Notes and quotes for the AT&T Red River Showdown

Compiled by Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

AUSTIN, Texas — No. 11 Texas will square off Saturday against sixth-ranked Oklahoma in the AT&T Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, with the two teams lining up against each other for the 115th time since 1900.

Here are some notes and quotes in advance of the game, which [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]should be a barnburner:

• Senior wide receiver Devin Duvernay was a midseason addition to the Biletnikoff Award’s watch list. Through five games, he has racked up 45 catches for 463 yards and scored four touchdowns. Duvernay, who was named the Longhorns’ sixth team captain this week, leads the country in receptions per game (9.0) and is third in total receptions (45). He also has caught 15 passes (on 18 targets) on third down, 13 of which resulted in a first down.

• Texas coach Tom Herman on Saturday’s game: “You know the players are going to be amped up and there’s nothing I’m going to say that’s going to stop it. So we just try to, you know, educate them on how to channel those emotions properly … and it is a big game. I mean, we’d be foolish to say that it wasn’t.”

• The Sooners are the only team in the country to score at least 45 points in five games.

• More Herman on the Red River Showdown: “It can be in February, you walk by the Golden Hat display (in University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame) and you see the TV screen playing highlights from years and years of this rivalry, and it gets you fired up. But I think you can compartmentalize yourself.”

• Eight different Texas wide receivers have scored touchdowns this season; overall, 14 different players have scored points in 2019.

• Kicker Cameron Dicker is UT’s top scorer with 39 points so far this season, followed by Duvernay (30) and receivers Brennan Eagles and Jake Smith (24 each).

• Texas is one of three schools in the country that features three players with at least four receiving touchdowns this season. Alabama and LSU are the other two.

• Herman on the rivalry with OU: “We respect the hell out of this rivalry. We respect the hell out of this opponent, and you can be fired up and emotional when you do see those highlights, and you see that display and you realize, you know, the kind of the place where this rivalry sits, in the annals of college football.”

• Sooners’ quarterback Jalen Hurts is averaging 404.4 yards of total offense per game. He is 31-2 as a college starter and led Alabama to a national championship over Clemson in his sophomore season.

• Texas left tackle Samuel Cosmi spouted a little bulletin board material Tuesday: “OU has a really explosive offense and a really good team overall. I’m not going to take that away from them, But I don’t think they’ve played anybody like us. It’s going to be interesting going into the game to see how they respond, to see what type of team they really are.”

• Since 1990, quarterbacks playing in their first Red River Showdown game are 2-14-1 against opposing quarterbacks who have started or played big minutes in previous Texas-OU matchups. Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger has played in three games against Oklahoma; the Sooners’ Hurts will play in this rivalry for the first time Saturday.

• Texas leads the series with the Sooners, 62-47-5. The series, which began in 1900, has been played in Dallas since 1912 and at the State Fair since 1929. Saturday marks the 92nd time the game has been played at a neutral site in Dallas.

• The first matchup between the two teams in 1900 ended with a 28-2 Longhorns’ victory. Texas is the only Big 12 Conference team that holds an all-time series lead against the Sooners.
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