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Unbiased OU/TX Red River Shootout and related history
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:28 pm
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:28 pm
1 of 4 (created in 2024 so recent data will be missikg)
This guy does a great summary. I’ll copy his tweets here:
Mark Schipper - 5th Down CFB
@5thDownCFB
RED RIVER SHOOTOUT
• First meeting 1900 — Annually since 1929
• Cotton Bowl Stadium since 1930
Texas leads overall series: 63-51-5
Since WWII Oklahoma leads: 38-36-3
Since 2000 OU leads: 17-8
Conference Titles
• OU: 50
• UT: 33
National Titles:
• OU: 7
• UT: 4
1900-1909
Texas: 9-2-1
1894: Texas begins FB program
1895: Sooners begin FB program 12 yrs before Oklahoma is a state
Schools play twice in 1901 & 1903 due to scarcity of opponents in Southwest U.S.
Game rotates between Austin, Norman, & Oklahoma City
1905-1926:
OU hires the great Bennie Owen, a Fielding Yost disciple, to run the FB program.
Owen gets an on-campus stadium built & instills the Sooners' winning tradition.
Owen retires w/a 122-54-16 record, two SWC titles, one Big 8 title, & an 8-8 record vs UT.
1910-1919
Oklahoma: 6-3
Games played at Austin, Dallas, & Houston
1918: Schools DNP due to manpower shortages caused by WWI. Many athletes played high-level service FB as a training for war
• 1915-1995: Texas competes in Southwest Conference
• 1915-1919: OU also plays in SWC
1911-1915
UT hires its own Fielding Yost disciple, 25-yr-old David Allerdice
Allerdice becomes UT's first serious HC, leading UT to an undefeated season in 1914 & into the SWC in 1915, but resigns afterward despite a 33-7 record, citing "the super critical nature of Texas fans"
1920-1929
Texas: 4-0
1924: UT opens Memorial Stadium
OU struggles from '26-'46 following Owens' retirement. Sooners play in one bowl, a loss to Tennessee.
1929: Rivalry moves permanently to the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas, approximately equidistant between both schools.
This guy does a great summary. I’ll copy his tweets here:
Mark Schipper - 5th Down CFB
@5thDownCFB
RED RIVER SHOOTOUT
• First meeting 1900 — Annually since 1929
• Cotton Bowl Stadium since 1930
Texas leads overall series: 63-51-5
Since WWII Oklahoma leads: 38-36-3
Since 2000 OU leads: 17-8
Conference Titles
• OU: 50
• UT: 33
National Titles:
• OU: 7
• UT: 4
1900-1909
Texas: 9-2-1
1894: Texas begins FB program
1895: Sooners begin FB program 12 yrs before Oklahoma is a state
Schools play twice in 1901 & 1903 due to scarcity of opponents in Southwest U.S.
Game rotates between Austin, Norman, & Oklahoma City
1905-1926:
OU hires the great Bennie Owen, a Fielding Yost disciple, to run the FB program.
Owen gets an on-campus stadium built & instills the Sooners' winning tradition.
Owen retires w/a 122-54-16 record, two SWC titles, one Big 8 title, & an 8-8 record vs UT.
1910-1919
Oklahoma: 6-3
Games played at Austin, Dallas, & Houston
1918: Schools DNP due to manpower shortages caused by WWI. Many athletes played high-level service FB as a training for war
• 1915-1995: Texas competes in Southwest Conference
• 1915-1919: OU also plays in SWC
1911-1915
UT hires its own Fielding Yost disciple, 25-yr-old David Allerdice
Allerdice becomes UT's first serious HC, leading UT to an undefeated season in 1914 & into the SWC in 1915, but resigns afterward despite a 33-7 record, citing "the super critical nature of Texas fans"
1920-1929
Texas: 4-0
1924: UT opens Memorial Stadium
OU struggles from '26-'46 following Owens' retirement. Sooners play in one bowl, a loss to Tennessee.
1929: Rivalry moves permanently to the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas, approximately equidistant between both schools.
This post was edited on 10/6/25 at 7:36 pm
7
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:28 pm to OU Guy
2 of 4
1929-1946: UT goes on a 15-3-1 series tear
'34-'36 UT coached by Jack Chevigny, a great player under Notre Dame's Knute Rockne, & famous for shouting "That's one for the Gipper!" during the legendary ND/Army game of 1928.
Chevigny was killed 2/19/45 at the Battle of Iwo Jima
1930-1939
Texas: 6-3-1
Schools begin playing in Fair Park Stadium (renamed Cotton Bowl, 1936)
1937-1946: UT hires established winner, Dana X. Bible, away from Nebraska to run the FB program in Austin. (Bible had also coached at Texas A&M: 1917-1928).
When certain constituents complained that Bible's salary was higher than UT faculty, the state legislature responded by raising the salary of the highest paid professor.
Bible established UT as a FB power, winning 3 SWC crowns & going 2-0-1 in the new Cotton Bowl Classic.
1940-1949
Texas: 8-2
UT dominant as WWII manpower shortages hurt low-population states, just as it had during WWI.
Texas wins 8 straight but loses twice to end decade, foreshadowing the era to come.
