Published: October 11, 2008 12:35 am         

UT game still key to OU’s title hopes

Some odds and ends about OU-Texas.



Is the loser of the game automatically out of the Big 12 South race?

Logic says yes.

The loser would need the winner to lose at least twice in order to get to the Big 12 Championship game.

However, twice the loser has gone on to play for the Big 12 title.

In 2001, OU beat the Longhorns 14-3, but UT won the South after the Sooners lost to Nebraska and Oklahoma State.

In 2006, the Longhorns beat the Sooners 28-10, but OU won the South after Texas lost to Kansas State and Texas A&M.

Given the parity in the Big 12 this season, anything could happen.



Has OU ever lost to Texas and still won the national championship?

No.

A win over Texas usually is the first hurdle an OU team has to clear to the national championship.

OU’s national championship teams have had close calls with Texas — 14-13 in 1950, 16-13 in 1974, 24-17 in 1975, and 14-7 in 1985.

Three of OU’s national championship teams dominated their arch-rivals, 20-0 in 1955, 45-0 in 1956 and 63-14 in 2000.



Does the winner have a recruiting advantage?

It certainly doesn’t hurt the winner, but with commitments coming earlier and earlier, it might not have the impact it once did.

I remember hearing in the interview room after the Longhorns’ 28-10 victory over the Sooners in 2006, Texas would be in control of the series.

That obviously wasn’t true since OU won the next year.

Texas will have an advantage in some head-to-head recruiting battles with OU being the in-state school.

How has OU done against Texas as the No. 1-ranked team.

OU has won six of the seven times it came into the game ranked No. 1 — 14-7 in 1954, 45-0 in 1956, 21-7 in 1957, 31-10 in 1978, 44-9 in 1987 and 65-13 in 2003.

The Longhorns, ranked No. 2, beat the No. 1-ranked Sooners 28-7 in 1963.



Why is Dallas the place to play this game instead of home-and-home?

Tradition.

This will be the 80th time the two teams have played in Dallas, a good in-between point between Norman and Austin, Texas, the home of the Longhorns.

The game has a special “sex appeal’’ because the stadium is one-half OU and one-half UT and is at the Texas State Fair, adding to the atmosphere.

You don’t call it the OU-Texas weekend for nothing.

As Barry Switzer once said, the game wouldn’t have the same impact if it was being played at Norman and Austin.



How important is the kicking game?

History says very.

Tony Di Rienzo’s field goal gave OU a 16-13 win in 1974.

However, the kicking game has hurt the Sooners as well.

A botched snap on an extra point cost the Sooners in a 6-6 tie in 1976. R.D. Lashar missed a field goal in the final seconds in a 14-13 loss in 1990 and Jeremy Alexander missed a field goal in a 24-24 tie in 1995.

Mike Vachon’s four field goals were the difference in a 18-9 OU win in 1966.

Russell Erxleben kicked field goals of 64 and 58 yards in a 13-6 win over the Sooners in 1977. Happy Feller’s foot gave UT a 26-20 win over OU in 1968 prompting a Daily Oklahoman headline proclaiming “Texas are all Happy Fellers.’’

Which the winner will be today.