(This story was updated with new information)
The Red River Rivalry between Texas football and Oklahoma is one of college football’s richest rivalry games out there.
It’s also one that comes with quite the emotion, as evident by Saturday’s 120th edition of the Red River Shootout at the Cotton Bowl.
Following the No. 1 Longhorns 34-3 romp over the Sooners, Texas defensive players Anthony Hill Jr. and Barryn Sorrell took a Baker Mayfield No. 6 Oklahoma jersey and placed it at the 50-yard line. The two then planted the University of Texas flag right through the jersey, unofficially claiming the Cotton Bowl as their own.
‘I just felt like it was the right thing for me to do,’ Hill Jr. said postgame. ‘I’d seen all the stuff they (Oklahoma) posted last year, so I felt like it was right for me to get a little touch of something on them.’
Saturday’s win for Texas marked just the second time in the last seven seasons (and twice in the last three) that the Longhorns have won the Red River Rivalry. It also marked the first time that the Longhorns have started the season 6-0 for the first time since 2009, as noted by the Austin American-Statesman.
Hill Jr. had a big game himself on Saturday, as the 6-foot-3 defensive lineman finished with a game-high 11 tackles and two sacks for a total loss of 8 yards. He also forced a fumble in the second quarter, when he stripped the ball out of Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.’s hand on a scramble.
The Longhorns also got back starting quarterback Quinn Ewers on Saturday after the 6-foot-2 quarterback was sidelined for the last five weeks with an oblique strain. Though it took him some time to settle in, Ewers completed 20 of 29 passes for 199 yards with two combined touchdowns and an interception in his first game back.
