Tone around Texas much different being unranked instead of No. 1 against Red River rival Oklahoma

Now Manning and the Longhorns (3-2, 0-1) are unranked going into the annual midseason Red River Rivalry game on Saturday, trying to save their season and any realistic chance of making the College Football Playoff for the third year in a row.

While the Longhorns stumble into the State Fair of Texas, No. 6 Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0) is cruising along with coach Brent Venables calling the plays for a resurgent and dominant defense.

The Sooners joined the SEC along with Texas last year and are only now threatening to make some noise in their new league. A win over Texas and the Sooners would make the drumbeats even louder.

“For us, coming off last week in SEC play, stubbing our toe at Florida and starting off in conference play 0-1, this is a very significant game,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday. “This week in practice, it hasn’t been business as usual. You can feel that sense of urgency. You can feel that level of intensity.”

Will Mateer make it back?

The big question for the Sooners is whether quarterback John Mateer returns Saturday for the first time since injuring his throwing hand three weeks ago in a win over Auburn, then having surgery during their open date and missing a 44-0 win against overmatched Kent State.

It's looking more likely that he will.

When the SEC released its latest availability report Thursday night, Mateer was upgraded to probable to play Saturday. He had been considered questionable.

Venables said earlier this week that he was leaning on doctors to let him know the status of the Washington State transfer, who in his four games threw for 1,215 yards with six touchdowns and ran for 190 yards and five more scores.

Michael Hawkins Jr. last year was the first true freshman Oklahoma quarterback to start the Red River game, and was 16 of 24 passing for 120 yards while being sacked five times as the Sooners had only 225 total yards in a 34-3 loss. In three quarters last week against Kent State, Hawkins threw for 162 yards and three TDs, and rushed for 33 yards with another TDs.

That Sooner D

Oklahoma leads the nation allowing only 193 total yards per game, and its opponents have gained no more than 1 yard on 133 of 276 offensive snaps (55%). The Sooners also have 4.2 sacks a game, a real concern for Texas after Manning was under constant pressure and bruised while getting sacked six times in that 29-21 loss at Florida.

“I like this team, I like where we’re at right now,” said Venables, a former defensive coordinator in his fourth season as head coach. “Both sides of the ball, upwards of 16 players, this is Year 4 for them. I think we’re a benefactor of leadership and the experience and the improvements that we’ve made.”

A brief history

This is the 121st meeting in a series that began in 1900, and has been played annually at Fair Park since 1929. Fans in crimson and burnt orange are split at the 50-yard line inside the historic 92,100-seat Cotton Bowl Stadium.

“In my opinion, the best game in college football in the regular season,” Sarkisian said.

“The history between the two programs, it’s special, and doesn’t ever get old,” Venables said.

While Texas owns a 64-51-5 series lead, the Sooners have won five of the last seven games in a span with some record-setting results.

In Sarkisian's Red River debut in 2021, the Sooners had a 25-point fourth quarter capped by Kennedy Brooks 33-yard TD run with 3 seconds left for a 55-48 win, the highest-scoring game in series history.

When Venables was a first-time coach in 2022, it was the first time both teams were unranked since 1998. Texas won 49-0, which is Oklahoma's most lopsided shutout loss ever to any team. Then in a battle of unbeatens in 2023, the 12th-ranked Sooners beat No. 3 Texas 34-30 after Dillon Gabriel threw a 3-yard TD pass with 15 seconds remaining.

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