Oklahoma stuns No. 1 Texas in last second in Red River Rivalry

DALLAS — In 122 years of the Red River Rivalry, Oklahoma had never beaten a No. 1 Texas team. Until Saturday. And it took every bit of scrap and scrape the Sooners could muster to do it.

John Mateer connected on two key throws on the winning drive, and the Sooners scored on offense, defense and special teams to shock the Longhorns 27-24, reclaiming the Golden Hat trophy after two consecutive losses in the always-unpredictable series.

“It was really a classic game of two really good programs in an incredibly intense environment,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said. “I think both sides would say it wasn’t always pretty. It didn’t always go our way, but it went right according to script.”

The Sooners (3-2, 1-1 SEC) blocked a punt for a touchdown and Arch Manning threw two fourth-quarter interceptions — one of which Peyton Bowen returned 42 yards for a score, the quarterback’s first career pick-six — as Oklahoma clawed back despite mustering 238 total yards. Manning’s second interception, Courtland Guillory‘s first as a Sooner, came at the Oklahoma 39 with 19 seconds left.

“It was crazy,” Guillory said. “In a game like this — I say the biggest rivalry in college football, then I’m from Texas, so that makes it even bigger to me — man, it was an amazing feeling that my first pick was in a big-time moment like that to help my team win.”

With the score tied 24-24, the Sooners turned Mateer loose instead of playing for overtime. The offense was struggling, and Mateer had been the subject of fans’ ire with six turnovers in the past three games. The scrutiny began, in many ways, at this game last year after a scorching early-season start in which he was a Heisman Trophy candidate before injuring his thumb. He had surgery and rushed back to play in this all-important game but threw three interceptions and was sacked five times in a 23-6 loss.

This year, Mateer completed passes of 13 yards with 15 seconds left and 20 yards with nine seconds remaining to Isaiah Sategna III on opposite sides of the field. Both throws came in tight windows that led to official reviews to set up the winning field goal.

“I thought about this game for 365 days,” Mateer said. “I think that was the longest fourth quarter I’ve ever been a part of. It was awesome, and I’ll never forget it. But I knew 19 with seconds left that this was the time.”

Tate Sandell nailed the 47-yard field goal with no time remaining to knock off the top-ranked Longhorns, becoming one of the stars that this game mints.

“I don’t know if I ever could have dreamed something like this,” Sandell said. “It surpassed any imaginable feeling I could ever imagine.”

The Longhorns (4-1, 1-1) were in control for most of the game. Manning had thrown touchdowns of 41 yards to Cam Coleman and 34 yards to Ryan Wingo, combining for more yardage on those two throws than the Sooners mustered in the first half. Oklahoma went into halftime with 69 yards of offense, including 1 yard rushing. At one point in the second quarter, Sooners fans cheered wildly for a first down.

But the Longhorns still led just 17-7 because a Mac Chiumento punt was blocked by Danny Okoye at the Texas 8-yard line and recovered by Dakoda Fields at the back of the end zone for the Sooners’ first touchdown in this matchup since 2023. It was 17-10 at the end of the third quarter, but the Sooners were driving. As the fourth began, the players came onto the field, facing the Sooners’ crimson end of the stadium, and started exhorting the crowd, with OU fans roaring.

Two plays later, Lloyd Avant scored from 2 yards, the Sooners’ first rushing touchdown since the Sept. 4 season opener against UTEP, to tie the score at 17-17.

“Our fans were fabulous,” Venables said. “I just can’t say enough about the energy that was in the stadium. Our guys fed off that.”

Four minutes later, from the same end of the field, Manning floated an off-target pass to Bowen, who rambled 42 yards on a weaving, tackle-breaking run to score. The Sooners had an improbable 24-17 lead with 10:07 remaining. They got 10 points, including the winning field goal, off Manning’s two picks.

“We’ve got to do a better job, especially me not being loose to the ball,” a sullen Manning said. “I think we beat ourselves a lot.”

The Longhorns suffered just the third loss by an AP No. 1 team to an unranked opponent since 2010. (Alabama lost to Vanderbilt in 2024 and Texas A&M in 2021.)

“We’re not dead,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We’re going to be OK. We’ll get back up off the mat.”

Sarkisian said the loss was “a level of disappointment, there’s a level of anger and frustration,” and he defended Manning, saying the offense’s inconsistencies weren’t all on the quarterback.

“I think Arch competed his tail off, and he made some tremendous plays, to the shots down the field to the drives when we had to have him,” Sarkisian said, calling the interception on the final throw a credit to Guillory. “It was bang-bang, and their kid made a really good play. You can’t take that away from their guys when they make plays too.”

The historic victory was a chance for Venables to blast the Sooners’ critics in recent weeks.

“We needed to get a win for obvious reasons. I want these guys to experience victory — certainly in this game it was incredibly important,” he said. “People questioning the commitment and ‘the coaches can’t coach’ and ‘the players stink’ and all this stuff … just spewing all kinds of incredibly repulsive things about people, coaches, players, all that. It comes with the arena, but at the same time, sometimes that fuels you. I don’t think you look for that to fuel you, but I do think it brought us closer inside our building.”