Defense strong early, offense late — Sooners whip Texas 45-40 in Red River Rivalry
by admin
This was indeed a team win. But, three stars stepped up in a crucial game for the Sooners: Dede Westbrooke, Samaje Perine and Baker Mayfield.
The spotlight was on Westbrook, whose three touchdowns were catches of more than 40 yards. He set a team single-game record with 232 yards receiving.
Perine added 214 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 35 carries for the Sooners. Key was Oklahoma’s ability to run the clock in the fourth quarter to drain the Longhorns’ opportunity to comeback from a late deficit. Oklahoma rolled up 672 total yards against Texas.
Texas came out of the halftime lockerroom and punched Oklahoma in the mouth. They led after two long TD passes by freshman quarterback Shane Buechele in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the third quarter. But Baker Mayfield’s 4-yard TD run put the Sooners ahead for good, right after his 51-yard completion to Dahu Green, made it 28-27.
Here we go across the Red River by the thousands once again — Beat Texas!
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In 1931 the Oklahoma governor called out the Oklahoma National Guard and declared martial law over the Red River bridge between the two states when Texas barricaded a new free bridge and forced traffic to take an older toll bridge.
The Oklahoma guardsmen took control of the south end of the bridge held by armed Texas Rangers and allowed traffic to pass without forking over any toll money.
It was Texas’ third defeat in its history. The first being to the Mexicans at the Alamo, then to the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and then to the Oklahoma National Guard.
The Oklahoma-Texas game had been played 25 times before the Red River Bridge War was declared in 1931. Oklahoma had won only eight of them and tied one. Most of the games were close. All were well attended. But only six of the games had been played in Oklahoma.
The Red River Bridge War really stung those Texans. After that the Longhorns refused to cross the bridge. It was too embarrassing of a reminder that their beloved Texas Rangers had been losers yet again. And this time to a bunch of Okies.
And so, the Oklahoma-Texas game has been played in Dallas ever since. It’s the only way the Sooners could get the poor Texans to play ball with them.