Advertisement
Posted October 7th, 2016
When it comes to blowouts in the Red River Rivalry (Shootout?), Texas has famously been on the losing end, remember the early days of the Bob Stoops era? But every so often, Texas comes in and wins big, like in the first game, in 1900, when Texas won 28-2, or in 1904, when Texas won 40-10. In 1909, Texas won 30-0, but that followed a 50-0 win by Oklahoma in 1908.
We’re going to focus on some more recent games: Here are five times the Longhorns dominated the Sooners.
Oct. 8, 2005: No. 2 Texas 45, Oklahoma 12
Advertisement
For many Longhorn fans, this could be the third most satisfying win of national championship season, but maybe a top-10 most satisfying win of the Mack Brown era. Texas had lost to Oklahoma five years in a row. They lost by scores of 63-14 (2000) and 65-13 (2003), and often times Texas was highly-ranked. In 2001, Texas was completely held out of the endzone, losing 14-3 and in 2004, with second-leading rusher in program history, Cedric Benson, and Vince Young, Texas was shutout 12-0.
The 2005 game was essentially over at halftime, as Texas led 24-6, and Brian Robison caused a fumble that Rodrique Wright scooped up and capped the game with a 67-yard return for a touchdown to make the final 45-12. Texas won the national title a few months later.
Oct. 10. 1998: Texas 34, Oklahoma 3
There’s no other way to put it: Mack Brown’s history against Oklahoma is mixed. He lost to Oklahoma nine times. He also beat Oklahoma seven times, but the optics of his losses were never great, read above. But maybe that’s because of the way he started his era at Texas against the Sooners. Texas went 2-0 in Mack’s first two years against the Sooners. In 1999, Texas beat OU 37-27. OU had a new coach that year in Bob Stoops. It’s very likely that one of the reasons he became the coach is because Brown’s first team beat Oklahoma 34-3 in what would be John Blake’s final fall in Norman.
Texas had Ricky Williams and Major Applewhite in 1998. Applewhite threw a 97-yard touchdown pass, one of the longest from-scrimmage plays in Texas history. He also threw a 56-yard touchdown pass. Williams scored two touchdowns and rushed for 139 yards. Applewhite threw for 293. Texas fans were loving this whiz-kid coach from North Carolina named Mack Brown. Oklahoma, however, did lead early in the game 3-0, but that was it. The Sooners had 410 punting yards and just 197 total yards of offense.
Here’s the part of the game with the 97 yard pass (2 minute and 54 second mark of the video), which was set up by goal-line stand:
Oct. 10, 1970: Texas No. 2 Texas 41, No. 19 Oklahoma 9
Defending national champion Texas played to a draw of 0-0 after the first quarter, then Oklahoma took the lead 3-0 early in the second quarter. Texas went on a 41-6 run. Five different rushers scored for Texas and Eddie Phillips threw one of his three completions for a touchdown as Texas thumped Oklahoma. It would be the last win over Oklahoma for Darrell Royal, who finished his run at Texas 0-5-1 the rest of the way.
Oct. 9, 1960: Texas 24, Oklahoma 0
Oklahoma was shut out in the Texas-OU game for the first time since 1944. Texas’s blowout was a slow burn as the Longhorns kicked a field goal in the first quarter, then scored one touchdown every quarter that followed. The final score was a 78-yard interception return by Pat Culpepper. With James Saxton playing quarterback and averaging 10 yards a carry and Ray Poage scoring two touchdowns, Texas wound up “blowing out” Oklahoma by 24 in game that announcers probably thought was closer than it looked.
Oct. 11, 1941: Texas 40, Oklahoma 7:
We’ll have to take the scoreboard’s word for it. Recorded stats on Texas games begin in 1947 (at least online they do).
Twice Texas has beaten Oklahoma eight games in a row. From 1958 to 1965 they beat OU with a bunch of close wins, like the 15-14 victory in 1958 and the 9-6 win in 1962. But the first eight-game streak was from 1940 to 1947. Twice Texas won by shutout fashion, 7-0 in 1942 and 20-0 in 1944. This 33-point victory was the biggest of the streak and is tied for the widest margin of victory over Oklahoma. The 2005 squad tied it with its win.
Comments