DALLAS – Texas football lost the 122nd game in the Red River Rivalry, the Golden Hat and likely its No. 1 ranking Saturday.
Tate Sandell made a 47-yard field goal with no time remaining to lift Oklahoma to a stunning victory over Texas. With the 27-24 win, Oklahoma snapped a two-game losing streak to Texas and handed the top-ranked Longhorns their first loss of the season.
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With the loss to the unranked Sooners, Texas is 4-1 with a 1-1 mark in SEC play. Like the Longhorns, Oklahoma also now has a 1-1 mark in the conference standings.
Texas builds lead after slow start to Red River Rivalry
Before the football was first snapped Saturday, signs of a sluggish start were scattered across the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma was unable to get its “Play Like a Champion” banner properly unwrapped before the football team ran onto the field, and the game was later delayed because the end-zone pylons had to be retrieved. And after Texas won the coin toss and deferred, UT’s Gianni Spetic booted the opening kickoff out of bounds.
Then, both offenses played like they had developed some rust over their bye weeks. Over the first five drives of the game, Texas and Oklahoma combined for 15 yards of offense, two burned timeouts and no first downs.
But after a poor punt set the Longhorns up in Oklahoma territory, the Longhorns struck first. Cam Coleman, the Auburn transfer who once caught a touchdown in the Iron Bowl, introduced himself to a new rivalry with a 41-yard catch on the first play of UT’s third drive. The touchdown was the fifth of Coleman’s season.
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By himself on that one play, Coleman outgained Oklahoma in the first quarter by 26 yards. The sputtering Sooners, though, turned to their special teams in the second quarter while tying the game. Danny Okoye blocked a Mac Chiumento punt, and Dakoda Fields recovered the loose football in the end zone. That was the first touchdown off of a blocked punt that Texas had allowed since 2009, and that score came two weeks after UT let up a punt-return touchdown for the first time since 2013.
That tie, however, was short-lived. Texas responded with a nine-play drive that featured a 4th-and-1 conversion and Manning’s 34-yard touchdown catch to Ryan Wingo. Spetic then added a 23-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the half, and Texas went into halftime with a 17-7 lead on the scoreboard and a 194-69 edge in total yardage.
Red River Rivalry rallies set up a dramatic finish
During the third quarter, Oklahoma was limited to a 53-yard field goal despite reaching UT’s 35-yard-line and the midfield marker on its two possessions. Oklahoma’s third drive of the second half began in Texas territory following a poor punt, and then things got interesting.
On a first-down snap from the UT 36, the Longhorns appeared to record a drive-ending interception on a trick play that featured Austin native Isaiah Sategna III throwing the football. Texas linebacker Rasheem Biles, however, was flagged for a roughing-the-passer penalty for his hit on Sategna, who would later draw a pass interference penalty in the end zone on a 3rd-and-goal attempt for Oklahoma. Those two penalties paved the way for a 2-yard touchdown run by Lloyd Avant, who tied the game with 14:48 left.
SOONER MAGIC https://t.co/K1cEqn0kPI
– Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) October 10, 2026
Oklahoma’s 10 unanswered points soon became 17 when Peyton Bowen intercepted a wayward pass by Manning and returned it 42 yards for a score. That touchdown with 10:07 remaining gave Oklahoma its largest lead over Texas since 2023.
Following what should have been a momentum-shifting turnover, UT’s stagnant offense finally found a spark. The Longhorns quickly drove 75 yards over seven plays as Manning found Emmett Mosley V for a 9-yard gain on a 3rd-and-5 attempt, Coleman for a 42-yard connection and freshman Jermaine Bishop Jr. for a 15-yard score. That 75-yard march to the end zone exceeded the 40 yards that the Longhorns had compiled over their first five drives of the second half.
After Oklahoma and Texas exchanged a punt for a missed 53-yard field goal by Spetic with 1:54 left, the Sooners went 3-and-out and Manning was intercepted for the second time. With one final chance to avoid just the third overtime in the 126-year history of the Red River Rivalry, the Sooners drove into Texas territory on the heels of two nice grabs on the sideline by Sategna.
Oklahoma then used their last timeout to set up a field goal for Sandell. After Texas tried to ice Oklahoma’s fifth-year kicker, Sandell ended the game with a decisive kick into the end of the Cotton Bowl where the Sooners’ fans were celebrating.
Up next: Florida
With the Red River Rivalry game now behind them, the Longhorns will turn their attention to next Saturday’s home game against Florida. This will be UT’s first game at Royal-Memorial Stadium since Sept. 19.
Florida was ranked as high as No. 8 in the Associated Press poll this season. But the Gators have lost their last two games against Missouri and South Carolina and are now 4-2 on the season. Following a 38-19 loss at home to South Carolina on Saturday, Florida will likely drop from its No. 16 ranking in the AP poll.
This article originally published at Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell’s walk-off field goal upends No. 1 Texas in Red River Rivalry.
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