The game has been played for 119 years. But the pilgrimage has been to the exact same place since 1932. That is when the game began being played in Cotton Bowl stadium during the Texas State Fair in Dallas.
Back then it was a trip down a narrow two-lane US 77.
Now it’s maneuvering through construction zones near the Arbuckles and crawling traffic jams on I-35N in Dallas.
But every year they are there. Sooners who make the drive to Fair Park in Dallas to see the game.
And Longhorn fans make a similar trek from the other end of I-35.
Red River Rivalry. Red River Shootout. Red River Showdown. Call it what you want.
It’s Oklahoma vs Texas. And it doesn’t get any better.
The Sooners (5-0) have won seven of the last 10 encounters with the Longhorns (4-1). Last year No. 19 Texas upset the No. 7 Oklahoma 48-45 in a contest that saw good Longhorn defense early and great Sooner offense late (but, unfortunately too late).
Oklahoma got its revenge in the Big 12 Championship game at Jerry’s World, 39-27 (and it wasn’t that close).
But in this series, does that win in Arlington really count?
There is something different about this game at the original Cotton Bowl stadium. And for Oklahoma fans they do not forget the drive home after a loss in Dallas. Having to drive past the sign-wielding and wife-beater wearing ‘horns fans who taunt OU traffic on the interstate home near Gainesville. The revenge for that game must come this Saturday.
This game belongs in the hot sun of October. Among the Ferris wheels and carnival barkers. Where you smell the corny dogs and hear towering Big Tex’s booming recorded voice welcoming everyone to the State Fair of Tex-asss. It doesn’t belong in some glitzy NFL-manufactured monstrosity in the middle of a parking lot.
My prediction for the game: Something you don’t expect will happen.
That’s about as easy a no brainer for this game as one can get.
A late fumble. A pick six interception. A surprising fourth down conversion. A late field goal by a freshman kicker. Something weird will, and usually does, make the difference in the game.
It’s like the annual script calls for the unexpected. Something that adds to the exhilaration for the winning fans — one half of the 93,000 who attended. And the utter shock and despair for the losing fans — the other half of the 93,000 who attended.
Something so wild and unique that you can’t wait to make the trip again next year past Purcell, Pauls Valley, Ardmore, Marietta, Valley View, Sanger and Denton. Up early Saturday for the trek on the Stemmons Freeway (where on occasion you see the early morning inebriated frat boys from Austin mooning you out the window of a passing SUV).
Pushed through the crowds at the gate, where the smiling ticket takers prove that even on this Oklahoma vs Texas day — when trash talking between cousins can get bitter — some of the folks south of the river can still be friendly.
And then there you squeeze your way through the fair midway until the sea of burnt orange and crimson parts and the stately old dame, the Cotton Bowl stadium — ever the citadel to college football — rises before you.
As Toby Rowland says in this video about the game, “The second Saturday in October is as important as July Fourth and December 25th to those who are swaddled in crimson and cream.”
“And whether both teams are undefeated, or both teams are winless, your gut churns to go south every year like a migrating goose in winter.”
We are loading up the car.
— Mike
Game Details:
Kickoff: 11 am
TV: FOX
Mike’s Prediction: OU 34 Texas 31
Photo credit: (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman)
My prediction for the game: Something you don’t expect will happen.
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