The 120th Red River Rivalry

Happy college football Saturday, Sooner fans. It's a big one today, you guys, as our beloved Oklahoma Sooners take on the deservedly reviled texas longhorns in the 120th edition of the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It marks the first time meeting as SEC foes, and it's already one of the top games in a conference where, "It just means more". Hopefully, it lives up to the hype.

The Sooners are 4-1 and happy to be there after an amazing come from behind win at Auburn two weeks ago. It was Michael Hawkins Jr's first start and it was memorable. MHJ was 10-15 for 161 with a dazzling two point conversion to cap the comeback after a Kip Lewis interception return for a touchdown.

Today, the longhorns come in ranked number one, a two touchdown favorite, with an 85% chance to win according to ESPN's matchup predictor. This one is going to be tough. 

OFFENSE

Michael Hawkins is the guy. The line play has been better since he took over, probably because he can read a defense and communicate what he sees. For the Sooners to win today, MHJ will need to take another big leap, so to speak, and sustain some drives. We know he can do it with his legs, and against Auburn he threw some dimes when he had to. I think to win, he's really going to have to demonstrate he can throw the ball to different levels of the defense and move it around so the Sooners can have some semblance of a running game. They have to be able to sustain drives, win the time of possession and essentially play keep away.

Also, to have any chance, it would be nice if the Sooners could get some or all of their banged up receivers and running backs. Some combination of Nic Anderson, Deion Burks and Taylor Tatum would be huge.

I'm going MHJ for my OPOG today. He's the first true freshman quarterback to start this game for OU in the entire history of this rivalry. Can he meet the moment?

DEFENSE

These boys are elite and they'll need to be today. Quin Ewers is back in the saddle for the longhorns and he obviously is the reason the horns are such prohibitive favorites. I like the Sooners chances of getting to him. Steve Sarkisian is a bit of a mastermind, I have to admit, so this one could be an epic chess match.

For my DPOG, I'll go with R Mason Thomas. This guy has that dawg in him when it's on the line. Today, it's on the line.

SCORE

Quite literally, everything has to go right for the Sooners to have a chance today. MHJ has to take another step forward. The Sooners need some key personnel on offense to be available and effective and the defense has to be their best version of who we now know they are. The Sooners need to win time of possession, keep Ewers off the field and get at least two turnovers.

Put it all together in a rivalry game and you can chuck that line out the window. If the Sooners win, it'll be a score of about 27-21

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

If it all works out, the Sooners can win 

texas

 After a week off to enjoy the Auburn win, it's back to business in the biggest of ways. The Red River Rivalry is once again renewed as the Sooners make the drive down to Dallas to meet texas once again. While I am a fan of tradition and historical matchups between teams, when OU left for the SEC I wasn't particularly heartbroken that we won't play KState every year. That game was just another team on the schedule. Even OSU, though I really hate Mike Gundy for innumerable reasons and loved beating him, doesn't really matter to me that much. But texas? That's a big one. John Blake survived two full seasons on the back of beating texas his first year in one of the rivalries bigger upsets. So all the to say, I'm thankful that the rivalry is continued even with the conference shift. 

Now, while I'm glad to be playing texas, I'm not terribly optimistic about this year's matchup. texas comes in as the #1 team in the country. I read that this is the 10th such meeting in the historic rivalry where one of the two teams is #1. Of those, the top team has prevailed 7 times, and one tie. The most recent upset of said #1 was our Sooners losing (what a shock) in 2008, 45-35. Now would be a wonderful time to update that most recent #1 loss. It will be an enormous test. I'm hopeful our Defense (who would've thought??) will be able to keep us in it. Quinn Ewers is back and texas can score with the best of them. While they don't run the ball extremely well, their passing game is borderline unstoppable. Our offense is banged up, and the offensive line is just, well, shitty. Points will be hard to come by. But, we've had two weeks to get ready, hopefully heal up a little and put together a gameplan to slow them down and hopefully score some points ourselves. 

Offense

Michael Hawkins has been solid. He mostly takes care of the ball which is huge. He does however struggle to move the chains. Auburn ate him up but he still managed to put enough together late to salvage a win. But, I think that game was a good one to get under his belt in terms of playing a big game on the road against a tough crowd. But, I think if OU is to hang around today, ball control will be essential and as such I think the offense will attempt to lean on the run game. I'm going with Gavin Sawchuck today. He's not been great so far, I think he breaks out today and has a James Allen-esque (I'm old) performance on the biggest rivalry stage.

Defense

I'm a staunch Danny Stutsman believer. Dude is great, and when our defense was struggling I refused to move away from him. I don't think I've picked a different defender in the past two seasons. But I finally see other guys stepping up. And in the interest of shaking up the mojo today I'm going with R Mason Thomas. He's been a wrecking ball and we will need him to plant Ewers, Manning or whomever is back there and force some turnovers with pressure and sacks. 

Score

texas is favored by 14.5 or 15 depending on your timing. Either way, more than two touchdowns. That's the vegas oddsmakers laughing at OU's prospects. A rivalry game of this nature with that large of spread should be lighting a fire under our guys. texas has all of the pressure, we have nothing to lose and the "nobody-is-giving-us-a-chance" gris-gris (look it up) on our side. OU stuns texas in one of the rivalries biggest upsets, 31-30.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner