Ugly wins count the same. That is what we brought away from Saturday’s 31-26 Sooner win over the Longhorns.
That, and unless Oklahoma can find some answers passing the football – first it is Trevor Knight’s inaccuracy and then it is the receivers’ (sans stellar Sterling Shepard) failure to step up and make plays – the remaining schedule could be rough.
But rather than dissect the Xs and Os from the Red River Shootout/Rivalry/Showdown or whatever you want to call it, the overwhelming impression from our weekend in Dallas is that this game remains the same. Weird things happen. The best team doesn’t always win. And, the fans are always prepared for the melee.
OU-Texas is the only game I attend where I actually enjoy getting cussed at by opposing fans.
OU-Texas is the only game I attend where I actually enjoy getting cussed at by opposing fans.
OU-Texas is the only game I attend where I actually enjoy getting cussed at by opposing fans.
It’s almost a badge of honor. A recognition by the Texas fans that Oklahoma indeed is worthy of fear and loathing. That there is a collective fun in taunting and ridiculing and acting like a bunch of bozos. So long as it isn’t really serious. And Texas fans aren’t serious these days.
The days of drunken brawls and busloads of arrests on Commerce Street on Friday night are over. Maybe today’s college students are smarter and the old timers are, well, too old to have the stamina for such.
Today, the rancor that is displayed between crimson and burnt orange is more in fun. About an hour before kickoff we were serenaded by a dozen UT students to some pithy round ending in the usual “OU Sucks”. No throwing of things. No spitting. In fact the choral leader ended the song by giving me (all decked out in my Oklahoma crimson) a high five.
Most all OUers and UTers know that there will be a tomorrow, no matter who wins. And we are all going to convene back in Dallas next year to do it all over again. And we want it to be the same chant of Texas Bites and OU Sucks.
Then again, perhaps it is because Texas fans have lost any sense of how important this game is. They have been euthanized by 16 years of Mack Brown mediocrity. That could change now that Charlie Strong is in Austin.
It is all fun before the game. But there is a definite difference from a lifetime ago in how the fan bases respond to the outcome of OU-Texas (or Texas-OU if you are unfortunate enough to be subjected to Dallas media) game. When the Sooners lose, their fans still get surly, march out of the Cotton Bowl and exit the fairgrounds. They hit I-35 to head home and contemplate eating their young.
When Texas loses – such as Saturday – the Longhorn fans hit the Texas State Fair midway. Grab a couple of beers and a Fletcher’s corny dog and scream like giddy girls making selfies. It is more of a party after the game, regardless of outcome, for the Texas fans. It’s almost like they are above the bourgeois behavior of college football fandom, but not above getting happy-faced intoxicated while hoping to impress their girlfriends with ring tosses and dart throwing.
Given the disorganized nature of their team at the Cotton Bowl, maybe that approach is explainable. Or, maybe they are indeed just a bunch of tea-sippers as those odd-ball Texas A&M Aggies always said.
On Saturday, Texas committed penalties, fumbled the ball around, had to burn timeouts because they didn’t know their plays. They did everything possible to give this game away.
On the other hand the Texas defense is really, really good. They shut the Sooners run game down, forcing Oklahoma’s not-so-great passer QB Trevor Knight to throw the football. Texas found the Sooners’ Achilles heel and almost pulled out an upset.
It made for a close game. One that required the more-complete-package-Oklahoma team rely upon a Zach Sanchez’ pick-6 interception and Alex Ross’ record-setting kickoff return for touchdowns to win the game.
In the end, the only reason Texas lost on Saturday was because they, in fact, really do suck.
And we will be back next year to do it all over again.
-Mike
Follow
