NORMAN —
Downplaying the significance of the Oklahoma-Texas game is a waste of time.
Fans of both teams elevated the status of the game generations ago, and it's not going to change.
The neutral site the Cotton Bowl in Dallas provides, the 50-50 split in seating and the atmosphere surrounding the game, make the Red River Rivalry a bowl-like atmosphere in the middle of October.
OU coach Bob Stoops said soaking all the atmosphere is great, but it's not the high point of the season.
"It's still one game in a whole slew of them," he said. "Just because you win it, if you lose the rest of them, it won't matter. Heck, we won it last year and lost a few others and it still didn't matter … You don't get patted on the back. They used to say, 'Just beat Texas' when I got here in '99. That doesn't happen anymore. You have to beat everybody."
Stoops is 8-5 in his previous meetings with the Longhorns.
BONUS BIT: Oklahoma is going to live stream its drive from its team hotel to Cotton Bowl on soonersports.com Saturday morning.
The team is expected to arrive at the stadium between 8:45-9:15 a.m.
To the players, that drive to the game is something that sets the OU-Texas game apart from every other college football game.
"It’s crazy. It’s an experience that every college football player wants to experience," cornerback Demontre Hurst said. "Just to see the orange and red and people will be beating on the buses. To see everyone cheering at the fair, it’s a great scene."
Another way to describe it would be driving into a pack of two angry mobs.
"You get to the Fair and Texas fans, if they can, will bang on the bus," OU defensive end R.J. Washington said. "You'll hear this uproar, and people will start walking over. Our fans are yelling at their fans. You can hear our fans talking trash. You can hear their fans talking trash."
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