Tate Sandell didn’t just kick Oklahoma to a win. He kicked the Sooners into the kind of chaos-filled upset that can flip an entire Saturday on its head.
With no time left, Sandell drilled a 47-yard field goal to lift Oklahoma past No. 1 Texas, 27-24, in Dallas on Saturday. It was the kind of finish that only happens when a game keeps handing out one last twist after another, and Oklahoma kept surviving long enough to land the final blow.
The Sooners didn’t win this one by lighting up the scoreboard on offense. They won it with defense, special teams and just enough poise to stay alive after their attack spent much of the day sputtering. Oklahoma didn’t turn the ball over, and that mattered every bit as much as the points it scored.
The decisive sequence began when Courtland Guillory intercepted Arch Manning at the Oklahoma 39 with 19 seconds left, handing John Mateer and the Sooners one final chance. Mateer then connected with Isaiah Sategna for a 13-yard gain, then found him again for 20 more yards to set up Sandell’s game-winner. Both catches were reviewed: the first was overturned to a catch, and the second was upheld.
For Oklahoma, the result was historic in a few different ways. It was the Sooners’ first win over Texas since 2023, their first against a top-ranked opponent since beating Missouri in the 2007 Big 12 Championship Game, and their first ever over a No. 1 team while unranked.
Texas had its own late opening to seize control. Gianni Spetic missed a 53-yard field goal wide right with 1:54 remaining, and after Oklahoma was forced into its ninth punt, the Longhorns got the ball back with less than a minute left. But the game was already teetering, and the final possession never produced a response.
Manning’s stat line looked productive enough - 19 completions on 31 attempts, three touchdowns and 382 yards for Texas - but the two interceptions were crushing. Oklahoma’s defense kept finding moments, and those moments ended up defining the game.
One of the biggest came early in the fourth quarter, when Peyton Bowen picked off Manning deep in Texas territory and raced 42 yards for a touchdown. That put Oklahoma ahead 24-17 and gave the Sooners their first lead of the afternoon.
Texas answered right back. Manning led a seven-play, 75-yard drive and finished it with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Bishop to pull the Longhorns even again.
The first quarter belonged to Texas’ big-play ability. After going three-and-out on its first two possessions, the Longhorns broke through on the first play of their third drive when Manning hit Cam Coleman for a 41-yard touchdown.
But Texas also had stretches where it couldn’t get anything going, and Oklahoma eventually started to cash in on the opportunities those empty possessions created. Early in the second quarter, Danny Okoye broke through to block Mac Chiumento’s punt, and Dakoda Fields recovered it in the back of the end zone for a Sooners touchdown.
Texas answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 34-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo. Oklahoma had not picked up a first down to that point, but it finally pieced together a sustained drive after that, even though it ended with a missed field goal.
The Longhorns took a 17-7 lead on Spetic’s 23-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the first half.
Oklahoma kept clawing back. Sandell drilled a 53-yard field goal five minutes into the third quarter to cut the margin, and after Texas went three-and-out three more times, the Sooners capitalized on strong field position to tie it on Lloyd Avant’s 2-yard touchdown run in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. It was Oklahoma’s first rushing touchdown since its season opener.
Mateer finished 18 of 26 for 155 yards, and the Sooners didn’t need a huge passing day from him to pull this off. They just needed enough clean execution at the end to give Sandell one more kick. He did the rest.
In Other News...
Texas Opens Red River With Early Drama Beyond The Score
The Red River Rivalry opened with the kind of first-quarter buzz that always seems to follow Texas into the Cotton Bowl. Arch Manning found Cam Coleman for a touchdown to get the Longhorns on the board early, and the game immediately settled into the familiar mix of emotion, urgency and big-game tension that defines this matchup. Even before the score line had much time to breathe, the opening stretch had already delivered the sort of energy Texas fans expect when Oklahoma is on the other sideline.
Beyond the touchdown, the early going carried plenty of its own storylines, from pregame warmups to the injury notes and key plays that shaped the first quarter. Those details mattered in a game like this because every snap can shift the tone, and Texas had to navigate all of it while trying to keep control of the moment. The scoreboard gave the Longhorns an early edge, but the first quarter made clear this one was going to be about much more than one drive. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Looked Vulnerable In Dallas For One Frustrating Reason
Texas left Dallas with a bitter 27-24 loss to Oklahoma, and the frustration had less to do with one isolated mistake than with how the game unraveled after halftime. The Longhorns offense stalled repeatedly in the second half, stringing together multiple three-and-outs before Arch Manning was picked off late, while special teams problems kept adding pressure to a team trying to stay afloat in a tight rivalry game.
The blocked punt and missed field goals only deepened the sense that Texas kept finding new ways to make the path harder on itself. In a game where every possession mattered, the Longhorns never quite settled into rhythm, and the combination of offensive inconsistency, coaching choices, and special teams breakdowns left them vulnerable in a way that should linger well beyond one afternoon in Dallas. [Read more 🡒]
Steve Sarkisians Career Turnaround Adds New Emotion To Oklahoma Week
Oklahoma week always carries its own edge in Austin, but this one comes with a little more personal history for Steve Sarkisian. The Texas coach has been open about how Nick Saban played a major role in helping steady his career after a difficult stretch, bringing him to Alabama as an offensive analyst in 2016 after Sarkisian was fired by USC. It is the kind of reminder that gives a rivalry week already loaded with meaning a more human layer.
Sarkisian and his wife, Loreal, have both expressed gratitude for Sabans support, and Saban in turn has credited Sarkisian for doing the work needed to rebuild his career and add value to the program. For Sarkisian, that connection is part of the path that brought him back to this stage, where the Longhorns are trying to manage the usual Oklahoma Week intensity while their coach carries a little extra emotion into it. [Read more 🡒]