What Texas (and Oklahoma) Fans Should Watch for in the Red River Rivalry

The Texas Longhorns-Oklahoma Sooners rivalry has been battled since 1900, and has lived through some great moments.

In recent memory, Sooner fans will remember Roy Williams diving over the line to help create a game-deciding interception in a 2001 victory.

Texas fans will remember Rodrique Wright in a sundial-timed sprint to the end zone in a 45-12 bashing on its way to a 2005 National Championship.

Here's a hint of what to expect Saturday in the Red River Rivalry/Shootout/Battle of I-35/Battle for the Golden Hat/Border War (further South edition):

• Corn dogs. Lots and lots of corn dogs. The State Fair is in town for its annual celebration, which always runs simultaneous to the game. Expect a long, unexpected list of things being fried that you never thought would be fried (like Coke balls, Twinkies).
  
• Tunnel mishaps. Both teams enter from the same side, and there's always a shouting match, often harmless, but shoving is allowed.
• Hype. Although it's been four years since both teams could claim top-10 worthiness, there's always been a lot of hype about the game. Some of which is worth it. They are typically the top two programs of the Southwestern United States, and both teams have national championships this decade. However, there has only been one game in the Brown-Stoops era that has been decided by less than 10 points. Fortunately, that was last year.
  
• Favoritism. As in, the last nine times the two teams have met, the team that entered the game ranked higher has won. Also, the team that wins the turnover battle has won each game, and that's probably only slightly coincidental (Texas and OU have combined for 10 turnovers in 10 games this season).
  
• How much philosophies matter. Two head coaches who do it two very different ways both have established themselves as one of the best coaches in their respective program's history. Stoops is only behind Bud Wilkinson's three national titles and Barry Switzer's two and a half, with Stoops having coached six fewer seasons than either. Brown is one of only two UT coaches to win a title, with Darrell K. Royal winning the other two and a half. Stoops has been known as the hard-edge, disciplinarian type, while Brown has been the protective, CEO-manager type. It's worked for both.
• Big game troubles. Stoops has gotten a lot of flak for losing four consecutive BCS games, but has done well enough to win three Big 12 titles, and play in the BCS title game the other year during those years, which doesn't include an 8-4 season in 2005. Brown has always been criticized as one who couldn't win the big game, having lost five consecutive games to Stoops from 2000-2004. Brown had a brief hiatus from the moniker with the national championship in 2005 and taking down OU again in 2006. Brown has won his last four bowl games, but losing opportunities to play in the Big 12 championship with regular season-ending losses to Texas A&M the past two seasons have started to creep the big-game issues with Brown back to the surface, citing Vince Young as the reason for the brief ability to win big games. Obviously, both would enjoy the win.
• The QBs. Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy: both Top Five Heisman candidates right now, both in the top 4 in passing efficiency, both ridiculously churning up stats (20 TD accounted for by each player in the first five games), turning it over rarely (three turnovers each), and getting sacked rarely (three times for Bradford, five times for McCoy). Bradford won Round 1 in 2007, 28-21, and upstaged McCoy's great offensive season in 2006 by breaking his freshman passing TD mark in 2007. McCoy had a subpar season last year, throwing for fewer TDs (29 to 22) and more INTs (7 to 18). Bradford has had no such sophomore slump. Bradford's thrown for more yards (1,665 to 1,280), but McCoy has run for more (317 to -23) and completed a higher percentage (an NCAA best 79.2 percent to a fifth-best 72.6 percent).
  
• The underrated D's. What makes OU and UT different is how sneaky good both defenses are. OU is first in the nation in pass efficiency defense, and has not allowed any QB to throw for 225 yards in a game this season. Texas is third in the nation in run defense, giving up barely over 50 yards a game. Heck, both teams are giving up fewer than 14 points per game, going 1-2 in the conference in scoring defense.
  
• The bizarrely similar stats. Texas and OU have been equally dominant in a surprising number of categories. They are tied in first in the nation in scoring margin (35.8 per game). They are two of only three teams (C-USA's Tulsa is the other) to have yet to play a game within 20 points. OU's closest win was 25 against TCU; UT's closest was 24 against Colorado (Tulsa's closest was 23 against UAB). The teams are both in the top 10 in red zone offense, with Oklahoma being perfect (24 scores in 24 opportunities) while Texas has been pretty darn close (25 of 26). Both teams are in the top 15 nationally in red zone defense, Texas at 53 percent and OU at 64 percent. Both are deadly efficient at third-down conversions. Texas is a little bit better on offense (UT-52 percent, OU-49 percent) and Oklahoma's a bit better on defense (OU-27 percent, UT 31 percent). Both teams are fantastic at sacking the QB, with UT No. 1 in the nation at 3.8 sacks a game, and OU No. 3 at 3.4. Ironically both teams are bad (No. 93 and No. 104) at kickoff coverage, each giving up over 23 yards per return. Both teams average 27 first downs a game (top 5 in the nation). Both teams are great in passing efficiency as teams (top 5 in the nation). Both teams are not satisfied in their run game (four combined 100-yard games) or comfortable in their backup QBs (Joey Halzle is 14-of-22 with 1 TD, but little faith, and John Chiles is 9-of-10 for 81 yards, but 2 lost fumbles and zero faith).
  
• The kicking game will matter. If OU, the 6.5-point favorite, loses, the kicking game will have something to do with it. Special teams have a lot to do with the fact that while OU both gains more yards and allows fewer than Texas the margin is the same. While both struggle in kick coverage, UT has been perfect in both extra points and field goals (all three attempts), OU has attempted only one FG and missed two extra points. Texas has allowed four less yards per punt return, a pretty small amount, but the net punting difference is nine yards (40.6 to 31.6). Texas has already blocked three punts this season.
• Weapons gain. A big part of OU being the favorite is the large number of people that can gain yards. Oklahoma has two RBs with over 300 yards rushing this season (DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown) while Texas has one QB (McCoy) and zero RBs over even 200. OU has four receivers over 250 yards receiving (Manuel Johnson, Joaquin Iglesias, Jermaine Gresham, and Ryan Broyles) while Texas has two (Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley, though RB Chris Ogbannaya is close with 244). TE is the big mismatch, as Texas will only have available three TEs who have a combined 17 yards receiving this season after original starting TE Blaine Irby was knocked out for the season with a knee injury. OU, meanwhile, has Gresham, one of the top five TE in the country.
  
• Matchups. There's a lot of them. Two great D-Lines against two very good O-lines, though many Oklahoma fans will say their line is great, which it probably is. Oklahoma's O-line has four seniors and a ton of experience, while Texas' O-line has one senior and a slowly growing amount of experience. A specific one to watch is OU LT Phil Loadholt (all 6-foot-8, 337 pounds of him) against Big 12 sack leader and UT DE Brian Orakpo. Oklahoma's WR against UT's secondary will be a huge matchup, as there is a ton of youth for Texas, with two freshmen and a sophomore making up 3/4 of the group. Protecting the deep ball will be a key point. Gresham will be his own nightmare matchup, as he will likely go up against UT's leading tackler in Roddrick Muckelroy. The underproducing RB groups will be a fun matchup as they go up against two very talented, fast, and disciplined LB corps. And, of course, McCoy vs. Bradford.
• The Cotton Bowl. It's now been renovated to look like a bigtime college stadium now, with over 92,000 seats. And the big split at the 50-yard line with burnt orange on one side and crimson on the other.
  

My neutral view thinks OU's got the edge, but my alma mater view is rooting for the Horns. We'll see what happens. Enjoy the game.