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Friday, December 13, 2002
Flashback: Oklahoma-Texas 1984
By Will Weiss
BCSfootball.com
The names are different, but the rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma remains as intense as ever. Saturday marks the 95th installment of the Red River shootout between Texas and Oklahoma, and the 72nd consecutive year the game will be contested at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (ABC, 12 p.m. ET).
|  | | Despite a hamstring injury, Spencer Tillman rushed for 115 yards against Texas. |
While the rivalry has failed to raise eyebrows outside of Austin and Norman in recent years, Saturday's game has all the makings of a dandy, with bragging rights not being the only matter of importance. Texas and Oklahoma enter the game ranked 10th and 12th, respectively, the best matchup of ranked teams since the 1984 epic, when they were No. 1 and No. 2. Saturday's winner will instantly become the favorite in the Big XII South with eyes playing for the conference championship in Kansas City on Dec. 2.
But before the Big XII, there was the Big Eight and the Southwestern Conference, where the Sooners and Longhorns reigned mightily. On Oct. 13, 1984, the two teams played one of the most memorable games in their storied rivalry in Dallas.
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UT-OU COMPARISON:
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Texas and Oklahoma have rich football histories, and claim to do it bigger and better than everyone else. With the exception of the all-time series, which Texas leads 55-34-5, Oklahoma has the upper hand in several respects.
National Championships: Texas 3, Oklahoma 6
Heisman Trophy winners: Texas 2 (Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams), Oklahoma 3 (Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims)
Size of 2000 football media guide: Texas 538 pages, Oklahoma 364
Texas also boasts a larger panhandle and more trees.
Although Texas's Longhorn (bull) is a cooler mascot than the Sooner (stagecoach), I have more respect for the Sooners and the stagecoach standing up to each challenge this year, than the Longhorns running from Rainbows.
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"Everybody involved in OU-Texas knows it's not just another game," said Oklahoma nose tackle Tony Casillas.
Wind, rain, elements, ridiculously slick AstroTurf, and a crowd of 75, 587 set the stage. Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer had predicted neither team would be able to dominate running the ball, and a hamstring injury to running back Spencer Tillman put Oklahoma's wishbone attack in question.
Neither offense showed potency in the inclement weather. Oklahoma's defense played tough, but No. 1 Texas drew first blood in the first quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Todd Dodge to Bill Boy Bryant, who darted past Oklahoma defensive back Keith Stanberry.
The Longhorns carried a 10-0 lead into the locker room despite gaining just one first down.
Switzer's prognostication of a lack of dominance on the ground proved true on Texas' first possession of the second half when Terry Orr fumbled on his own six, and Stanberry recovered it.
Oklahoma took advantage of the turnover, cutting the lead to 10-7 when halfback Steve Sewell sliced through the middle of Texas' line for the TD.
On Texas' ensuing drive, the weather forced another Longhorns mistake. Terry Steelhammer snapped the ball way over punter John Teltschik's head and out of the end zone for a safety.
Oklahoma went ahead on its next drive when Sewell struck again with a clutch reception on the Texas 12, and followed that up with his second touchdown of the day to make it 15-10.
|  | | Oklahoma's defense stuffed Terry Orr at the goal line on two separate occasions. |
Texas responded midway through the fourth quarter, when a 58-yard run by freshman tailback Kevin Nelson set up the Longhorns first-and-goal from the Sooners' 2-yard line. But the Sooners mounted a goal-line stand to deny Fred Akers' Texas squad the lead.
Oklahoma went three-and-out on the following series, and took an intentional safety when center Kevin Adkins intentionally snapped the ball out of the end zone to keep the Sooners' advantage at 15-12.
On Texas' final drive of the game, the call that wasn't made proved to decide the outcome of the game. Bryant bobbled a pass from Dodge, which Stanberry appeared to have intercepted. Officials on the field, who were split between the SWC and Big Eight, ruled the pass incomplete, saying Stanberry was out of bounds. Television replays clearly showed, however, that Stanberry intercepted the pass, had possession, and was in-bounds.
With new life, Texas drove to the Oklahoma 17 before Jeff Ward kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired to tie the game at 15-15.
Texas was relieved with the tie, but Switzer and many of his players were seething at the decisive call.
"It's the most controversial call I've ever been involved in," said Switzer of the call made by a SWC referee. He later said the officials "actually took the game away from us."
The Big Eight Conference later admitted it erred with the call.
"We regrettably were wrong, and it was an official's error; we feel real bad about it," said Bruce Finlayson, then the Big Eight supervisor of officials.
Incidentally, Texas head coach Fred Akers screamed for a pass interference call on the same play.
The game proved to be a turning point for the two teams. Texas finished 7-4-1, losing its last two regular season games and before getting blown out by Iowa in the Freedom Bowl, while Oklahoma finished 9-2-1, sixth in the country after losing to Washington in the Orange Bowl.
With both teams jockeying for poll position, this Saturday's game could have a similar effect.
Let the rivalry resume.
Will Weiss is the assistant editor of BCSfootball.com.
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