Nothing beats a good old fashioned college football rivalry, and few top Oklahoma vs. Texas. As one of the game’s oldest grudge matches, the Red River Rivalry is steeped in history and bad blood. Every fall, downtown Dallas is overrun with maroon and burnt orange as fans from Norman and Austin descend upon the Cotton Bowl to renew acquaintances in the midst of the annual State Fair of Texas.
This year marked the 105th meeting between the two teams, and Bullz-Eye was fortunate enough to attend the latest edition of the Red River Rivalry, courtesy of the good people from Ram trucks. If you’ve never experienced a true college football rivalry in person, this one should land near the top of your to-do list. The game has taken place at the Cotton Bowl every year since 1932, which would seem to swing home field advantage to the Longhorns when, in fact, Dallas actually serves as middle ground between the two campuses. Sooner fans were just as prevalent on the fairgrounds throughout the weekend as Longhorn fans were, with shouts of “Boomer…SOONERS!” ringing out amidst thousands of “hook ’em horns” gestures in the hours leading up to game time. Each school’s band treated fans to several performances just prior to kickoff, which got everyone worked into a proper pregame lather before we headed for the gate to find our seats.
As always, allegiances were very clearly split at the 50-yard line inside the Cotton Bowl, with a sea of orange dominating one half of the stadium and Sooner red overtaking the other. Oklahoma controlled the game early while holding a 21-7 lead at halftime, and though an otherwise flat Texas team managed to tighten things up late in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t enough to overcome the eighth-ranked Sooners, who rolled to a 28-20 win but still trail UT in the all-time series, 41-59 with five ties. Check out a collection of photos from the pregame festivities below, and come back later this week to read our recap from the entire weekend, including a rundown of all the fair had to offer and a closer look at the latest addition to the Ram family, the impressive Laramie Longhorn.