Cotton Bowl field stormings & goal-post tear downs common during this period.
1947-1963:
1946: OU hired War FB coach Jim Tatum to restore its faltering program. The high-energy Tatum brought along a young assistant named Bud Wilkinson as his 2nd in command.
1947: 31-year-old Wilkinson, a 3x national champion under Bernie Bierman at Minnesota in the 30s, an accomplished combat Naval officer & service FB coach during WWII, takes over at OU after just one year when Tatum leaves to coach Maryland.
Wilkinson would win 6 straight Red River games & go 9-2 overall between 1947 & 1957 as he took OU on one of the sport's most epic runs
1950-1959
Oklahoma: 7-3
1949-1950: OU goes undefeated in '49 but doesn't win national title. Sooners return in '50 & win 1st national title.
1952: Billy Vessels wins OU's 1st Heisman Trophy
1953-57: OU wins 47-straight, all-time NCAA record, & B2B national titles in '55-'56
1957-1976:
UT hires Darrell Royal to run the FB program
Royal, a native Oklahoman, was a 3-yr starter & starting QB on Wilkinson's undefeated 1949 team.
Royal & Wilkinson were personally close, w/Wilkinson bringing Royal along to various coaching clinics as his demonstration man to teach his lethal Split-T offense.
Wilkinson's high integrity, rather than his sound judgement, was on display when he helped Royal land the job at Texas. Wilkinson knew he'd have to compete against his best disciple at the school's biggest rivalry game.
Royal arrived at UT w/the program in shambles, coming off of a 1-9 season and a last place finish in the SWC.
“Texas has to develop a football tradition,” Royal said. “It had one once, but lost it.”
1957: Royal loses his first Red River to Wilkinson and #1 OU, 21-7.
1958: In his 2nd crack, Royal beats Wilkinson & spends the post-game celebration vomiting behind the Cotton Bowl.
OU President George Lynn Cross, who'd known Royal well as player, tracked him down outside.
"It just doesn't feel right beating Mr. Wilkinson," Royal said.
1960-1969
Texas: 9-1
It may not have felt right, but Royal beat Wilkinson five consecutive times to send him into retirement in 1963.
The '63 game featured #1 OU vs #2 UT, just the 7th regular season meeting of top two teams in CFB history.
Texas not only won the game, 28-7, it completed the school's first undefeated season since 1920, & captured the school's first national championship after knocking off Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach and #2 Navy at the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Wilkinson, worn out, & demoralized by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who had become a close personal friend, walked away from CFB w/a record of 145-29-4, 3 national titles, & both a 31 and 47 game winning streak to his name.
Wilkinson's stature as a transcendent teacher & leader of young men has not diminished with time.
1964-65: Royal won two more Red Rivers against Gomer Jones, Wilkinson's replacement, to run UT's winning streak to 8, tying for its longest run in series history.
1964-1968: UT goes into a short recession as Wilkinson's Split-T offense stopped working, a criticism that had been leveled at the Old Master just before he'd retired.
Royal tried the I-Formation w/little success before discovering Emory Bellard, a HS FB coach in Texas, who'd worked out an innovative new offense that he called The Wishbone.
1966: OU hires Jim Mackenzie, one of the top coaching prospects in the country, off of Frank Broyles' staff at Arkansas.
Mackenzie brought w/him a very young defensive coach named Barry Switzer, who'd played for Broyles & helped coach the Razorbacks to the 1964 national title.
1966: Mackenzie led OU to victory in his first Red River game, becoming the first OU coach to accomplish the feat since Bennie Owen in 1905.
The OU fans tore down the uprights in the Cotton Bowl in celebration and cancelled classes on Monday to celebrate the end of the losing streak.
"If anyone had told me we'd outkick Texas I would have said they'd been smoking marijuana," Mackenzie said after the game.
But Mackenzie shockingly died of a heart attack, aged 37, during his first off-season, & the program passed to 33-year-old Chuck Fairbanks. The new head man immediately moved Switzer to the offensive side of the ball, which would set up one of the most ironic sequences in the history of a major rivalry.
1968: UT installs its new Wishbone attack & sets off on 30-2-1 rampage over the ensuing three seasons, including a 30-game winning streak & B2B national championships in 1969 & 1970.
* UT lost the 1970/71 Cotton Bowl to ND, but prior to 1974 the Coaches Poll voted on its national champion prior to the Bowl games (Nebraska was voted AP Poll champ).
1969: While Steve Owens won OU's 2nd Heisman Trophy, the Sooners went right back to losing the Red River game, dropping 4 straight to UT & putting Fairbanks's job in serious peril headed into 1970.
1929-1946: UT goes on a 15-3-1 series tear
'34-'36 UT coached by Jack Chevigny, a great player under Notre Dame's Knute Rockne, & famous for shouting "That's one for the Gipper!" during the legendary ND/Army game of 1928.
Chevigny was killed 2/19/45 at the Battle of Iwo Jima
1930-1939
Texas: 6-3-1
Schools begin playing in Fair Park Stadium (renamed Cotton Bowl, 1936)
1937-1946: UT hires established winner, Dana X. Bible, away from Nebraska to run the FB program in Austin. (Bible had also coached at Texas A&M: 1917-1928).
