One of the most iconic rivalries in college football, the Red River Rivalry has seen plenty of stretches where one team or the other manages to take control. And with the Texas Longhorns meeting the Oklahoma Sooners for their annual matchup, it’s worth remembering that it’s been a couple seasons since the Sooners have managed to come out on top.
It might actually feel like even longer given what this rivalry means for both fanbases. That's probably because, however, Texas hasn't just won a lot of the recent meetings — they've thoroughly dominated Oklahoma in doing so.
When is the last time Oklahoma beat Texas in Red River?
The last time Oklahoma was able to beat the Longhorns was back in 2023, the final Red River Rivalry matchup when both teams were in the Big 12. And a huge reason for OU’s win was an offense architected by Jeff Lebby and implemented by Dillon Gabriel gave the Sooners a 34-30 win over Texas.
Since then, things have gotten a little ugly for Oklahoma. Largely because OU hasn’t had much offense appear. The Sooners have scored a combined nine points in the past two matchups. Texas has managed to outscore Oklahoma 57-9 in 2024 and 2025. It’s also worth noting that Texas has won three of the last four, with that 2022 matchup being a 49-0 win in UT’s favor.
That’s a little lopsided, folks.
But the funny thing is, for much of this century, Oklahoma has been in control of things. The Sooners have come out on top of 17 of the last 27 games against Texas.
And Oklahoma fans would be right in pointing out how over the past two-and-a-half decades, this series has been lopsided in their favor.
Texas vs. Oklahoma: Red River Rivalry series history
- Series record: Texas leads 65-51-5
- Last win: Texas (2025), Oklahoma (2023)
- Longest win streak: Texas (8), Oklahoma (6)
It really wasn’t that long ago that Oklahoma was routinely punishing the Longhorns on an annual basis, but it sure kind of feels like a lifetime ago.Â
While things feel like they might be in UT’s favor at the moment, OU fans will likely want to reminisce about the 63-21 win over the Longhorns in 2012. Or maybe the 55-17 beating of Texas in 2011. Things were really messy in 2003, when the Sooners came out on top 65-13.
So yeah, Brent Venables is 1-3 against the Longhorns right now (and he just might end up at 1-4 following Saturday’s meeting between Oklahoma and Texas), but it really wasn’t that long ago that this rivalry was fun for Sooner fans.
Memorable moments from the Red River Rivalry
Darrell Royal beats his former coach to start a winning streak for Texas
In 1958, in just his second season, Texas head coach Darrell Royal put an end to a losing streak in this series for the Longhorns. The Sooners, led by Royal’s former head coach Bud Wilkinson, managed to beat Texas six times from 1952 to 1957.Â
The 1958 15-14 win over the Sooners gave Texas the start of a winning streak that would last until 1965. Wilkinson never beat Texas again before he retired. The Longhorns haven’t seen that dominant of a stretch in this series since then.
Mike Leach tricking Texas with a fake lost playbook
Forever one of the most innovative minds to ever touch football, Mike Leach was once an offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners. And as a man driven to win, Leach may or may not have found a way to try and trick Texas in hopes of beating a team that was a good bit better than his own.
In 1999, early on in the Bob Stoops era at OU, the Sooners were implementing Leach’s Air Raid and also just generally not thriving through much of the season. So Leach found another way to innovate: by dropping a fake set of plays for the Longhorns to stumble across.
And it worked. For a moment. Texas won that matchup 38-28.
A rematch in the 2018 Big 12 championship game
As two of the most prominent programs in the Big 12, and with as often as the Oklahoma Sooners managed to win their old conference, you’d be fair to think that these two teams would manage to meet up more regularly in the Big 12 championship game once the conference’s divisions went away.
But it just wasn’t a common occurrence. That said, in 2018, the two teams got to meet up with a chance to claim the conference crown. Just two months earlier, Texas was able to squeak past Oklahoma, winning 48-45. That wasn’t the case in the rematch.
Oklahoma was able to take control and win, soundly beating the Longhorns 39-27.
Why is Texas vs. Oklahoma called the Red River Rivalry?
What's particularly great about this rivalry is that depending on who you ask, this game has a different name. There are a few different variations of the name here, including Red River Rivalry, Red River Shootout, and the Red River Showdown.
Regardless of what you want to call this rivalry, shootout, or showdown, the point remains the same: you've got two teams from neighboring states facing off in a location that's more or less a halfway point. Oh, and the border between the state of Texas and the state of Oklahoma is shaped by the Red River, which is convenient.
Add us as a preferred source on Google