Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp runs onto the field ahead of the game between Texas Football and Ohio State at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin, Sept. 12, 2026.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
For the first time since the heyday of Mack Brown’s squads two decades ago, Texas football has a stranglehold on its ancient rivalry with Oklahoma.
The No. 1 Longhorns have won three of the past four games in the Red River Rivalry, a stretch of success not seen since 2006-09, primarily because of a dominant defense. In those three Texas victories, the Sooners have failed to reach the end zone each game while scoring a total of nine points.
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To put that offensive anemia for the crimson and cream in context, Oklahoma hadn’t scored less than double-digit points in the series before 2022 since 1998.
So, why has Texas been so dominant on defense? And can the Longhorns translate their recent success to Saturday’s meeting even though head coach Steve Sarkisian replaced longtime defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski with Will Muschamp?
NO. 1 TEXAS VS. OKLAHOMA
When/where: 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Dallas.
TV/radio: ABC; 1300 AM, 98.1 FM, 105.3 FM.
On Monday during his weekly news conference, Sarkisian offered some insight into his 3-2 record against Oklahoma.
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“It’s interesting when you look at just even since I’ve been here: The team that runs the ball, the team that converts third downs, the team that wins the turnover battle, and the team that can pressure the quarterback generally comes out on top,” Sarkisian said. “You get back to the core fundamentals of what the game of football is all about. As much as we want to talk about the emotions of the game, as much as we want to talk about the trick plays or the craziness that can happen in this game, it generally comes back to the things that are important to football.
“Who can run the ball? Who can convert third downs and extend drives? Who can create turnovers? Who can take care of the ball, and then ultimately, who can who can pressure the other team’s quarterback?”
How Texas fared in each of those categories gives a clue to why the Longhorns have won three of the past four matchups in the Cotton Bowl.
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2022: Quinn Ewers unbothered in rout
In the most lopsided Texas victory in a 121-game series that dates back to 1900, Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers didn’t even get a whiff of the Sooners pass rush while completing 21 of 31 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns in a 49-0 Texas win. Oklahoma didn’t get one sack while the Longhorns corralled the Sooners quarterbacks three times.
The other defensive stats cited by Sarkisian stack up, too. The Sooners ran for 156 yards but averaged just 3.7 yards a carry, they turned the ball over twice, and they converted just three of 15 third-down plays while squeezing out 195 yards.
2024: Anthony Hill leads sack parade for Texas
Then a sophomore, current Tennessee Titan rookie Anthony Hill Jr. had a pair of sacks while leading a Texas defense that racked up six sacks in a 34-3 win. Texas met its goals in the other defensive metrics, too: Oklahoma ran for just 89 yards, turned the ball over twice and converted five of its 13 third-down plays.
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2025: Colin Simmons feasts in Oklahoma backfield
Last season in a 23-6 Texas win, current edge rusher Colin Simmons had 2½ of the Longhorns’ five sacks and current linebacker Brad Spence added two more tackles for a loss as the Sooners managed just a total of 48 yards rushing on 30 carries. Oklahoma also turned the ball over three times, which helped negate a respectable third-down conversion of 35.3%.
In 2023, Oklahoma ran for 201 yards, gave up one sack and didn’t commit a turnover in a 34-30 win.
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Can Will Muschamp replicate Pete Kwiatkowski’s success vs OU?
Kwiatkowski now coaches the defensive line for the Arizona Cardinals and Muschamp has resurrected the Coach Boom results if not quite the persona from his time as the defensive coordinator at Texas under Brown from 2008-10. The Longhorns rank first in the SEC in scoring defense by allowing just 13.3 points a game. They’re fifth in rushing defense (99.3 yards), fourth in passing defense (171.8), fourth in sacks (15), eighth in third-down conversion rate (35%) and 10th in takeaways (5).
But Sarkisian had other names on his mind besides Kwiatkowski or Muschamp when asked about this year’s defense against the Sooners.
Specifically, he cited Simmons, Spence, defensive end Lance Jackson, slot corner Graceson Littleton and safety Jelani McvDonald. All played in last year’s game and are among the eight Texas starters who have experience in the Red River Rivalry.
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“Naturally, we’ve got some players with similar skill sets to those guys that we’ve had before,” he said. “Some of those guys are still here, so we have some familiar faces.”
But will Texas have a familiar defensive scheme against a struggling Oklahoma offense that ranks last in the SEC in total offense (321.3 yards a game) and second to last in scoring offense (22 points a game)?
“Coach Muschamp is going to devise his scheme that best fits the personnel that we have to try to be as effective as we can against this OU team,” Sarkisian said. “This OU team is different (than 2025). Every team is different each year. I’m sure there will be nuances that we carry over, but ultimately, this is the 2026 Texas defense and how we play, which is going to be somewhat different from how we played in the past.”
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