When certain constituents complained that Bible's salary was higher than UT faculty, the state legislature responded by raising the salary of the highest paid professor.
Bible established UT as a FB power, winning 3 SWC crowns & going 2-0-1 in the new Cotton Bowl Classic.
1940-1949
Texas: 8-2
UT dominant as WWII manpower shortages hurt low-population states, just as it had during WWI.
Texas wins 8 straight but loses twice to end decade, foreshadowing the era to come.
Cotton Bowl field stormings & goal-post tear downs common during this period.
1947-1963:
1946: OU hired War FB coach Jim Tatum to restore its faltering program. The high-energy Tatum brought along a young assistant named Bud Wilkinson as his 2nd in command.
1947: 31-year-old Wilkinson, a 3x national champion under Bernie Bierman at Minnesota in the 30s, an accomplished combat Naval officer & service FB coach during WWII, takes over at OU after just one year when Tatum leaves to coach Maryland.
Wilkinson would win 6 straight Red River games & go 9-2 overall between 1947 & 1957 as he took OU on one of the sport's most epic runs
1950-1959
Oklahoma: 7-3
1949-1950: OU goes undefeated in '49 but doesn't win national title. Sooners return in '50 & win 1st national title.
1952: Billy Vessels wins OU's 1st Heisman Trophy
1953-57: OU wins 47-straight, all-time NCAA record, & B2B national titles in '55-'56
1957-1976:
UT hires Darrell Royal to run the FB program
Royal, a native Oklahoman, was a 3-yr starter & starting QB on Wilkinson's undefeated 1949 team.
Royal & Wilkinson were personally close, w/Wilkinson bringing Royal along to various coaching clinics as his demonstration man to teach his lethal Split-T offense.
Wilkinson's high integrity, rather than his sound judgement, was on display when he helped Royal land the job at Texas. Wilkinson knew he'd have to compete against his best disciple at the school's biggest rivalry game.
Royal arrived at UT w/the program in shambles, coming off of a 1-9 season and a last place finish in the SWC.
“Texas has to develop a football tradition,” Royal said. “It had one once, but lost it.”
1957: Royal loses his first Red River to Wilkinson and #1 OU, 21-7.
1958: In his 2nd crack, Royal beats Wilkinson & spends the post-game celebration vomiting behind the Cotton Bowl.
OU President George Lynn Cross, who'd known Royal well as player, tracked him down outside.
"It just doesn't feel right beating Mr. Wilkinson," Royal said.
1960-1969
Texas: 9-1
It may not have felt right, but Royal beat Wilkinson five consecutive times to send him into retirement in 1963.
The '63 game featured #1 OU vs #2 UT, just the 7th regular season meeting of top two teams in CFB history.
Texas not only won the game, 28-7, it completed the school's first undefeated season since 1920, & captured the school's first national championship after knocking off Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach and #2 Navy at the Cotton Bowl Classic.
Wilkinson, worn out, & demoralized by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who had become a close personal friend, walked away from CFB w/a record of 145-29-4, 3 national titles, & both a 31 and 47 game winning streak to his name.
Wilkinson's stature as a transcendent teacher & leader of young men has not diminished with time.
1964-65: Royal won two more Red Rivers against Gomer Jones, Wilkinson's replacement, to run UT's winning streak to 8, tying for its longest run in series history.
1964-1968: UT goes into a short recession as Wilkinson's Split-T offense stopped working, a criticism that had been leveled at the Old Master just before he'd retired.
Royal tried the I-Formation w/little success before discovering Emory Bellard, a HS FB coach in Texas, who'd worked out an innovative new offense that he called The Wishbone.
1966: OU hires Jim Mackenzie, one of the top coaching prospects in the country, off of Frank Broyles' staff at Arkansas.
Mackenzie brought w/him a very young defensive coach named Barry Switzer, who'd played for Broyles & helped coach the Razorbacks to the 1964 national title.
1966: Mackenzie led OU to victory in his first Red River game, becoming the first OU coach to accomplish the feat since Bennie Owen in 1905.
The OU fans tore down the uprights in the Cotton Bowl in celebration and cancelled classes on Monday to celebrate the end of the losing streak.
"If anyone had told me we'd outkick Texas I would have said they'd been smoking marijuana," Mackenzie said after the game.
But Mackenzie shockingly died of a heart attack, aged 37, during his first off-season, & the program passed to 33-year-old Chuck Fairbanks. The new head man immediately moved Switzer to the offensive side of the ball, which would set up one of the most ironic sequences in the history of a major rivalry.
1968: UT installs its new Wishbone attack & sets off on 30-2-1 rampage over the ensuing three seasons, including a 30-game winning streak & B2B national championships in 1969 & 1970.
* UT lost the 1970/71 Cotton Bowl to ND, but prior to 1974 the Coaches Poll voted on its national champion prior to the Bowl games (Nebraska was voted AP Poll champ).
1969: While Steve Owens won OU's 2nd Heisman Trophy, the Sooners went right back to losing the Red River game, dropping 4 straight to UT & putting Fairbanks's job in serious peril headed into 1970.
