The Texas Longhorns are one of the 12 undefeated teams through Week 6. They won all their five September games and just spent their bye-week as they regained the No. 1 spot in the CFB team rankings after Alabama fell to Vanderbilt in an upset defeat. Now as they ready themselves for an important clash with No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners, Steve Sarkisian voiced his expectations ahead of their game on October 12. 

‘Inside Texas’ posted Steve Sarkisian’s thoughts on X on October 8 where he talked about the fine lines of being emotional. He said, “I’m not here to deny that our players won’t have some emotions in this game and I think they deserve that, they should have it. The key is not to cross over that threshold where we get emotional. I felt like in last year’s game, we got a little emotional at times.”

Rivalry games induce a different kind of emotion. Steve Sarkisian experienced the intensity of the Red River Rivalry last season when their border rival stained their unbeaten record in Week 6 by dealing them a 34-30 defeat in under one minute. This loss marked the Longhorns’ only loss in the regular season aside from their CFP semifinal loss to Washington. 

In their last meeting, emotions got the better of a Texas player who took off his helmet leading to an unsportsmanlike call. This action resulted in a punt touchdown which contributed to their final score. Sarkisian is right in emphasizing the fine line between emotions and becoming emotional to avoid such costly emotional mistakes which could otherwise lead to history repeating itself. 

Steve Sarkisian gives his thoughts on the Red River Rivalry 

This year’s Red River Rivalry game will mark the 120th time Texas and Oklahoma will lock horns as the Longhorns hit the road to face the Sooners in Dallas. As the nation’s top CFB team, Texas is a 14.5-point favorite to win this time. But that’s not the kind of relief to dwell on. 

Steve Sarkisian said, “It’s a rivalry game. Forget whatever we’re favored by or we’re not, it doesn’t matter. Records and things don’t matter in games like this.” This will be a test for both undefeated Texas and 4-1 Oklahoma who are meeting for their first SEC clash of the season. Texas remains a top contender for the SEC title as per predictions. This will be their first true conference test.

As we wait for the rivalry game to kick off, entertain yourself with this exclusive Doug Sanders interview on our Think Tank podcast.