Posted October 7th, 2016
In 1904, Texas scored 40 points against Oklahoma. It was the first time the Longhorns reached 40 points in the series. Oklahoma would be the first, and only, program to reach 50- and 60-or more points in a game, but Texas has some explosive performances in the 116 year history of the rivalry.
Here are five times Texas lit up the scoreboard against Oklahoma:
Oct. 11, 2008: No. 5 Texas 45, No. 1 Oklahoma 35
Tied with 2005 for the highest-scoring Texas-Oklahoma performance, the 2008 game had many implications to it. Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech ran a three-team race for the Big 12 with Texas beating OU, Tech beating Texas and OU emphatically beating Tech. The first of these matchups was the Texas-Oklahoma game. Facing Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy threw for 277 yards and a touchdown, while Cody Johnson scored three touchdowns and ran for 127 yards (fantasy points!) and Jordan Shipley caught 11 balls for 112 yards and a score (more fantasy points!) in the game. Texas needed every one of those points to hold off Oklahoma, who led 35-30 with 11:42 left in the game. Two touchdown runs by Johnson in the final eight minutes helped Texas clinch the win. Oklahoma scored 35 points but had just 48 yards rushing. Texas had 161 yards and 277 yards passing.
Texas finished with 438 yards of offense, three more than Oklahoma.
Oct. 8, 2005 No. 2 Texas 45, Oklahoma 12
This is one of the biggest blowouts of the series and tied for Texas’ highest-scoring performance. Texas’ offense accounted for just 38 points because Rodrique Wright scored a 67-yard fumble return. But the offense had many moments. Jamaal Charles had an 80-yard rushing touchdown and Billy Pittman had a 64-yard receiving touchdown. Texas out-gained Oklahoma 444-171. Texas averaged 6.6 yards per play in this game. Texas offense as a whole has rarely been better than 2005. Texas had already scored 60, 51 and 51 points in games this season. In fact, the only team that held Texas to less than 30 points was Ohio State, which featured a handful of NFL first-round draft picks, like Bobby Carpenter and A.J. Hawk.
Oct. 9, 1999: No. 23 Texas 38, Oklahoma 28
The first time Big Game Bob played Texas he gave up big time points. New Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops had a cold welcoming to the series as Texas scored 38 points in the 10-point win. What’s worse for Stoops is this doubles as one of biggest Texas football comebacks ever. Texas trailed 17-0 in this game. Major Applewhite threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns for Texas, matching Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel, who threw for 311 yards. Hodges Mitchell, though, was the star of the game for Texas. Taking over for Ricky Williams as the lead running back, Mitchell rushed for 204 yards. Montrell Flowers (4 catches for 111 yards), Kwame Cavil (6-85) and Ryan Nunez (5-51) led the way at receiver. Kris Stockton also made three field goals for Texas.
Oct. 10, 1992: Texas 34, No. 16 Oklahoma 24
Yes, 34 points doesn’t seem like a lot of points, but heck in today’s game neither does 45. But this was the highest scoring UT-OU game of the John Mackovic era. Peter Gardere threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns, and Curtis Jackson had 15 rushes for 77 yards, but it was Phil Brown with two touchdowns and seven carries for 52 yards who led the Longhorns. Leading 34-10 at one point, Oklahoma scored two touchdowns late but couldn’t take the lead.
Oct. 10, 1981: No. 3 Texas 34, No. 10 Oklahoma
A. J. “Jam” Jones scored a touchdown and rushed for 134 yards on 36 carries, while Rick McIvor had 127 yards rushing and two touchdown passes in this win. Rodney Tate also scored as Texas piled on 330 yards of offense to Oklahoma’s 194. Here’s a fun Sooner fact: Oklahoma had zero passing yards. Yep, zero. Try finding that in today’s football game. Three times Texas’ offense had long methodical drives of nine or more plays. The nine-play drive ended with a 36-yard pass from McIvor to Maurice McCloney.
Look at McIvor’s mustache:
Side notes: Texas scored 36 points against Oklahoma in Mack Brown’s final OU-UT game in 2013. Two of those touchdowns came by way of a Daje Johnson 85-yard touchdown punt return and a 31-yard interception return by Chris Whaley. Also Texas went from 1947 (34-14 win) to 1981 without scoring more than 34 points against Oklahoma, during that time Texas beat Oklahoma 16 times. Texas reached 40 points twice from 1900 to 1941. The most points Texas scored in a losing effort to Oklahoma is 27, when Oklahoma won in overtime 30-27 in 1996.
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