This post was edited on 10/6/25 at 7:46 pm
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:28 pm to OU Guy
3 of 4
1970-1979 Oklahoma: 6-3-1
1970: Shockingly, w/OU's coaching staff in trouble, Royal paid back Wilkinson's loyalty to him & ordered Bellard to reveal the technical details of the Wishbone to Switzer, who'd be making contact w/him shortly.
Bellard, following orders, helped Switzer figure out the timing issues & several critical details that had befuddled OU going back to Wilkinson's Split-T, which he'd failed to evolve into a Triple Option. Switzer returned to Norman w/the wisdom in tow.
1970: OU debuted its version of the Wishbone & was promptly hammered, 41-9, at the Cotton Bowl.
1971: Year 2: OU drills UT, 48-27, while running The Bone, as Switzer calls it. Sooners fall one game short of a national title after losing Game of the Century to Nebraska.
1972: OU wins RR, 27-0, & finishes 11-1, #2 for a 2nd straight year.
1972: Darrell Royal accuses OU of spying on his practices. OU denies the allegation.
1973: 33-yr-old Switzer takes over as HC & splatters UT, 52-13, delivering Royal the worst loss of his career.
"It was more one sided than a hanging," wrote Frank Boggs of The Daily Oklahoman
Prior to the 1973 season OU is put on probation, including TV & bowl bans, due to the falsification of HS transcripts belonging to two players from Texas.
Royal stated publicly that he'd not turned OU into the NCAA, but that he wouldn't have had any problem doing it.
1974-1975: OU goes 22-1 & wins B2B national titles under Switzer, the program's 4th and 5th championships, despite the remnants of NCAA & Big 8 penalties hanging over the program.
SI puts OU on its cover: "The Best Team You'll Never See," referring to the TV ban of 74-75.
*1974 Sooners are the last team to win a national title w/out playing in a bowl game
1972-1976: Darrell Royal, who'd provided OU w/the secrets to the Wishbone, accuses Switzer's program of spying on UT & dirty recruiting tactics all over Texas & the Southwest.
Royal offered cash to Switzer & assistant coach Larry Lacewell if they could pass a lie detector test about spying on UT.
"Some coaches would rather listen to guitar pickers than work hard," Switzer said in response, referring to Royal's very public friendship w/the country singer Willie Nelson.
A short time later Royal, believing he was off the record w/a reporter, called OU's coaches and Switzer "Sorry bastards," & said he wouldn't trust a word that came out of their mouths.
When Royal's comments went public prior to the 1976 meeting, the stage was set for the most acrimonious game in Red River history.
Neither coach spoke to each other in the run up to kickoff. When Royal took the field for warmups the OU students chanted "Sorry bastard!"
at the Sooners' legend.
The game itself was brutal, w/massive collisions all over the field. UT's defense stifled OU's heretofore unstoppable rushing attack & took a 6-0 lead into the final minutes.
The Sooners scored a semi-miraculous TD w/moments left to play & were on the verge of stealing a victory when the XP snap was fired over the head of the holder & the game ended in an astonishing 6-6 tie.
Darrell Royal, harkening back to his early years, vomited in the tunnel leaving the field due to the strain & stress of the situation. Royal resigned at the end of the season, stating that he was worn out & not interested in the direction CFB was headed. Competing against Switzer's program, & the rampant cheating in his own SWC, which he'd called out for years, seemed to be foremost on his mind.
Switzer, for his part, later admitted that the spying allegations were true and that Royal was correct to call out OU for the transgressions. But Switzer said it had been done w/out his consent & he wasn't aware of it.
Larry Lacewell, the assistant coach who'd overseen the operation, apologized for it, too.
"We were young and foolish," Lacewell said. "If I had to do it again today, I wouldn't do it, particularly against Coach Royal. I don't think any of us would. Oklahoma-Texas is too great a rivalry to mess with."
Royal retired w/a 184-60-5 record, including 16 bowls, 11 SWC titles & 3 national titles.
Fred Akers, Royal's co-OC for 9 seasons, was hired back from Wyoming to succeed Royal
• 1977: Earl Campbell wins UT's 1st Heisman Trophy
• 1978: Billy Sims wins OU's 3rd Heisman Trophy
1980-1989
Oklahoma: 5-4-1
Akers turns out to be a worthy adversary as UT goes 5-2-1 in his first 8 Red River Shootouts.
1984: #1 UT vs #3 OU
Switzer wears famous BEAT TEXAS hat for the #1 UT vs #3 OU showdown. Future UT head coach Mack Brown served as the Sooners' offensive coordinator. Game ends in 15-15 tie after referees blow call on a clear OU interception in the end zone that would've secured a 15-12 upset win for the Sooners.
1985: OU rebounds, beats UT, & wins the national title, Switzer's 3rd & final championship & the 6th in school history.
1986: Akers is fired after missing a bowl following 9 straight post-season appearances. Akers was 86-31-2 at UT w/three top-5 finishes & a 5-4-1 record against the great Switzer.
OU LB Brian Bosworth, one of the most famous & infamous character of a raucous decade across CFB, attempted to describe the emotion that the Red River Rivalry was capable of producing:
"It's the electricity you feel, the tension. It's the hatred for each school. It's something that for myself personally, when I go down that ramp it's such a gut feeling that my stomach ties up in a knot and I just get all upset. It's a total transformation insider your personality when you go down that ramp."
