College Football Fans React to Cotton Bowl Field Update

The Red River Rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners is among the oldest and most storied rivalry games in the history of college football, dating all the way back to 1900 when the teams met for the first time.

On Saturday, in 2024, the rivalry will be seeing a change for the very first time.

No longer is this a clash between Big 12 schools, but rather an SEC matchup.

While the playing field at the Cotton Bowl — a neutral site location — was being prepared for Saturday's big game, fans couldn't help but be appalled as the SEC logo was painted onto the field, rather than the classic Big 12 logo. While it doesn't mean much for the actual game, the significance says it all.

"I'm gonna puke," one fan wrote on X .

Another fan suggested that "Someone sneak in there Friday night and change the RIVALRY wording to SHOOTOUT as it should be."

"Yep, never thought I would see this day…." one Oklahoma fan remarked.

Texas leads the all-time series between the Longhorns and Sooners 63-51-5, but this will be the first of their SEC matchups going forward. Both Texas and Oklahoma were part of the massive conference realignment shifts to take place this last offseason that saw Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, while Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State left the Pac-12 for the Big 12.

Coming off of the heels of the 2023 Red River Rivalry, a 34-30 upset win for No. 12 Oklahoma over No. 3 Texas, there is a lot of anticipation for this game. Oklahoma enters ranked No. 18 in the nation, while Texas is No. 1.

In a rivalry game, though, all records have to be thrown out the window. As they famously say in the SEC, "it just means more."

Related: Joel Klatt Reveals Biggest Question for Oklahoma-Texas Red River Rivalry Game