Oklahoma coach Brent Venables doesn’t have a shiny record against Texas, but that hasn’t dimmed the way he talks about the Red River Rivalry.
“Always a great week playing Texas,” Venables said on the SEC’s teleconference on Wednesday. “A lot of excitement and energy, certainly in our building and with both fan bases. A lot is always at stake, and tremendous pride.”
Venables has been in the middle of this matchup for a long time. He’s been Oklahoma’s head coach since 2022 and is 1-3 against the Longhorns in that stretch. Before that, he spent 1999 through 2011 on the Sooners’ staff as an assistant, and Oklahoma went 8-5 against Texas during those years.
What makes the rivalry different, Venables said, is the setting. Oklahoma and Texas have met on the second Saturday of October at the Cotton Bowl since 1929, making it one of the rare annual rivalries played at a neutral site.
“The only one I’ve experienced is having it in Dallas,” Venables said. “I think there’s a lot of pageantry and history there in the Cotton Bowl. I wouldn’t want to change it for anything.”
The Cotton Bowl sits next to the Texas State Fair in Dallas, giving fans from both sides the chance to take in the fair before and after the game. Inside the stadium, the crowd is split almost evenly, with Dallas sitting nearly exactly three hours from both campuses.
Texas owns the all-time edge, 65-51-5, though Oklahoma had the upper hand for a long stretch from 2010 to 2021, going 10-3 in that run.
Lately, though, the Longhorns have had the upper hand. Texas has won the last two meetings by a combined 48 points and beat Oklahoma 23-6 last year.
Venables would still keep the game exactly where it is, even if moving it could theoretically help his team.
“I love everything about it - the passion, the energy, the intensity, the crowd being 50-50,” Venables said. “I think it’s fantastic.”
This year, Oklahoma enters at 2-2 and as an 8.5-point underdog after a bye week following its 41-13 loss to No. 2 Georgia on Sept.
- With Oklahoma’s 2026 struggles and Texas ranked No. 1, the expectation around the country is that the Longhorns will pick up their 66th win in the series.
Venables, though, knows the Cotton Bowl can scramble the script. That’s part of what keeps him locked in on this week.
“Just looking forward to getting our team ready here this week to go down and again face a really good Texas team ranked number one in the country and a great opportunity for us,” Venables said.
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Sooners Get Crucial Red River Boost But One Concern Still Looms
Oklahoma got a needed lift on the availability front before its Red River Rivalry meeting with Texas, with four players shifting from questionable to probable on the updated report. The biggest near-term help comes on defense, where Michael Boganowski and Cole Sullivan are expected back, giving the Sooners a little more depth and flexibility as they brace for one of the seasons most important games.
The offensive line, though, still carries an obvious concern. Starting left tackle Michael Fasusi remains doubtful, and that leaves a major question hanging over a unit that will need to hold up against Texas with several others already ruled out, including Fred Hinton, Taylor Heim, Trell Harris, Xavier Robinson, and Jacobe Johnson. For Oklahoma, the return of a few key defenders helps, but the availability picture is still far from clean where it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma's Red River Upset Bid Comes Down To One Familiar Problem
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Mateers turnover history has already shown how quickly Oklahomas offense can tilt one way or the other, and that looms especially large against a Texas team built to punish mistakes. Isaiah Sategna offers the kind of speed and playmaking that could stress the Longhorns secondary, but Oklahomas chances still seem tied to whether its quarterback can keep the ball out of harms way long enough for that threat to matter. The prediction work around this game points back to the same familiar issue for the Sooners, one that has a habit of deciding their biggest nights. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma's Brent Venables Debate Comes With A Massive Catch
Brent Venables remains a central talking point in Norman as Oklahoma works through a 2-2 start to the 2026 season, and the conversation is shaped as much by his contract as by the record. Venables signed a six-year extension in August 2026 that keeps him under contract through the 2031 season, with an annual salary of $10.5 million, a deal that underscores how heavily the Sooners are invested in the direction of the program.
Venables is now 34-22 overall at Oklahoma, a run that includes two losing seasons and two 10-win seasons, which helps explain why the debate around his future can feel so complicated. The real catch is financial: his buyout is believed to sit somewhere in the $55 million to $60 million range, though the exact figure is not clear, making any serious discussion about change a much bigger decision than a simple football judgment. [Read more 🡒]