1988: Barry Switzer resigns after 16 seasons as his program spun wildly out of control. Even in the scandal-marred 1980s the breakdown at OU stood out, w/a gang rape in the football dorm, a shooting, rumors of rampant drug abuse, & the team's starting QB selling crack-cocaine to an undercover FBI agent.
Not even Switzer's championship pedigree, which was amongst the best in CFB history, could save his job.
Switzer resigned w/a 157-29-4 record, 12 Big 8 titles, & 3 national titles. He was 9-5-2 at the Red River. Switzer & Bud Wilkinson's production at OU were almost identical.
Both schools burned through 3 coaches before UT hired Mack Brown in 1998, & OU hired Bob Stoops in 1999.
The arrival of two HOF coaches created the conditions for the rivalry to return to national prominence in the 21st century.
1998: Ricky Williams wins UT's 2nd Heisman Trophy
2000-2009
Oklahoma: 6-4
Decade features 4 Top-5 matchups & 8 ranked matchups
2000: #10 OU-#11 UT marks highest rankings since '84
• OU goes berserk, wins 63-14, largest margin in series history, UT held to -7 yds rushing, an all-time low; OU RB Quentin Griffin had 6 rushing TDs
1970-1979 Oklahoma: 6-3-1
1970: Shockingly, w/OU's coaching staff in trouble, Royal paid back Wilkinson's loyalty to him & ordered Bellard to reveal the technical details of the Wishbone to Switzer, who'd be making contact w/him shortly.
Bellard, following orders, helped Switzer figure out the timing issues & several critical details that had befuddled OU going back to Wilkinson's Split-T, which he'd failed to evolve into a Triple Option. Switzer returned to Norman w/the wisdom in tow.
1970: OU debuted its version of the Wishbone & was promptly hammered, 41-9, at the Cotton Bowl.
1971: Year 2: OU drills UT, 48-27, while running The Bone, as Switzer calls it. Sooners fall one game short of a national title after losing Game of the Century to Nebraska.
1972: OU wins RR, 27-0, & finishes 11-1, #2 for a 2nd straight year.
1972: Darrell Royal accuses OU of spying on his practices. OU denies the allegation.
1973: 33-yr-old Switzer takes over as HC & splatters UT, 52-13, delivering Royal the worst loss of his career.
"It was more one sided than a hanging," wrote Frank Boggs of The Daily Oklahoman
Prior to the 1973 season OU is put on probation, including TV & bowl bans, due to the falsification of HS transcripts belonging to two players from Texas.
Royal stated publicly that he'd not turned OU into the NCAA, but that he wouldn't have had any problem doing it.
1974-1975: OU goes 22-1 & wins B2B national titles under Switzer, the program's 4th and 5th championships, despite the remnants of NCAA & Big 8 penalties hanging over the program.
SI puts OU on its cover: "The Best Team You'll Never See," referring to the TV ban of 74-75.
*1974 Sooners are the last team to win a national title w/out playing in a bowl game
1972-1976: Darrell Royal, who'd provided OU w/the secrets to the Wishbone, accuses Switzer's program of spying on UT & dirty recruiting tactics all over Texas & the Southwest.
Royal offered cash to Switzer & assistant coach Larry Lacewell if they could pass a lie detector test about spying on UT.
"Some coaches would rather listen to guitar pickers than work hard," Switzer said in response, referring to Royal's very public friendship w/the country singer Willie Nelson.
A short time later Royal, believing he was off the record w/a reporter, called OU's coaches and Switzer "Sorry bastards," & said he wouldn't trust a word that came out of their mouths.
When Royal's comments went public prior to the 1976 meeting, the stage was set for the most acrimonious game in Red River history.
Neither coach spoke to each other in the run up to kickoff. When Royal took the field for warmups the OU students chanted "Sorry bastard!"
at the Sooners' legend.
The game itself was brutal, w/massive collisions all over the field. UT's defense stifled OU's heretofore unstoppable rushing attack & took a 6-0 lead into the final minutes.
The Sooners scored a semi-miraculous TD w/moments left to play & were on the verge of stealing a victory when the XP snap was fired over the head of the holder & the game ended in an astonishing 6-6 tie.
Darrell Royal, harkening back to his early years, vomited in the tunnel leaving the field due to the strain & stress of the situation. Royal resigned at the end of the season, stating that he was worn out & not interested in the direction CFB was headed. Competing against Switzer's program, & the rampant cheating in his own SWC, which he'd called out for years, seemed to be foremost on his mind.
Switzer, for his part, later admitted that the spying allegations were true and that Royal was correct to call out OU for the transgressions. But Switzer said it had been done w/out his consent & he wasn't aware of it.
Larry Lacewell, the assistant coach who'd overseen the operation, apologized for it, too.
"We were young and foolish," Lacewell said. "If I had to do it again today, I wouldn't do it, particularly against Coach Royal. I don't think any of us would. Oklahoma-Texas is too great a rivalry to mess with."
Royal retired w/a 184-60-5 record, including 16 bowls, 11 SWC titles & 3 national titles.
