Why Oklahoma is Embracing its Underdog Role against Texas

Oklahoma is a 14.5-point underdog against Texas, but the Sooners know, historically, that doesn't seem to matter in this rivalry.

Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Kobie McKinzie / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Texas has Oklahoma exactly where the Sooners want to be. 

OU and Texas will face off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Dallas for the 120th Red River Showdown. The Longhorns will enter the game unbeaten at 5-0 and ranked as the No. 1 team in college football. The Sooners, meanwhile, have limped to a 4-1 record and just inside the top 20 at No. 18 in the AP Poll, which lists Texas at No. 1. 

“I think Texas is motivation enough, but it's exciting playing the No. 1 team in the country, seeing where you compete, where you rank with those guys, and I think everyone is excited to see what OU can do,” Sooner defensive end Trace Ford said after practice Monday. 

The Longhorns have definitely earned that top spot. They’ve outscored opponents 225-35 through five games. Statistically, they have a top-10 offense and defense. OU, though, is ranked 121st in total offense and 42nd in total defense. 

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Those results to this point have Vegas making Texas a 14.5-point favorite as of Wednesday afternoon. The Sooners have already been a historical underdog once this season in their SEC opener against Tennessee, when OU was a touchdown home underdog for the first time since 1998. Tennessee ultimately covered, though, beating the Sooners 25-15 for their only loss of the season so far. 

“It's fun knowing you're the underdog,” Ford said. “The underdog mentality is a great mentality to have, and I'm just excited to have, and I'm just excited to really play with these dogs that we got in the locker room this weekend.” 

What Vegas says doesn’t really seem to matter inside the Cotton Bowl, though, especially when the Sooners and Longhorns meet. According to Sooner on SI's John Hoover earlier this week, only twice in the last 25 years has a double-digit favorite covered at the venue. Those teams are 0-5 in covering the spread the last 12 years. OU, though, has been the big favorite the last five times that’s happened. 

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History Shows Being a Huge Underdog Doesn't Matter Much in Oklahoma-Texas Rivalry

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Now, OU is the underdog. But the Sooners are aware of the 120-year history of the Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl, where past results and expectations can’t seem to make their way into the stadium through the Texas State Fair crowd surrounding the outside. 

“Man, to be honest with you, I just think it's in the dirt,” OU linebacker Kobie McKinzie said. “Whatever happened there over these hundreds of years is just there. Like, you just hit that field, it feels like it's hard to breathe. There's nowhere to go. It's literally only one way in and only one way out, you know? And I think that's why they still play it there. Like you said, the spreads don't matter, how good this team or that team is going into it, like, that has literally never mattered if you look at it. Like, it literally never has. So just as far as just it being 'that game.' Like, it's the best of the best from the states, as they played it.”