College Football Old School Game of the Week: Winless Oklahoma Shocks Texas.

Oklahoma players celebrate after their shocking upset of Texas in the 1996 edition of the Red River Rivalry.

The 91st edition of the "Red River Rivalry" between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners was a historic one as it marked the first time the two teams met as conference opponents after Texas and three other teams from the Southwest Conference joined the Big 8 Conference, which included Oklahoma, to make the Big 12 Conference.
But other than that, many experts and fans were not expecting much of this game as Oklahoma entered the game as a 22-point underdog to #25 Texas.
Texas came into the 1996 season with high expectations as they were ranked #8 in the preseason AP poll because of an offense which featured quarterback James Brown, wide receiver Michael Adams, and future NFL running backs Priest Holmes and Ricky Williams.
But the Longhorns nearly fell out of the AP poll after back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Virginia, only to rebound with a 71-14 win over Oklahoma State the week prior to their annual meeting with the Sooners at the Cotton Bowl.
While Texas fans were grumbling at their 3-2 start, Oklahoma fans were downright depressed after their Sooners had total stumbled out of the gate for the 1996 season as they entered the Texas game with a 0-4 record, the first time that happened in Oklahoma since 1961.
The Sooners had lost their four games by a combined score of 154-88 with the most humiliating loss coming a week earlier as they lost to Kansas 52-24 thanks to giving up three special teams touchdowns as Kansas returned a kickoff, a punt, and a blocked field goal for a touchdown.
Things were looking bleak for first-year head coach John Blake as his Sooners traveled to Dallas to face the Longhorns, a team that Oklahoma had only defeated once since Barry Switzer's retirement in 1988.
The Longhorns got the ball to start the game and promptly drove 39 yards in nine plays, leading to a 47-yard field goal by Phil Dawson to put Texas on top 3-0 with 10:46 remaining in the first quarter.
The score remained 3-0 throughout most of the first quarter until the Sooners' special teams woes struck again when Texas wide receiver Dustin Armstrong blocked a punt at the Oklahoma 10-yard-line and then recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown to increase the Longhorns' lead to 10-0 with exactly two minutes left in the first quarter.
The Sooners begin their next possession at their 34-yard-line with a 16-yard pass from quarterback Justin Fuente to running back De'Mond Parker to the 50-yard-line.
A few plays later, Parker would run for 20 yards on a quarterback option to give the Sooners a 1st down at the 19-yard-line.
However, the Texas defense would allow five more yards, forcing Oklahoma to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Alexander to trim the Longhorns' lead to 10-3 with 13:23 remaining in the second quarter.
The Longhorns would come right back and drive down the field before calling on to Dawson to attempt a 43-yard field goal, only to have Dawson miss the kick and give the Sooners the ball at their own 26-yard-line.
That is when the Sooners put together a nine-play, 74-yard drive which saw Parker carry the ball three times for 26 yards while Fuente completed all three of his passes, including the eight-yard touchdown to Jarrall Jackson that with Alexander's extra point tied the game at 10 with 6:10 to go before halftime.

Oklahoma quarterback Justin Fuente would complete 15 of 34 passes for 165 yards and throw one touchdown.