Fred Akers, Royal's co-OC for 9 seasons, was hired back from Wyoming to succeed Royal
• 1977: Earl Campbell wins UT's 1st Heisman Trophy
• 1978: Billy Sims wins OU's 3rd Heisman Trophy
1980-1989
Oklahoma: 5-4-1
Akers turns out to be a worthy adversary as UT goes 5-2-1 in his first 8 Red River Shootouts.
1984: #1 UT vs #3 OU
Switzer wears famous BEAT TEXAS hat for the #1 UT vs #3 OU showdown. Future UT head coach Mack Brown served as the Sooners' offensive coordinator. Game ends in 15-15 tie after referees blow call on a clear OU interception in the end zone that would've secured a 15-12 upset win for the Sooners.
1985: OU rebounds, beats UT, & wins the national title, Switzer's 3rd & final championship & the 6th in school history.
1986: Akers is fired after missing a bowl following 9 straight post-season appearances. Akers was 86-31-2 at UT w/three top-5 finishes & a 5-4-1 record against the great Switzer.
OU LB Brian Bosworth, one of the most famous & infamous character of a raucous decade across CFB, attempted to describe the emotion that the Red River Rivalry was capable of producing:
"It's the electricity you feel, the tension. It's the hatred for each school. It's something that for myself personally, when I go down that ramp it's such a gut feeling that my stomach ties up in a knot and I just get all upset. It's a total transformation insider your personality when you go down that ramp."
1988: Barry Switzer resigns after 16 seasons as his program spun wildly out of control. Even in the scandal-marred 1980s the breakdown at OU stood out, w/a gang rape in the football dorm, a shooting, rumors of rampant drug abuse, & the team's starting QB selling crack-cocaine to an undercover FBI agent.
Not even Switzer's championship pedigree, which was amongst the best in CFB history, could save his job.
Switzer resigned w/a 157-29-4 record, 12 Big 8 titles, & 3 national titles. He was 9-5-2 at the Red River. Switzer & Bud Wilkinson's production at OU were almost identical.
Both schools burned through 3 coaches before UT hired Mack Brown in 1998, & OU hired Bob Stoops in 1999.
The arrival of two HOF coaches created the conditions for the rivalry to return to national prominence in the 21st century.
1998: Ricky Williams wins UT's 2nd Heisman Trophy
2000-2009
Oklahoma: 6-4
Decade features 4 Top-5 matchups & 8 ranked matchups
2000: #10 OU-#11 UT marks highest rankings since '84
• OU goes berserk, wins 63-14, largest margin in series history, UT held to -7 yds rushing, an all-time low; OU RB Quentin Griffin had 6 rushing TDs
This post was edited on 10/6/25 at 7:54 pm
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:28 pm to OU Guy
4 of 4
2000: OU wins school's 7th national title
2001: #3 OU vs #5 UT: Roy Williams' SUPERMAN sack-fumble late 4th Qtr leads directly to Teddy Lehman TD in 14-3 OU win
2003: OU breaks its own 2-year-old largest margin w/65-13 blowout of UT
2003: Jason White wins OU's 4th Heisman
2005: #2 UT clobbers OU, 45-12, tying their largest margin of victory (1941)
• Texas wins school's 4th national championship, first since 1970
2008: #5 UT upsets #1 OU, 45-35, in series highest scoring game to that point
2008: Sam Bradford wins OU's 5th Heisman Trophy
2009: #3 UT sneaks past OU in Red River & goes 13-0 before losing to Nick Saban & Alabama in the BCS National Championship game, 37-21, after starting QB Colt McCoy is injured early in the game.
2010-2019
Oklahoma: 7-3
UT suffers agonizing decade, w/4 losing records & 3 coaching changes
OU makes College Football Playoff 4x but never advances beyond semi-final round.
2011-2012: OU beats Texas 118-34. The 63 pts in 2012 marks 3rd time Stoops has scored 60 against UT.
2013: UT legend Earl Campbell says Mack Brown is too old to coach. UT players rally behind Mack & promptly upset #12 OU, 34-20.
• Brown retires at season's end w/158-48 record, 2 Big XII titles, 2005 national title, & 2009 national title game appearance.
2015: Weak UT squad upsets OU, 24-17
• OU rallies to CFP but loses
2016: Stoops retires & transfers program to Lincoln Riley, his hand-picked successor
• Stoops' record of 191-48, w/10 Big XII titles & 2000 national title, puts him in OU pantheon alongside Wilkinson & Switzer
2017: Baker Mayfield wins OU's 6th Heisman Trophy
• OU loses in CFP in Riley's 1st season
2018: "Dicker the Kicker" boots #19 UT past #7 OU in decade's 3rd upset.
• OU beats UT in B12 Champ game rematch (first time playing twice since 1903/4)
2018 (cont.)
• Kyler Murray wins OU's 7th Heisman
• OU loses in CFP semi-final for 2nd straight year
2019: #6 OU beats #11 UT, 34-27
• OU loses in CFP semi-final for 3rd straight year
2020-2022
Oklahoma leads: 3-1
2020: Unranked OU beats #22 UT, 55-42, in 4 OTs
• UT fires HC Tom Herman
• UT hires Steve Sarkisian, a former Wonder Boy offensive assistant under Pete Carroll & Nick Saban, w/a modest HC'ing record behind him, to take over the FB program.
