The Red River Showdown is here, and the betting market has Texas sitting in the driver’s seat. FanDuel lists the No. 1 Longhorns as 9.5-point favorites over Oklahoma.
That number comes with Texas riding a defensive performance that may have changed the conversation around the team entirely. In the Longhorns’ SEC opener, Colin Simmons put on a show, piling up a school-record 5.5 sacks and helping bring down Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon 10 times overall.
Tennessee came in averaging 510 yards per game, but Texas held the Volunteers to just 221 total yards. The run defense was just as suffocating: Tennessee managed only 70 rushing yards after putting up 298.67 per game through its first three outings.
The Volunteers bounced back the following week against Auburn, rushing for 237 yards in a 24-14 win.
Oklahoma’s season has been a lot less stable. The Sooners opened with a 51-0 blowout of UTEP that made it look like their offensive problems had been fixed, but that feeling didn’t last long. At Michigan, they could only muster 10 points, enough to drag the game into the fourth quarter before Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines turned a John Mateer turnover into the quick points that decided it.
The Sooners then nearly stumbled against New Mexico, carrying only a one-point halftime lead before one second-half chunk play helped them escape by eight. Their luck ran out in Athens, where Georgia forced four Oklahoma turnovers and rolled to a 41-13 win before the Sooners headed into their pre-Red River bye week.
Steve Sarkisian has had Brent Venables’ number in this rivalry, winning three of the last four meetings by a combined 136-46. In all three Texas wins, Oklahoma failed to score a touchdown, and one of those games ended with a touchdown with 15 seconds left.
Still, this game has a way of ignoring the script. The spread is under 10 for a reason: an unbeaten No. 1 team and a 2-2 Oklahoma squad both bring enough volatility to make predictions feel fragile. More than anything, this matchup figures to come down to which team handles the early chaos better and protects the football.
In Other News...
Hero Kanu Sends Clear Message On Colin Simmons Controversy
The postgame conversation around Colin Simmons did not linger long inside the Texas locker room, at least not if Hero Kanu had anything to say about it. The Longhorns defensive lineman stepped up to defend his teammate after a controversial celebration against Tennessee, framing it as a split-second mistake in the heat of competition rather than anything deeper about who Simmons is away from the field.
Kanus response fit with the broader tone from the program, where Steve Sarkisian has made it clear he would rather see celebrations shared by the whole team than spotlighting one player. For Texas, it is a small but telling reminder of how quickly a moment can become a talking point, and how important it is for teammates to close ranks when the noise starts building around one of their own. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Bye Week Has To Fix One Growing Offensive Concern
Texas heads into the bye week undefeated and sitting at No. 1, but the narrow escape at Tennessee also left a clear reminder that the offense still has room to grow. The Longhorns have won enough to keep climbing, yet they have not consistently stretched defenses the way Steve Sarkisians best attacks usually do, with explosive plays showing up too rarely and big completions or runs hard to find.
Sarkisian now gets a break in the schedule to clean up that side of the ball, and the focus is on execution rather than trimming the playbook to compensate. For a team with championship expectations, the challenge in the next stretch is obvious: keep the wins coming while making the offense more dangerous when it matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Defense Could Expose Oklahoma Where It Hurts Most
Texas heads into the rivalry game with a defense that has earned the right to believe it can make life difficult for Oklahoma in several places at once. The Sooners have had trouble generating steady pressure on the quarterback, their run defense has been uneven, and their offense has not found much rhythm on the ground, which gives the Longhorns a chance to dictate the game with toughness and field position.
The bigger concern for Oklahoma is how often its offense has put itself in precarious spots, especially with John Mateer at the controls. Turnovers have been a recurring issue, and if Texas can keep forcing hurried decisions while also taking away the Sooners already limited rushing answers, the game could tilt quickly toward the Longhorns in a matchup where hidden mistakes tend to matter just as much as headline plays. [Read more 🡒]