Why No. 1 Texas isn’t overlooking unranked Oklahoma

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AUSTIN — In arguably the best rivalry game in college football, records, stats, and everything else don’t matter when the Cotton Bowl is split in half with partisans of the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners.

For the No. 1-ranked Longhorns going against a reeling Sooners program sitting at 2-2, that creates a difficult dynamic — Texas is currently favored by more than a touchdown by FanDuel with expectations increased by fact that Oklahoma hasn’t even reached the end zone in Dallas in three of the last four years.

With the jobs of offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh on the line with eight conference games remaining, the Sooners are a desperate team, and that makes them dangerous.

It’s a reality that Sarkisian understands.

“I can promise you nobody’s overlooking anybody in this game. Our guys watched Saturday. They know what it’s about. The guys who have been part of this game know what it’s about,” Sarkisian said.

For returning Texas players, the emotions on the opposite sideline may seem familiar on Saturday — after all, the Longhorns were in a similar position a year ago when a lofty preseason ranking gave way to a 2-2 record and a fall out of the top 25 after losses to the Buckeyes and the Gators.

“We were in the same situation a year ago. We were just coming off of losing to Florida. We were a two-loss team. We were a desperate football team, and found a way to win and played a really good second half, so we know what it is,” Sarkisian said.

In last year’s 23-6 win over No. 6 Oklahoma, Texas used a blueprint that Venables and his staff may try to replicate.

The Sooners enter the game with the No. 6 defense in ESPN’s SP+ rankings looking to stifle a Longhorns attack that has lacked both consistency and explosiveness through four games.

“They’re an excellent defensive football team,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve got draft picks all over on the defense.”

Last year, Texas held Oklahoma to 258 total yards, making Arbuckle’s attack one-dimensional by complete shutting down the running game — the Sooners only managed 48 rushing yards on 30 attempts, an average of 1.6 yards per attempt.

Led by a talented defensive front, OU has only allowed five runs of 10-plus yards this season while averaging seven tackles for loss per game, tied for 22nd nationally. In the last five Red River Rivalry games, the winner of the rushing battle has prevailed.

The Horns also won the turnover battle 3-0 thanks to three interceptions thrown by Sooners quarterback John Mateer, who frequently put the ball at risk with six turnover-worthy throws playing with a surgically-repaired thumb on his throwing hand. Sarkisian also helped Texas with its ball security by calling a more conservative game plan — quarterback Arch Manning’s average depth of target decreased from 20.2 yards in the loss to Florida to just 3.2 yards in the win over Oklahoma, producing an efficient performance that kept drives alive and contributed to the Sooners notching only one sack.

With Mateer committing six turnovers through four games and having an average depth of target of 8.6 yards this season, Arbuckle could mimic Sarkisian’s game plan last year in an effort to help his struggling quarterback regain some confidence and operate under less pressure after Michigan and Georgia combined for six sacks.

On special teams, Texas received a game-changing play from punt returner Ryan Niblett, who broke open a 13-6 game with a 75-yard touchdown five minutes into the third quarter.

For the Sooners, Isaiah Sategna has already returned a punt for a touchdown this season, an 88-yard effort against the Miners in the season opener, a phase in which the Longhorns proved vulnerable two weeks ago in giving up a punt return touchdown to the Volunteers. Venables is 15-2 when his team records a non-offensive touchdown, something the OU has achieved in 30 percent of his games as the head coach.

“One thing I can be assured of — we’re going to get their best shot, and so I think it’s important for us that we focus on what we need to do so that we can play our best football,” Sarkisian said.

Anything less and the 2026 edition of the Red River Rivalry could look too much like last year’s game.

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