Will disgruntled OU football fans air their grievances during Red River Rivalry?

Booing is as much a part of the Red River Rivalry as Big Tex and corny dogs. 

Texas players take the field for warmups?

OU fans boo.

Sooners run out of the tunnel?

Longhorn fans boo.

The other school’s band plays? The player intros start? The hype video rolls? 

Boo! BOO! BOO!!!

OU-Texas has more boos than a kid’s Halloween party.

More: What's gone right, wrong for OU football through four games of 2026 season?

But on Saturday afternoon when the Sooners and Longhorns renew their rivalry, there will be an interesting booing subplot — how much do OU fans boo their own offense?

It’s safe to assume that Ben Arbuckle’s bunch will struggle. The Sooners have one of the worst offenses in major-college football, ranking 123rd in total offense and living in the same neighborhood as Sacramento State, Akron and UAB. (All of those offenses entered this past weekend ranked higher than OU, by the way.) 

The Longhorns, on the other hand, have one of the nation’s best defenses, ranking 20th in total defense.

Their opponents have managed only four offensive touchdowns.

If OU struggled offensively against New Mexico …

That New Mexico game, of course, was the last time OU played at home, in front of a stadium packed with crimson-loving fans. But they didn’t love what they saw from the offense, and most of them weren’t shy about voicing their disapproval.

On the second play of the game, a John Mateer run to the right netted only 1 yard. It followed a Lloyd Avant run up the middle that gained a similarly measly yard.

There were boos. Not a ton. But enough to hear.

On the second play of the game!

Then, when Mateer threw an interception on the very next play, the boos returned, and this time, they were loud. Powerful. Emphatic.

And there were a lot more where that came from. Sooner fans only got more frustrated and more vocal as that game went on. I’m sure not every fan in Norman booed, but it sure sounded like it.

More: John Mateer, Ben Arbuckle are OU football's only shot to beat Texas | Mussatto

That, of course, was before Mateer had one of the most disastrous performances imaginable at Georgia. During a 14-snap span, the Sooner signal caller turned over the ball three times. Two fumbles. One interception.

Though the first of those fumbles might deserve its own designation.

Sooner fans know the play I’m talking about. But in case it hasn’t become the thing that haunts your nightmares, Mateer was looking to throw into the end zone, though from the Georgia 2-yard line I can’t for the life of me figure out why OU wasn’t running the ball. 

Actually, scratch that. I’ve seen these Sooners try to block and run. Passing probably was the best option.

But before Mateer could release the ball, it flipped inexplicably and hauntingly out of his hand. The Bulldogs scooped it up and ran it back for a touchdown. It might not have been a 14-point swing — an OU touchdown wasn’t assured — but it was at least a 10-point one.

Can you imagine the boos if that had happened in Norman?

Can you imagine if something like that happens in the Cotton Bowl?

I absolutely can see Mateer making a mistake that is cataclysmic — being turnover-prone isn’t a phase but rather who he is — but in this rivalry game, the set-up is so unique. Fans are split 50-50. Just as many Longhorns as Sooners. Just as much crimson as orange.

Will OU fans boo their own with their Texas brethren there?

I tend to think so, whether it’s Mateer making a mistake or the run game struggling or the offense having a bunch of three-and-outs. But it’s not something that happens often in this rivalry. Even five years ago when Spencer Rattler dealt with pre-Red River boos and chants from fans wanting to replace him with Caleb Williams, there weren’t a bunch of obvious boos in the Cotton Bowl before Rattler was replaced by Williams and the Sooners engineered the biggest comeback in the rivalry’s history.

Maybe it’s a case where the cheering from the Horns drowned out any booing from the Sooners.

Maybe that would happen Saturday.

But the way this OU offense is performing, it seems likely that Sooner fans will be booing more than Bevo.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Will disgruntled OU football fans air their grievances during Red River Rivalry?