There are college football games that feel big when the teams take the field.
Then there’s Oklahoma-Texas, a rivalry that takes over Dallas before the players even arrive at the Cotton Bowl.
Every October, the State Fair of Texas becomes the backdrop for one of the sport’s great rivalries as Dallas turns into a temporary dividing line between two proud football states, with crimson on one side of the stadium and burnt orange on the other.
The rivalry dates to 1900, when Texas beat Oklahoma 28-2.
More than a century later, the series has grown into one of the sport’s defining annual events — we ranked it fourth among the 25 rivalries that define college football.
Texas leads the all-time series 65-51-5 heading into the Oct. 10 matchup (2:30 p.m. CT on ABC), but the numbers only tell part of the story.
Because this rivalry has never needed much help finding a little extra edge.
In 1976, Texas coach Darrell Royal accused Oklahoma of spying on his practices, reopening a controversy that traced back to the 1972 game.
An Oklahoma operative had posed as a construction worker to watch Texas practice and passed along information about a quick-kick play the Longhorns were planning.
When Texas tried it during the game in Dallas, Oklahoma was ready — and blocked the kick on its way to a 27-0 victory.
Four years later, the episode resurfaced publicly, turning an already heated rivalry into something bordering on theater.
Royal challenged OU head coach Barry Switzer and others to take lie-detector tests, while Switzer essentially brushed off the entire thing. The two legendary coaches even found themselves walking toward the field alongside President Gerald Ford before the 1976 game.
That game ended in a 6-6 tie, which somehow felt like a fitting ending to one of the strangest chapters in the rivalry’s history.
What makes the Red River Rivalry different is the neutral-site setting.
The teams meet with the stadium split down the 50-yard line and each fan base bringing its own colors, traditions and expectations.
Former Texas coach Mack Brown once put it simply: “Somebody is screaming every play.”
Since 1929, the game has been a fixture of the State Fair of Texas, making the weekend — traditionally the second Saturday of October — as much about the experience surrounding the game as what happens on the field.
And then there are the stakes.
Oklahoma and Texas have spent generations competing for conference championships, national relevance and recruiting supremacy.
When the Sooners and Longhorns are playing at a high level, the Red River Rivalry can become a pivot point in the season for both teams.
A win doesn’t just settle an argument. It can change the trajectory of a season and give one side bragging rights until the teams meet again the following October.
The players change. Coaches come and go. Conference affiliations evolve.
But every October, Oklahoma and Texas arrive in Dallas with the same mission: Beat their rival and leave Dallas with bragging rights.
The game has produced blowouts, classics, national-title implications and some of the most memorable moments in the histories of both programs.
There have been plenty of recent examples.
In 2018, Texas watched Oklahoma erase a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit before Longhorns kicker Cameron Dicker drilled a 40-yard field goal with nine seconds left in a 48-45 classic.
Three years later, Oklahoma answered a late Texas touchdown with a last-second Kennedy Brooks 33-yard touchdown touchdown to win 55-48.
The rivalry has a habit of finding new ways to make the final few minutes matter.
And because the schools sit in neighboring states, the rivalry has always felt personal in a way that goes beyond the field.
That’s what makes the Red River Rivalry one of college football’s essential games.
It’s history, geography, tradition and stakes wrapped into one Saturday at the state fair.
And once again, they’ll do it all over again in Dallas.
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.