piece of that shine to prove myself and to prove my state.”
Added OU coach Brent Venables: “It’s as deep-seated and hate-filled and emotional of a rivalry as there is in all of college football.”
Is it the best rivalry in the sport? That will be debated all throughout the upcoming season. The SEC is now home to some of the greatest rivalries in not just college football but in sports in general. When OU and Texas get together on Oct. 12, take a trip to the State Fair of Texas, grab a turkey leg the size of your forearm and a deep-fried Oreo, and see for yourself.
Related: ESPN Bet has Texas as an early 8.5-point favorite for this year’s Red River clash at the Cotton Bowl. With the season fast approaching, get signed up with ESPN’s new betting arm to take advantage of a superb new user bonus.
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Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