The Sooners will keep the momentum going as their defense forced a Texas punt on their next drive to give their offense the ball back at their 30-yard-line.
From there, Allen made his presence felt as he caught a 12-yard screen pass from Fuente to begin the drive and also carried the ball for runs of six and 11 yards as the Sooners would get another field goal from Alexander, this time from 35 yards out to give the three-touchdown underdog Sooners a 13-10 lead with 1:54 left before halftime.
However, the lead would not last very long as the Longhorns, using a no-huddle offense, drove 82 yards in nine plays as Brown hit six of eight passes for 76 yards on the drive, including a six-yard touchdown pass to Adams to give Texas a 17-13 lead with 33 seconds left in the first half.
The Sooners would run out the clock and go into the halftime break trailing 17-13 but had to feel confident as they would running the ball down the Longhorns' throats as Parker had rushed for 91 yards.
But as Parker slowed down in the third quarter because of an asthma problem, the Sooners' offense slowed down as well as they unable to mount any serious scoring threat in the third quarter.
In fact, the only scoring opportunity in the third quarter came on another blocked punt as Texas cornerback Bryant Westbrook blocked a punt, giving the Longhorns the ball at the Oklahoma 19-yard-line.
But on the very next play, Texas wide receiver Curtis Jackson fumbled the football after a catch, which was recovered by Oklahoma linebacker Tyrell Peters to stop the Longhorns' threat as the score remained 17-13 as the game entered the 4th quarter.
With 12:43 left in the 4th quarter, the Longhorns got the ball at their 20-yard-line and drove 80 yards in eight plays, culminating with a seven-yard touchdown run by Williams to extend the Texas lead to 24-13 with 9:42 left in the final period.
The Williams touchdown seemed to be the straw to break the Sooners' back, especially after they went three-and-out on their next possession.
However, the Oklahoma would return the favor, forcing the Longhorns to punt when after almost two games of special teams misery, the Sooners would get a big play out of their special teams unit as Jackson caught Mark Schultis' punt and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown to cut the Texas lead to 24-19.
The Oklahoma offense would then come onto the field to attempt a two-point conversion which was successful as Fuente completed a pass to Stephen Alexander to make it a three-point game at 24-21 with 6:44 left in regulation.
The Longhorns would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line and were quickly in Oklahoma territory after Williams broke loose for a 36-yard-run.
But the Oklahoma defense would hold and force a Texas punt to give their offense the ball back at their 20-yard-line with exactly 4 1/2 minutes to play.
Keyed by a 36-yard run by Allen, the Sooners would drive to the Texas 27-yard-line where Jeremy Alexander would come in and kick a 44-yard field goal to tie the game at 24 with 2:26 remaining in regulation.
The Oklahoma defense would force another Texas punt to get the ball back at their 46-yard-line with 1:11 left in regulation and a chance to win the game.
It appeared the Sooners were on the verge of winning after Allen bursted for a 45-yard run to the Texas' one-yard-line, only to have a holding penalty nullify the run.
But since 1996 marked the first season where FBS games would be decided in overtime, the game would not end in a 24-24 tie like the year before.

Oklahoma running back James Allen would carry the ball 23 times for 159 yards and catch five passes for 51 yards.

Oklahoma won the coin toss and elected to play defense as Texas got the ball at the Oklahoma 25-yard-line, but were unable to move the ball as they lost a yard on three plays and had to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Dawson which gave the Longhorns a 27-24 lead.
The Sooners would now get the ball at the Texas 25-yard-line with another chance to win the game, when they called on Allen, who had run for 76 yards on eight carries in the 4th quarter alone.
Fuente would hand the ball to Allen to start the drive, who ran for 10 yards and a 1st down at the Texas 15-yard-line.
Allen would get the ball on the next two plays picking up five yards to set up a 3rd & 5 at the 10-yard-line when Fuente found Allen in the left flat, who then broke Texas safety Chris Carter's attempt at a tackle at the line of scrimmage, and ran to the two-yard-line, setting up 1st & goal.
That is when Allen got the call again as he took a pitch from Fuente, ran to his right and dove into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown to give Oklahoma a shocking 30-27 win over Texas.
The win was especially sweet for Allen as he had been stopped 18 inches of a touchdown two years before in a 17-10 loss to Texas.
The stunning loss dropped Texas out of the AP poll and to a 3-3 record, but the Longhorns would recover to win the Big 12 South Division and play in the inaugural Big 12 Championship Game, where they upset #2 Nebraska 37-27 ironically as a three-touchdown underdog.
As for Oklahoma, the win over Texas would be the high point of Blake's tenure in Norman as he would finish with 12-18 record in three years leading to his firing after the 1998 season.
The Sooners would bring in Bob Stoops who would lead the Sooners back to greatness with 10 conference championships and one national championship in his 18 seasons as the Oklahoma head coach.