Tate Sandell ended it the way these Red River games so often demand - with one final kick and no time left for a response. His 47-yard field goal on the final play lifted Oklahoma past No. 1 Texas, 27-24, on Saturday in Dallas, a win powered as much by defense and special teams as by anything the Sooners did on offense.
Oklahoma leaned on the kind of chaos that can flip this rivalry in a heartbeat. Dakoda Fields scooped up a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown.
Peyton Bowen turned an interception into 42 points’ worth of momentum with a pick-6. And when the Sooners needed one last drive instead of overtime, John Mateer delivered just enough for Sandell to finish the job.
The result gave Oklahoma its first win over a No. 1 team since beating Missouri 38-17 in 2007. It also snapped the Sooners’ skid against top-ranked Texas teams; they had been 0-4-1 in those matchups. Brent Venables called it “a classic game of two really good programs in an incredibly intense environment.”
Texas had chances to escape. Gianni Spetic missed a 53-yard field goal wide right with 1:55 remaining, and after Oklahoma went three-and-out for the seventh time, Arch Manning’s final pass was intercepted by Courtland Guillory with 19 seconds left.
Steve Sarkisian didn’t hide the frustration afterward, saying, “It’s obviously a level of disappointment, there’s a level of anger and frustration because we know we have issues that need to be fixed and we’re working on those issues and trying to get them fixed. But they reared their ugly head today against a quality team.”
Manning threw three touchdown passes, finishing 19 of 31 for 260 yards, but his two interceptions proved brutal. One came on the play that set up Bowen’s return, when Manning scrambled away from pressure and tried to find Cam Coleman, only to watch the ball end up in Oklahoma’s hands. Bowen’s return with 10:07 left pushed the Sooners ahead 24-17.
Texas answered with a 75-yard drive and Manning’s third touchdown pass, a 15-yard throw to Jermaine Bishop Jr. with 6:32 left to tie it again at 24. But the Longhorns couldn’t land the final punch.
Oklahoma’s offense never looked comfortable, yet it found just enough at the end. Mateer completed 18 of 26 passes for 155 yards, and the Sooners finished with only 238 total yards, well below their 321-yard average entering the game. Their lone offensive touchdown came from Lloyd Avant, whose 2-yard run tied the game 17-17 early in the fourth quarter after a defensive pass interference call in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 9.
Still, the defining Oklahoma scores came on the hidden-yardage plays. The Sooners got on the board first on special teams when Danny Okoye blocked a punt in the opening minute of the second quarter, with Fields falling on the ball in the end zone. Oklahoma later needed Sandell’s leg after he had already made a 53-yarder and missed another from the same distance.
Texas had opened the scoring with a 41-yard touchdown pass to Coleman, who made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 6:56 left in the first quarter. But the Longhorns couldn’t separate, and their first four drives ended without a first down.
Venables said he wanted his players to feel this kind of win. “I want these guys to experience victory, certainly in this game, (it) was incredibly important,” he said.
“People questioning the commitment and the coaches can’t coach and the players stink, it comes with the arena. But at the same time, sometimes that fuels you.”
Texas had entered the day on a seven-game winning streak, including four wins over ranked teams, and had been No. 1 since its comeback victory over then-No. 1 Ohio State on Sept.
- The inconsistency that had surrounded the Longhorns only grew louder after this loss, and they’ll find out Sunday how far they fall in the new poll.
For Oklahoma, the win also kept Texas from making it three straight Red River victories. The Sooners hadn’t dropped three in a row to the Longhorns since 1997-99.
Oklahoma opens SEC home play next Saturday night against Kentucky. Texas returns home next Saturday to face No. 16 Florida, which has lost two in a row.
In Other News...
Oklahoma May Have Finally Found Its Answer At Running Back
For much of the first half against Texas, Oklahomas rushing attack was stuck in neutral, managing only one yard on 13 carries and leaving the Sooners searching for any kind of rhythm on the ground. The adjustment came after halftime, when Lloyd Avant started to look like the kind of back the offense had been waiting for, giving the running game a much-needed lift with a series of productive runs that changed the feel of the matchup.
Avant finished with 10 carries for 72 yards and a touchdown, and his second-half surge was enough to put him at the front of the discussion at running back. Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle both pointed to persistence and execution as the difference, and after that performance, Avant appears to have taken a meaningful step toward becoming the answer Oklahoma has been looking for in the backfield. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma's Bowl Outlook Looks Very Different After Stunning Texas Win
A last-second field goal from Tate Sandell changed the feel around Oklahoma football in an instant, flipping a matchup with the top-ranked Texas Longhorns into one of the seasons most satisfying wins. Beyond the celebration, the result matters because it gives the Sooners a much better footing in the race for a postseason bowl berth, with the kind of momentum that can reshape how the rest of the year is viewed.
It also makes the postseason picture a lot more interesting, since different media outlets are already floating a range of possible bowl destinations for Oklahoma in 2026. The specific matchups can still move around depending on how the next few weeks play out, but this much is clear: after a win that big, the Sooners are no longer looking at bowl season from the same spot they were before the kick sailed through. [Read more 🡒]
Isaiah Sategna's Red River Heroics Changed Everything For Oklahoma
Late in the Red River showdown, Isaiah Sategna III turned a tense finish into the kind of moment Oklahoma can build around. He made two critical catches in the final seconds against Texas, helping set up the game-winning field goal and giving the Sooners a lift when the game was hanging in the balance. Sategna finished with five receptions for 64 yards, tying for the game-high.
Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle both praised Sategna during that decisive drive, a sign of how quickly he has become part of Oklahomas most important moments. For a team that needed somebody to make a play when it mattered most, Sategna delivered exactly that, and his late-game work added a new layer to what the Sooners can count on down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]