Sorry, SEC fans: Texas-Oklahoma Red River Showdown automatically assumes top spot as league’s best rivalry

This may be Texas and Oklahoma’s first year in the SEC. But the Red River rivalry enters the room and should claim the title of No. 1 rivalry game this league can offer.

Go ahead, Alabama fans, throw your houndstooth hat in anger. Go roll Toomer's Corner in disgust, Auburn folks. The Iron Bowl isn’t played on neutral territory, much less any place like the State Fair of Texas.

The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party has a cool nickname, and it’s quite a scene every year in Jacksonville. Florida and Georgia fans split the tickets — only to play in a drab NFL stadium with little to no historical significance.

Sorry, folks, nothing beats Texas-OU, known as the Red River Shootout or Showdown depending on political correctness or a sponsor’s preference. Heck, we even argue about the name itself. If you’re from the Lone Star State, it’s Texas-OU. If you’re from north of the Red River, it’s OU-Texas.

Whether it’s Horns up or Horns Down, Saturday marks the 120th installment of a rivalry defined by star players, big-name coaches and wild, memorable moments. All of this happens in the bubbling cauldron that is the historic Cotton Bowl.

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“Nah, there’s nothing like it,” said Texas linebacker David Gbenda, who (unfairly) took sole blame for last year’s UT loss. “You see a wave of orange and crimson. You see one side over here singing the (Texas Fight) song. You see another side throwing the Horns Down and booing. It’s just crazy. Gets you fired up from as soon as you’re rolling in on the bus.”

Related: Red River rivalry: How to watch, stream, and listen to Texas vs. Oklahoma Week 7 college football game

Texas, OU coaches should take in full experience

This is the first season since 1984 that Texas (5-0, 1-0 SEC) enters the game ranked No. 1. Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1) is 18th but dangerous as always.

You need a ticket to get into the Cotton Bowl, and you’ll need “tickets” to play Midway games, buy beers and the State Fair’s most famous food Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs. Don’t pass on the fried Oreos, fried butter sticks, fried M&M’s. Dang near everything is fried. Nothing beats food on a stick. Or a turkey leg.

“I have not enjoyed, I think you said, a corny dog,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said this week. “I have not really had a chance to partake in the State Fair.”

OU coach Brent Venables also acted like he’d never heard of corny dogs. Oh, they’re missing out. Manna from heaven, digestion from hell.

That’s understandable. Neither coach grew up in Texas or Oklahoma. Sarkisian was a California kid; Venables grew up in Kansas. They wouldn’t understand the family warfare and courtroom drama that’s gone on in recent years.

A crowd where 80-year-olds flip the bird

They probably don’t understand why Texas safety Michael Taaffe snuck into the stadium and got down on the field prior to the 2018 game.

They wouldn’t understand why former Texas coach Tom Herman once said “an 80-year-old woman and an 8-year-old kid” were both flipping him off on the bus ride into the stadium.

“The old double bird,” Herman said at the time. “It crosses a lot of different generations.”

Venables probably wouldn’t wear a “Beat Texas” trucker hat on the sideline like OU legend Barry Switzer did. Venables also probably wouldn’t spy on Texas’ practices, either. “The King” still blames his predecessor, Chuck Fairbanks, for that transgression.

"My coaches didn't spy. When they spied, they were Chuck's coaches,” Switzer told ESPN recently. “Chuck left. I inherited them f---ers.”

This is Texas-OU, where petty makes perfection.

Many Texas and OU fans have dog-cussed the other side plenty of times sitting in that stadium, whether it’s for the once-traditional 11 a.m. kickoff or for what transpired thereafter. UT’s Peter Gardere went 4-0 against the Sooners as a starting quarterback. OU’s Bob Stoops won five straight against UT’s Mack Brown. Ask anyone on either side who is “Superman,” and you’ll get the answer — OU’s Roy Williams.

Texas leads the all-time series 63-51-5. But it hasn’t gone all that well recently. The Horns have won just four times since 2009.

Horns enter 2024 as 14-point favorites

This year has all the makings of a burnt orange blowout. Three-year starter Quinn Ewers is making his return from an abdominal strain. He was a Heisman front-runner before the injury against UTSA in week three.

Ewers has a plethora of receivers to choose from, including speedster Isaiah Bond and Matthew Golden. He’s throwing behind an offensive line in the running for the best unit in America.

Oklahoma is starting a true freshman quarterback for the first time in school history . Michael Hawkins Jr. is no wallflower, though. But does he have a supporting cast? Injuries have decimated the Sooners’ receiving corps, and their best of who’s left is likely out, too.

OU will have to do with defense this time around. That’s Venables’ brand. He was 8-5 in this game as the team’s defensive coordinator under Stoops.

“Our players watch the tape,” Venables said. “It doesn’t take much to get these guys bought in to what’s in front of them. Our guys are really excited about that challenge.”

The best aspect about moving to the SEC is the league controls the start time. Texas-OU is finally back at a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. ABC is sending it’s top broadcast team in Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe.

Big Tex is ready. The State Fair will be packed. The Horns and Sooners will be locked and loaded.

“It’s just always a good time and a good vibe, a good energy, especially around that time of day,” Gbenda said.