No chapter in the history books will adequately describe the pandemic year of 2020.
Likewise, no story will adequately describe the 2020 Red River Rivalry game between the Oklahoma and Texas college football teams.
Holy Moly.
Sooners win 53-45 in a four-overtime, nearly five hour game.
Although only 24,000 fans were allowed to attend, it was the sort of game where thousands more will later fondly recall how they were there.
Was this a game about a maligned OU defense stepping up? Yes.
Was this a game about the senior Texas QB Sam Ehlinger bringing his Longhorns back from a 14-point deficit? Yes.
Was it a game where a Oklahoma redshirt freshman QB Rattler got benched for a while, only to return and make stellar pin-point passes? Yes.
Was it a game where the kicking game one moment looked to be the winning edge, but then later might be the cause of a loss? Yes.
And was it a game where a Stoops would become a name especially connected with an overtime win? Yes.
“Unbelievable game, man, unbelievable,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said on the FOX post-game interview.
As former OU linebacker and now NFL player Kenneth Murray posted after the game on Twitter:
“Boys got me so stressed.”
The game which kicked off at 11 a.m. came to a conclusion at 3:53 pm Central Time when Sooner defender Tre Brown intercepted Ehlinger’s pass in the endzone in OT Number four.
“I kept telling myself there was a play to be made … this was my last one and that’s what kept going thru my head … I just went up and made it. I was a player. I was a playmaker and I had to do it<‘ Brown said.
The play of Oklahoma’s defense was stellar for three quarters, sacking Ehlinger six times. The 15 sacks over the last two years is most in consecutive games versus Texas in school history.
But it was Spencer Rattler’s 25-yard pass to Drake Stoops in the fourth overtime that allowed the Sooners to survive a late comeback in regulation.
Then Rattler’s strike of a pass to Theo Weese on the two-point conversion put the Sooners ahead.
“Unbelievable game, man, unbelievable” — Lincoln Riley.
Ehlinger threw two TD passes in the last 3;28 of regulation after OU cornerback redshirt freshman Woodi Washington intercepted his pass in the endzone with Oklahoma then up 31-17.
Sooner fans thought they could breath easier. But, Ehlinger’s passing and scrambling allowed him to will the Longhorns to a tie, forcing the game into overtime.
Rattler was 23 of 35 passing with three touchdowns. Also, T.J. Pledger lead game rushers with 131 yards and two TDs.
The Sooners run game was effective through most of the game, especially in an 8:07 drive in the third quarter that ended in a one-yard Pledger touchdown run — putting the Sooners up 31-17.
Overtime brought more excitement. Okahoma had a chance to win in OT with a Gabe Brkic 31-yard field goal attempt, but the try sailed wide left.
That came after Sooner Perrion Winfrey blocked Texas kicker Cameron Dicker’s 33-yard try in overtime.
This was an important win for Oklahoma, which fell out of the AP Top 25 rankings after their loss to Iowa State last week. The Sooners are now 2-2 for the season, and 1-2 in conference play.
But the game may have been more important for Texas, which was hoping to catch the Sooners in their rebuilding year and presented the most experienced player in the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry series in Ehlinger.
The Longhorns were coming off a loss to TCU the week before. They drop to 2-2 on the season and 1-2 in conference.
The game marked the first time since 2009 in which the Longhorns were ranked higher than the Sooners.
The win makes Riley and Bob Stoops the only two OU head coaches to win four of their first five games versus Texas.
Main photo: Sooner Center Creek Humphrey celebrates Red River Rivalry win in the Cotton Bowl stadium.
Photo credit: Soonersports.com
NEXT: Oklahoma at TCU, October 24. TBA.
Follow
