Three Thoughts on Oklahoma versus Texas
The Red River Showdown seldom disappoints and this one was incredible.
Three Thoughts is my shout out to Grant Wahl, where we give you the three biggest takeaways on a game that truly mattered to us. There is little pattern to what games may be covered in this format, but stay ready!
2023 has blessed us with yet another “Red River” Rivalry/Showdown/Shootout that we will marvel at for weeks. There is nothing truly like this football game and on this occasion, Oklahoma was able leave with the smiles, 34-30, in an epic all-timer that came down to the last minute.
These are my Three Thoughts:
- This game is such wonderful college football chaos. There are some things I was prepared for when moving to Texas in 1998 and some other things I just didn’t understand back then. The enormity, uniqueness, and darn near perfection of this game every year is something I was not prepared for when I arrived. Big 10 country does not stop down for this game and while I was somewhat aware of it, I just hadn’t fully experienced it and therefore become obsessed by it as a neutral 3rd party.
Well, let me confirm yet again, this game is impossible to summarize other than suggesting that the plot twists, emotional swings, and pure, un-cut chaos is what makes it so great. You feel like each quarter is almost its own game as routinely in the last few years, you are exhausted from trying to remember all of the back-and-forth moments and then you notice it is only the start of the 2nd Quarter! How this game every year feels like a best-of-3 series is beyond me, but there are so many ups-and-downs and back-and-forths that you can see why Brent Venables was telling his guys to “Embrace the Chaos” rather than try to control it. This game is going to get wild and as long as you know it it going to take all afternoon to sort out who is smiling in the end, you can pace yourself. You can lose many plays and even a few quarters and still win this thing. It is certainly just 60 minutes, but it never feels that way. So, when the game finally ended and the Sooners had somehow blown a double-digit lead, fallen behind, and still responded with a drive they will always remember from Dillon Gabriel and his friends, and survived a desperation heave into the end zone by Quinn Ewers, the emotional celebration has to be some of the best moments of a person’s career.