Texas Football: 3 reasons OU will beat the Longhorns in Red River

1) Why OU will beat Texas football: Back up against the wall

This is not really a position that Texas head coach Tom Herman or Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley have found themselves in recent memory. They come in with a combined record of 1-3 in Big 12 play, which is unheard of for Oklahoma and Texas in this day and age, and with the level of expectations that each team came into the 2020 campaign with.

With the way that the Sooners looked in the season opening win over the FCS Missouri State Bears back on Sep. 12, expectations looked to be up to par. But as could be expected anytime a Power Five program faces an FCS school at the beginning of the regular season, Oklahoma found some fool’s gold in their opener.

This is definitely not a position that Riley is accustomed to being in. His last three starting quarterbacks were all Heisman winners or finalists and well seasoned upperclassmen. He now has Rattler, who is very talented, but very mistake prone as a first-year starter and redshirt freshman.

While both Herman and Riley could theoretically thrive with this level of desperation in a rivalry game, but Oklahoma’s back is definitely up against the wall more so than the Longhorns. It’s hard to fathom an Oklahoma team in the modern day that starts out their Big 12 slate 0-3 and is effectively eliminated from College Football Playoff contention just four games in.