Texas football will make its way to the Cotton Bowl this weekend for its 120th matchup with Oklahoma. Coming in with the same undefeated record it held last season, Texas knows that this will be no ordinary game.
In the past 10 Red River Rivalry games, nine were one-score difference games.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian revealed his admiration for the success of the Oklahoma team this season, most recently conquering Auburn 27-21. However, part of Sarkisian’s notorious formula for success is focusing on self-preparation.
“This is to take nothing away from anybody we’re playing, but I really focus on us,” Sarkisian said. “So much of what we do with our team, the opponents just give us what we need to prepare for, but the way we prepare is really about us. I use the adage, ‘Be enamored with us.’”
Sarkisian has transferred this mentality to his players as well. When watching the numerous top-10 upsets in college football this past week, fifth-year center Jake Majors reflected on what Texas needs to do to find success in this week’s game, even with the stakes of the OU matchup feeling higher than others.
“You (have) to treat every opponent like they’re the same, no matter who it is,” Majors said. “That’s just kind of what I’ve learned from watching those upsets. You got to treat every opponent like they’re the same, like they’re faceless opponents.”
Last year’s rivalry game, the teams went back and forth holding the lead until the Longhorns fell to the Sooners with a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, solidifying a final score of 34-30. This was the only game Texas lost the entire 2023 regular season.
While the loss may still sting for some Texas fans, junior safety Michael Taaffe stated that this Texas squad is completely different and is leaving how they played last year where it belongs: in the past.
“It’s a new season,” Taaffe said. “We got a whole new team. I’m not too focused about what they did last year (or) about what we did last year, but I do remember everything.”
While the team doesn’t reminisce about last year’s experience, the Longhorns struggled with junior quarterback Quinn Ewers throwing two interceptions and failing to score a touchdown on any of its three red zone appearances.
Though the loss was not on Ewers alone, it proved that the Red River Rivalry can come with upsets — in the year prior Texas obliterated Oklahoma 49-0 with Ewers throwing four touchdowns.
In the last two games, Ewers has been sidelined due to injury, but Sarkisian mentioned on Monday that while he is being monitored, Ewers seems ready to play this weekend. Sarkisian has yet to confirm the starting quarterback for the matchup.
Texas will spend the rest of the week preparing physically and mentally for the matchup that will kick off at 2:30 p.m. in Dallas, and for Taaffe, this week will also come with reminiscing about his childhood Texas fandom and how grateful he is to partake in such a notorious rivalry matchup.
“I played backyard football growing up as a seven-year-old,” Taaffe said. “It was, ‘All right, Texas vs. OU. All right, we’re number one, y’all are number two …’ And so I’m living the dream.”
