SEEING RED: Oklahoma Sends Texas Sailing

There is a body of water that rises in the Southwest. This water will flow over 2,000 miles before dumping into the Mississippi. This water is the Red River and it separates two state that share one of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports.

On Saturday, Texas and Oklahoma met for the 102nd time in what is known as the Red River rivalry and the game was everything a rivalry game should be.

In a game with a little bit of everything from big time defensive plays, lengthy and efficient offensive drives and two young quarterbacks matching up for the first time, it was only fitting that this one came down to the wire.

Of course it could have been bette. Only a week and a half ago, talk was round those parts that both the Longhorns and Sooners could have been facing off with Title aspirations on the line. Two upsets later and the rivalry was all about survival in the Big 12 South. But in the Red River Rivalry, it's still a HUGE game.
True frosh quarterback Sam Bradford bounced back nicely after a misstep against Colorado, tossing a 1 yard score to Jermaine Gresham late in the 1st quarter. And just when it seemed as if Texas might be gaining momentum after going ahead a score 14-7 in the second, Bradford put together a nice 66 yard drive culminated by another TD pass to Gresham. It may have been easy to think that Bradford was a grizzled vet instead of a freshman playing in his first rivalry game. But then again, if you head into the Red River rivalry leading the nation in passing - you ain't a normal freshman.

But Bradford had help. DeMarco Murray filled in for RB Allen Patrick after the third and his 64 yard TD run was reminicent of a former Sooner in the stands, now current Minnesota Viking who shall remain nameless.

On the other sideline, QB Colt McCoy still showed signs of his concussion last week, and while he completed 19-26 passes for 324 yards, he didn't throw for a score and his pass intended for Jamaal Charles went threw the halfbacks hands and into the hands of a Sooner for an INT. The Sooners then proceded to drive 94 yards to score the winning touchdown. Charles also had a crucial fumble on the Oklahoma 5.

In a season as wacky as this one, Oklahoma can still set their sights on New Orleans. Meanwhile Texas is teetering on the edge of dropping out of the top 25 for the first time in 114 weeks. And as fans clad in burnt Orange filed out of the Cotton Bowl and headed south, fans in Crimson and Cream watched as a kid fresh out of high school basked in the moment.

—C. Nierman