As Texas heads to the SEC, the Longhorns are unfortunately still stuck with the Oklahoma Sooners…
As the two long-lived opponents start their journey to a new conference, the Red River Rivalry will continue for the foreseeable future.
There’s no denying it, the Horns and the Sooners despise each other. On the field, players put their literal blood, sweat, and tears into winning the game.
Not to mention, the seats at the 50-yard line at the Cotton Bowl are the scene of a warzone.
Texas fans are raised to despise the Sooners from the day they are born (rumor has it the babies of Longhorn fans come out holding up a Hook’em Horns), and vice versa.
So, which former Oklahoma football players do Horns love to hate the absolute most?
In 2001, Roy Williams took down Texas quarterback Chris Simms with a blindside hit that knocked the ball loose during the Horns’ attempt at a game-winning drive.
In other words, Williams was the sole season that Oklahoma walked away with the golden cowboy hat that year.
Williams also helped the Sooners to an undefeated season in 2000, including a BCS National Championship, while setting the program record for tackles for loss at 12.
The former Sooner was a menace for Texas to try to deal with and caused a lot of chaos during the (then) Red River Shootouts.
Billy Sims was a Sooner that should have been a Longhorn, he grew up in Texas for Pete’s sake.
While playing for Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma squad, Sims set the school’s total yardage record in 1978, which wasn’t broken until another Longhorn nemesis Adrian Peterson set it in 2004.
A two-time First-Team All-Big Eight and two-time unanimous All-American, Sims was a pest for the Texas Longhorns.
Sims has since been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and was undeniably a phenomenal player for the Sooners (and in the NFL).
He’s easy to hate cause he was hard to beat. Over five years at Oklahoma, Sims amassed 3,820 rushing yards for an astonishing 48 touchdowns, much to the chagrin of Texas fans everywhere.
Speaking of the one and only Adrian Peterson… In the midst of breaking multiple NCAA records in just his freshman year, Peterson ran for 225 yards against the Longhorns.
Peterson was also runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 2004 behind USC’s quarterback Matt Leinhart.
Much of Oklahoma’s success from 2004-06 was due to Peterson’s incredible running abilities. Over the three years, he earned 4,239 total yards and 42 touchdowns for the Sooners.
Peterson always looked untackleable (new word?) when he played the Longhorns and it made Texas fans hate him with their entire beings.
However, the Horns can still boast that they defeated Peterson and the Sooners two out of the three years he was with Oklahoma.
From 1984 to 1986, if you weren’t an Oklahoma fan you hated Brian “the Boz” Bosworth, much less if you were a Texas Longhorns fan at the time.
Bosworth was a three-time All-Big Eight player and two-time All-American in his three years with the Sooners. He won two Butkus Awards as the top linebacker in the country.
Oh, and he used steroids.
The former Sooner claimed that the steroids were medically prescribed for injuries but it cost him the opportunity to play in one last bowl game with Oklahoma.
Before he got caught, Bosworth was a constant threat on the field.
In 1984, Bosworth and the Sooners tied the Longhorns in the Red River Shootout despite Texas being No. 1 in the country. One year later, Oklahoma defeated the Horns 14-7. In Bosworth’s final year, the Sooners demolished Texas in a 47-12 blowout victory.
Arguablly one of the most hatable college football players of all time, much less one of the most hatable Sooners in history, Baker Mayfield was a nuisance in Norman.
Raised just half an hour from Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium, Mayfield started his career on a bad note when it came to Texas fans, playing his freshman season for the Texas Tech Raiders.
When Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma, the Longhorns learned to hate him even more.
Mayfield led the Sooners to three Red River Rivalry wins over the Horns, won two Heisman Trophies (2016 & 2017), and earned an appearance in the College Football Playoffs.
Beyond his infuriating winning ways on the field, Mayfield was known as an arrogant and obnoxious kid off the field.
His cocky demeanor and boisterous personality made him Public Enemy No. 1 in Austin, Texas and Longhorn fans maintain that level of hate for the quarterback to this day.