2021: 5th Down CFB National Odyssey in Dallas for one of the wildest games in Red River history
• OU overcomes 21-pt deficit w/25 pt 4th qtr to win, 55-48, in series' highest scoring game
• Throwback to 40s/50s as OU students storm field
• Lincoln Riley shocks CFB world by leaving OU & the job Bob Stoops secured him, to take same job at USC
2022: UT wallops OU 49-0 in HC Brent Venables 1st season. It is UT's largest margin of victory in Red River game
2023: #12 OU upsets #3 UT, 34-30
• UT rallies to CFP but loses in semi-final to Washington
2024:
#1 Texas is set to meet #18 Oklahoma in the series' 120th edition
//end
2000: OU wins school's 7th national title
2001: #3 OU vs #5 UT: Roy Williams' SUPERMAN sack-fumble late 4th Qtr leads directly to Teddy Lehman TD in 14-3 OU win
2003: OU breaks its own 2-year-old largest margin w/65-13 blowout of UT
2003: Jason White wins OU's 4th Heisman
2005: #2 UT clobbers OU, 45-12, tying their largest margin of victory (1941)
• Texas wins school's 4th national championship, first since 1970
2008: #5 UT upsets #1 OU, 45-35, in series highest scoring game to that point
2008: Sam Bradford wins OU's 5th Heisman Trophy
2009: #3 UT sneaks past OU in Red River & goes 13-0 before losing to Nick Saban & Alabama in the BCS National Championship game, 37-21, after starting QB Colt McCoy is injured early in the game.
2010-2019
Oklahoma: 7-3
UT suffers agonizing decade, w/4 losing records & 3 coaching changes
OU makes College Football Playoff 4x but never advances beyond semi-final round.
2011-2012: OU beats Texas 118-34. The 63 pts in 2012 marks 3rd time Stoops has scored 60 against UT.
2013: UT legend Earl Campbell says Mack Brown is too old to coach. UT players rally behind Mack & promptly upset #12 OU, 34-20.
• Brown retires at season's end w/158-48 record, 2 Big XII titles, 2005 national title, & 2009 national title game appearance.
2015: Weak UT squad upsets OU, 24-17
• OU rallies to CFP but loses
2016: Stoops retires & transfers program to Lincoln Riley, his hand-picked successor
• Stoops' record of 191-48, w/10 Big XII titles & 2000 national title, puts him in OU pantheon alongside Wilkinson & Switzer
2017: Baker Mayfield wins OU's 6th Heisman Trophy
• OU loses in CFP in Riley's 1st season
2018: "Dicker the Kicker" boots #19 UT past #7 OU in decade's 3rd upset.
• OU beats UT in B12 Champ game rematch (first time playing twice since 1903/4)
2018 (cont.)
• Kyler Murray wins OU's 7th Heisman
• OU loses in CFP semi-final for 2nd straight year
2019: #6 OU beats #11 UT, 34-27
• OU loses in CFP semi-final for 3rd straight year
2020-2022
Oklahoma leads: 3-1
2020: Unranked OU beats #22 UT, 55-42, in 4 OTs
• UT fires HC Tom Herman
• UT hires Steve Sarkisian, a former Wonder Boy offensive assistant under Pete Carroll & Nick Saban, w/a modest HC'ing record behind him, to take over the FB program.
2021: 5th Down CFB National Odyssey in Dallas for one of the wildest games in Red River history
• OU overcomes 21-pt deficit w/25 pt 4th qtr to win, 55-48, in series' highest scoring game
• Throwback to 40s/50s as OU students storm field
• Lincoln Riley shocks CFB world by leaving OU & the job Bob Stoops secured him, to take same job at USC
2022: UT wallops OU 49-0 in HC Brent Venables 1st season. It is UT's largest margin of victory in Red River game
2023: #12 OU upsets #3 UT, 34-30
• UT rallies to CFP but loses in semi-final to Washington
2024:
#1 Texas is set to meet #18 Oklahoma in the series' 120th edition
//end
This post was edited on 10/6/25 at 8:02 pm
Posted on 10/6/25 at 7:40 pm to OU Guy
quote:
2
Obligatory…
(But, seriously, good work.)
Posted on 10/6/25 at 8:03 pm to Ag Zwin
Ok, all done. So much more could be covered but he did a great job in trying to keep it neutral.
We are losing football history and the more we talk and post about it the more history can be maintained for future generations.
We are losing football history and the more we talk and post about it the more history can be maintained for future generations.
Posted on 10/6/25 at 8:18 pm to OU Guy
you forgot one
Posted on 10/6/25 at 8:27 pm to OU Guy
That was a fricking lot bro.
But, appreciate the hustle.
But, appreciate the hustle.
Posted on 10/6/25 at 8:39 pm to BigBro
BigBro can't wish you luck but 
for the best Saturday of the year.
for the best Saturday of the year. Posted on 10/6/25 at 9:59 pm to OK Roughneck
Posted on 10/6/25 at 10:12 pm to OU Guy
It had a very weird stretch from 2000-12. Almost every matchup of that era featured 2 good teams, many times title contending teams.
