Oklahoma Football: Texas survives Sooners’ rally, wins Red River Rivalry

Texas stepped up big at the Cotton Bowl against rival Oklahoma to claim a major Big 12 victory. What did we learn from the Red River Shootout on Saturday?

Weird things always seem to happen in the Red River Shootout. A couple of years ago, remember, Charlie Strong looked like he was building up toward a long tenure as the Longhorns head coach when he took down the Sooners 24-17 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. A loss the following year accelerated his departure from Austin.

The Longhorns took a 24-17 lead in the locker room at the intermission, and went ahead 31-17 right after the break. But Oklahoma responded with a Marquise Brown touchdown, then followed by managing their first stop against Texas on the ensuing drive. Just as quickly as it looked like they could level the game, though, momentum whipped back against Oklahoma as Kyler Murray coughed up a fumble.

That’s just the way the Red River Shootout goes sometimes, with wild momentum swings inevitable in such an impassioned rivalry. That it takes place on neutral turf in the hallowed ground of the Cotton Bowl makes it all the more imposing. Some players stepped up big on Saturday in the 113th edition of the game.

What did we learn about these two sides in back-and-forth 48-45 Texas victory in Dallas? Here are three takeaways from the landmark Longhorns win over the top-10 Sooners in the one showdown featuring a pair of AP Top 25 teams in the early slate of Saturday games.