Oklahoma Sooners embracing the underdog mentality in Red River Rivalry against Texas Longhorns

The Red River Rivalry is one of college football's most-storied rivalry games. It is 60 minutes of pure, unadulterated hatred of two teams who have battled for over a century, leaving each other bruised, battered, and bludgeoned when those whistles blow for the final time.

It's the one game where nothing that happens outside of it matters. Throw away the records, throw away the analytical data, the win probability, the rankings, none of it matters in this game. For the Sooners, that's what they're looking forward to, as they enter this game a massive 14-point underdog to the currently #1 Texas Longhorns.

Linebacker Kobie McKenzie spoke about what everyone loves about this rivalry:

"To be honest with you, I just think it’s in the dirt. Whatever happened there over these hundreds of years is just there. Like, you just hit that field, it feels like it’s hard to breathe. There’s nowhere to go. It’s literally only one way in and only one way out, you know?And I think that’s why they still play it there. Like you said, the spreads don’t matter, how good this team or that team is going into it, like, that has literally never mattered if you look at it. Like, it literally never has. So just as far as just it being ‘that game.’ Like, it’s the best of the best from the states, as they played it...I really don’t care, to be honest with you. If they were unranked or ranked, it’s the Red River game honestly. I really don’t care."

Not that the Sooners have ever needed any extra motivation to take down the Texas Longhorns, but the players have fully embraced being viewed as the underdog in this one.

Senior defensive end Trace Ford, a key cog in the Sooners' pass rush rotation, spoke about it and how being the underdog has fueled them this week in practice.

"It’s fun knowing you’re the underdog. The underdog mentality is a great mentality to have and I’m just excited to have and I’m just excited to really play with these dogs that we got in the locker room this weekend."

And why not be ticked off at being such a vast underdog? The Sooners boast their best defense in a decade and are fresh off of a 10-win season where they beat the Longhorns.

Oklahoma has won five of the last six, seven of the last nine, and 11 of the last 15 editions of the Red River Rivalry.

As everyone says though, none of it matters. Every edition of this game has its own unique story. Get ready for what should be another terrific game to be added to the annals of this rivalry.