OU and Stoops straight up owned Texas from 2000-04. Two blowout wins, a shutout, and then twisting the knife into the heart when Roy Williams went Superman. Somehow, VY and Colt flipped the script winning 4 of the next 5. Then OU comes back with some more blowout victories.
I’ve never seen two good teams that are relatively even on paper play such lopsided games.
OU and Stoops straight up owned Texas from 2000-04. Two blowout wins, a shutout, and then twisting the knife into the heart when Roy Williams went Superman. Somehow, VY and Colt flipped the script winning 4 of the next 5. Then OU comes back with some more blowout victories.
I’ve never seen two good teams that are relatively even on paper play such lopsided games.
Posted on 10/7/25 at 12:23 am to OU Guy
So with each team’s stadiums having a seating capacity exceeding the old Cotton Bowl how do they handle distribution of tickets and are there fans of both teams wanting to attend the game who are left out?
Posted on 10/7/25 at 6:12 am to Litigator
quote:
So with each team’s stadiums having a seating capacity exceeding the old Cotton Bowl how do they handle distribution of tickets and are there fans of both teams wanting to attend the game who are left out?
Cotton Bowl capacity was increased to 92,200 with 2008-09 renovations, with official* attendance sometimes topping 96,000.
Even so, yes, the tickets are in high demand, and lots of fans are left out every year. Last I heard, season ticket holders/donors get first crack in an order based on how much they donate and how long they've had season tickets...something like that.
*There's a long tradition of sharing tickets that's made possible by being able to come and go from the stadium to the fair. Fans used to get in and then pass their stub to a friend thru the chain link. From what I've heard, it's still done with electronic tickets, minus the chain-link exchange of course. So those official attendance numbers are suspected to be on the low side.
Posted on 10/7/25 at 6:15 am to OU Guy
Thanks for sharing! I love CFB history and have heard or read many of these stories a lot over the years. But there were a few things that were new to me. Very cool!
Posted on 10/7/25 at 6:57 am to TexasTiger08
quote:
I’ve never seen two good teams that are relatively even on paper play such lopsided games.
Mack was a pussy who was scared to death of Stoops. It took Vince for mack to grow a spine.
Stoops was just a far better coach overall. Mack gave us vince so it wasn’t all bad.
Posted on 10/7/25 at 7:05 am to OU Guy
Nobody gives a hoot about any of that. We're just glad you hate Texas.
Signed
SEC fanbase
Signed
SEC fanbase
Posted on 10/7/25 at 7:55 am to umop sujoH
Posted on 10/7/25 at 7:55 am to OU Guy
Posted on 10/7/25 at 7:56 am to OU Guy
quote:
1970: Shockingly, w/OU's coaching staff in trouble, Royal paid back Wilkinson's loyalty to him & ordered Bellard to reveal the technical details of the Wishbone to Switzer, who'd be making contact w/him shortly.
Bellard, following orders, helped Switzer figure out the timing issues & several critical details that had befuddled OU going back to Wilkinson's Split-T, which he'd failed to evolve into a Triple Option. Switzer returned to Norman w/the wisdom in tow.
1970: OU debuted its version of the Wishbone & was promptly hammered, 41-9, at the Cotton Bowl.
For some reason, the timeline on this story has gotten twisted.
Royal didn't tell Bellard to talk to Switzer about the wishbone until AFTER the 1970 season.
OU went into the 1970 running the Houston veer and Swtizer put in the wishbone before the Texas game. Royal had no idea it was coming.
OU got better and better with it during the season and was running it well by the end of 1970. That is why Bellard thought that Royal was crazy to tell him to talk to Switzer. OU was already getting good at it.
But at that time Royal was 12-1 against Oklahoma so he was soft hearted. But it most certainly wasn't the wisest thing to do in retrospect.
quote:
Switzer, for his part, later admitted that the spying allegations were true and that Royal was correct to call out OU for the transgressions. But Switzer said it had been done w/out his consent & he wasn't aware of it.
Also... Switzer wasn't the head coach when this happened. Chuck Fairbanks was. The "spy" was a guy named Lonnie Williams who was a friend of Switzer and Lacewell from their days at Arkansas. He lived in Texas and ended up working for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys.
He went to Texas practices in 1972 and told Lacewell what he saw which included a quick kick play where Texas changed centers. Lacewell told his players that if they saw that center come in the game it was going to be a quick kick. It happened. OU blocked it for a TD to break the game open.
Finally, one of the craziest things about that whole period is that Darrell Royal remained friends with all his former OU teammates. One of his best friends was Wade Walker.... who was the OU athletic director and was Barry Switzer's boss.
Despite everything that went on... Royal and Walker remained friends throughout their lives and were neighbors and golfing buddies in Palm Springs during their retirement days.
This post was edited on 10/7/25 at 8:07 am
Posted on 10/7/25 at 7:57 am to OU Guy
Enjoyed that read. Thanks for posting. Honestly didn’t know much about the history of that game. I’ve rarely ever watched it since it conflicted with SEC games.
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