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Oklahoma football: Sooners are not overlooking Longhorns in Red River rivalry game

By The Sports Xchange
The Oklahoma Sooners and coach Bob Stoops take on the Texas Longhorns on Saturday in the Red River shootout. File photo AJ Sisco/UPI
The Oklahoma Sooners and coach Bob Stoops take on the Texas Longhorns on Saturday in the Red River shootout. File photo AJ Sisco/UPI | License Photo

Oklahoma hadn't even left the locker room after its 44-24 win over West Virginia when some of the Sooners coaches brought up what happened two years ago.

In 2013, Oklahoma entered its annual meeting with Texas undefeated and two weeks removed from a road win over a Notre Dame team that had played for the national title the year before.

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The Longhorns came into that year's game 3-2 but on wobbly ground, having been blasted in two losses and narrowly escaping Iowa State the week before.

But the Longhorns jumped out quickly and upset the Sooners 36-20 in Mack Brown's last Red River Showdown.

That games has been on the minds of Oklahoma players entering this week, as Oklahoma stands 4-0 overall, 1-0 in Big 12 play, while Texas is 1-4 and 0-2.

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"We sort of walked in feeling like, 'All right, we're gonna show up, play the game and we're gonna have fun at the fair,'" center Ty Darlington said. "I'm not saying that everyone had that attitude, but we definitely didn't come in with the edge we needed and we got beat. We got physically beat. They really kicked us around that year.

"Now, we're in a similar situation two years later, and I can assure you they won't be overlooked in any way."

The Sooners -- at least outwardly -- expect Texas to play as if its season is on the line.

"This could boost their season beating us and they could roll on and maybe win out the rest of the Big 12," Sooners cornerback Zack Sanchez said.

"It's definitely not a Texas team that we're taking 1-4. We're taking them as a 5-0 Texas team and they're ready to come in and beat us as if we were 1-4. That's just an attitude that this team has that we're not going to take them lightly at all."

NOTES, QUOTES

PLAYERS TO WATCH

--QB Baker Mayfield grew up in the Austin, Texas, area and although he was a Sooners fan, he was open to the possibility to walking on at Texas before eventually landing at Texas Tech and then Oklahoma. He's been a fine fit in OU's new offense, working himself to the fringes of various Heisman lists.

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--CB Jordan Thomas was one of Oklahoma's players of the week last week against West Virginia, a game after being suspended for a violation of team rules. Thomas had two interceptions.

--LB Dominique Alexander has become a fixture on the inside for the Sooners, but two years ago he was thrust into the starting lineup against Texas after an injury and the Longhorns attacked him. Alexander finished with a game-high 19 tackles, but he isn't likely to be tested as much Saturday.

--WR Sterling Shepard has been a strong contributor for Oklahoma in each of the last three games vs. Texas, but he said early in the week that he was hoping for a signature moment in the rivalry. Shepard is the Sooners' leading receiver.

--RB Samaje Perine became the sixth Sooner under Bob Stoops to rush for 2,000 yards in a career, reaching the mark faster than any of the other players under Stoops. Perine is averaging 6.1 yards per carry in his year-plus with Oklahoma.

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