DALLAS - Oklahoma’s biggest swing in Saturday’s Red River Rivalry didn’t come from a deep shot or a takeaway.
It came after a botched punt, a brief sideline scrum and a crowd that suddenly had life.
Late in the third quarter, with the Sooners down by a touchdown, Texas punter Mac Chiumento misfired on a 29-yard punt that ended up at the Longhorns’ 47. Punt returner Isaiah Sategna let it roll, and for a second the play looked finished without much drama.
Then things escalated.
Longhorns deep snapper Trey Dubuc went after Sategna and tried to throw him onto the ball as it sat near the Oklahoma sideline. LeBron Bauer rushed in to back up his teammate as he fought to keep from touching the ball, and Reggie Powers III came sprinting over as well. After the play was whistled dead, the short-lived scuffle was on.
Kip Lewis then grabbed a chair from the sideline and started banging it against the covering over one of the OU benches, and that sent the Oklahoma side into a frenzy.
“It juiced up the entire stadium,” safety Peyton Bowen said of the scuffle. “We’re losing the game and we had momentum, which is kind of crazy. We got a stop and then you never really see a punt just bring that much momentum but it just sparked something in our team, which I think we needed.”
The response came immediately. On the first snap of the next drive, John Mateer connected with Lloyd Avant for an 8-yard gain.
After an Avant run, Oklahoma tried a trick play, but Sategna’s pass was intercepted by Bo Mascoe. That turnover didn’t count, though, because Texas’ Rasheem Biles was flagged for roughing the passer.
Oklahoma kept pressing and later drew another Texas penalty, this one pass interference on a throw intended for Sategna in the end zone. Avant finished the series with a 2-yard run to tie the game.
The game still had plenty of back-and-forth left, but the energy had clearly swung Oklahoma’s way.
“It’s a rivalry, things get heated,” linebacker Owen Heinecke said of the dustup. “And having that on our sideline and having everybody kind of charge up and riled up and having the fans get into the game, it does a lot for the momentum.
… I try to be the cool-headed guy, trying to get people back, but deep down I’m grinning because I love that stuff. It was awesome.”
The contrast to last season was clear. Then, the dustup between the teams happened before kickoff. This time, it arrived in the middle of the action, right when Oklahoma needed a jolt.
“I think it just shows the emotional mindset of this game,” Heinecke said. “It is an emotional game.
There are a lot of momentum shifts and anything we can do to get the momentum back in our favor is awesome. So that was definitely one of those moments that we’re gonna look back and say, ‘Hey, that definitely helped us win here.’”
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 🡒]