Presented in a unique reversible-book format, this is the ultimate Texas Longhorns fan guide to the passionate and historic rivalry with the Oklahoma Sooners. Full of interesting trivia, hilarious history, and inside scoops, the book relates the fantastic stories of legendary Longhorn coaches and star players, as well as the numerous villains and their even worse fans who have represented the Sooners over the years. Like two books in one, this completely biased account of the rivalry shows there really is no fine line between love and hate; rather, it’s as wide as the Red River itself. This is the defining book on the Texas–Oklahoma rivalry and is a must-read for every true Longhorns fan. Pete Davis has spent more than 20 years in radio as a writer, a producer, a reporter, an anchor, a talk show host, and a sports director. He is the winner of four Associated Press awards, including the 2003 Georgia Associated Press Broadcaster Association Award for Best Sports Program. He lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I Love Texas, I Hate Oklahoma By Pete Davis Triumph Books Copyright © 2012 Pete Davis All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-60078-619-8 Contents I Love Texas, Introduction, 1. We Love Licking The Sooners, 2. We Love Licking Everyone Else, Too, 3. Longhorns We Love, 4. We Love Longhorns Coaches (Well, Most Of Them), 5. We Love Texas Tradition, 6. We Love Longhorns Lore, 7. We Love Austin And All Of Texas, I Hate Oklahoma, Introduction, 1. We Hate Losing To The Sooners, 2. We Love To Hate Oklahoma Players, 3. Oklahoma Oddities (Besides Their Offspring), 4. We Hate Oklahoma Coaches, 5. We Hate the Titles the Sooners Have Won (but Love the Ones They've Blown), 6. We Hate Norman, Everyone Named Norman, And All Oklahoma Fans, About the Author, Sources, Acknowledgments, CHAPTER 1 We Love Licking The Sooners In 1992 a blue-ribbon committee (likely named after the beer they drank at the meeting) decided to celebrate the first century of Longhorns football by picking the top games in the storied history of the Texas-Oklahoma gridiron war. They came up with what they called the best and greatest games of the Red River Rivalry — or, as real men call it, the Red River Shootout. We've added the great games since 1992, as well, of which there have been many. October 11, 1958 Texas 15
Oklahoma 14 According to the aforementioned PBR committee, this was the first great game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Oklahoma was ranked second in the nation at the time, while Texas was just 16th and a 13-point underdog. The Bud Wilkinson– led Sooners had dominated the previous six meetings, as well as nine out of the last 10. But this time, things were different from the start. Halfback Rene Ramirez hit George Blanch with a 10-yard touchdown pass to open the game for Texas. A surprise two-point conversion then brought the score to 8–0, and that score held until the third quarter, when Oklahoma brought it to 8–6. During the fourth quarter, Longhorn Mike Dowdle fumbled and Sooner Jim Davis (not the Jim Davis who draws the comic strip Garfield ) grabbed it and ran 24 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, bringing the score to 14–8, OU. Things looked bleak for Texas, which hadn't had a first down in the second half, when it got the ball on its own 26 with just 6:50 left to play. Quarterback Vince Matthews, who had replaced Bobby Lackey, drove the Longhorns down to the 7-yard line. At that point, Coach Darrell Royal put Lackey back in the game, who promptly got the ball to Bobby Bryant with a jump pass, and the game was tied. Lackey added the extra point to give the Longhorns a 15–14 lead with three minutes to go, then iced his status as the hero of the game by intercepting an OU pass to seal the victory. The win sparked a state-wide celebration so fierce that the plane carrying the team back to Austin had to circle the landing field for 15 minutes as police pushed the revelers back to safety. Charles Lindbergh, eat your heart out. October 12, 1963 Texas 28
Oklahoma 7 This second momentous clash occurred five years later. This time UT was ranked No. 2 and OU No. 1. Running back Tommy Ford led Texas to a 14–0 halftime lead, and they never looked back, easily taking a 28–7 win on their way to their first ever national title while preventing Oklahoma from winning their fourth. Coach Royal was named UPI Coach of the Week and Scott Appleton was named AP Lineman of the Week for his 18 tackles. It was also a coming-out party for sophomore linebacker Tommy Nobis, who would later become the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft and a legendary player for the Atlanta Falcons. Asked about 5'9" tailback Ford, Royal was quoted in Sports Illustrated magazine as saying, "If he didn't ram in there so hard, he might be six feet tall." So maybe not everything is big in Texas. But it's still excellent. October 12, 1968 Texas 26
Oklahoma 20 A five-year interval passed before the next truly memorable Red River Shoot
Oklahoma 14 According to the aforementioned PBR committee, this was the first great game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Oklahoma was ranked second in the nation at the time, while Texas was just 16th and a 13-point underdog. The Bud Wilkinson– led Sooners had dominated the previous six meetings, as well as nine out of the last 10. But this time, things were different from the start. Halfback Rene Ramirez hit George Blanch with a 10-yard touchdown pass to open the game for Texas. A surprise two-point conversion then brought the score to 8–0, and that score held until the third quarter, when Oklahoma brought it to 8–6. During the fourth quarter, Longhorn Mike Dowdle fumbled and Sooner Jim Davis (not the Jim Davis who draws the comic strip Garfield ) grabbed it and ran 24 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, bringing the score to 14–8, OU. Things looked bleak for Texas, which hadn't had a first down in the second half, when it got the ball on its own 26 with just 6:50 left to play. Quarterback Vince Matthews, who had replaced Bobby Lackey, drove the Longhorns down to the 7-yard line. At that point, Coach Darrell Royal put Lackey back in the game, who promptly got the ball to Bobby Bryant with a jump pass, and the game was tied. Lackey added the extra point to give the Longhorns a 15–14 lead with three minutes to go, then iced his status as the hero of the game by intercepting an OU pass to seal the victory. The win sparked a state-wide celebration so fierce that the plane carrying the team back to Austin had to circle the landing field for 15 minutes as police pushed the revelers back to safety. Charles Lindbergh, eat your heart out. October 12, 1963 Texas 28
Oklahoma 7 This second momentous clash occurred five years later. This time UT was ranked No. 2 and OU No. 1. Running back Tommy Ford led Texas to a 14–0 halftime lead, and they never looked back, easily taking a 28–7 win on their way to their first ever national title while preventing Oklahoma from winning their fourth. Coach Royal was named UPI Coach of the Week and Scott Appleton was named AP Lineman of the Week for his 18 tackles. It was also a coming-out party for sophomore linebacker Tommy Nobis, who would later become the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft and a legendary player for the Atlanta Falcons. Asked about 5'9" tailback Ford, Royal was quoted in Sports Illustrated magazine as saying, "If he didn't ram in there so hard, he might be six feet tall." So maybe not everything is big in Texas. But it's still excellent. October 12, 1968 Texas 26
Oklahoma 20 A five-year interval passed before the next truly memorable Red River Shoot