{"id":354073,"date":"2026-06-29T04:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/354073\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T04:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T04:49:24","slug":"kip-lewis-responds-to-texas-colin-simmons-rivalry-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/354073\/","title":{"rendered":"Kip Lewis responds to Texas’ Colin Simmons rivalry comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 28, 2026, 11:00 a.m. CT<\/p>\n

The Allstate Red River Rivalry is one of the best in college football. It usually plays host to ESPN “College GameDay<\/a>.” The game is played at one of the sport’s legendary stadiums, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, making it one of the few rivalries played at a neutral site. The stadium is split right down the middle: half is in burnt orange and white, and the other half is in crimson and cream.<\/p>\n

Since 2000, the Oklahoma Sooners<\/a> have had the advantage in the rivalry, going 17-10; however, the Texas Longhorns<\/a> have dominated it more recently, winning three of the last four. Unfortunately, Oklahoma has mustered just nine points across those three losses combined.<\/p>\n

That dominance led Texas All-American EDGE Colin Simmons to downplay the rivalry<\/a> in an interview this offseason, saying, “The atmosphere is a rivalry, but when you’re on the field playing against them, it doesn’t say rivalry. I feel that Texas A&M is more of a rivalry than Oklahoma.”<\/p>\n

Oklahoma star linebacker Kip Lewis responded to those comments.<\/p>\n

“I did see one of the guys was like, ‘it’s not even a rivalry game no more,'” Lewis said on the ‘Sooner Smiths Live’ podcast.<\/a> “I think Mr. Simmons. Yeah, Simmons made a little comment, so it’ll be fun.”<\/p>\n

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n

Lewis did not directly escalate the comments, but acknowledged them in a light tone ahead of the matchup. He avoided adding further bulletin-board material, but his response still indicated awareness of the remarks circulating in the offseason atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The reality is, Texas has had the upper hand in the rivalry recently under Steve Sarkisian, including three wins over Brent Venables. Oklahoma can point to context in those losses, including quarterback injuries in two of the games and a limited return scenario in another following John Mateer’s midseason thumb surgery.<\/p>\n

Those explanations are fair, but in rivalry games, results define the narrative. The focus now shifts to the next meeting, where Oklahoma will have an opportunity to reassert itself in the series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Contact\/Follow us\u00a0@SoonersWire on X (formerly known as Twitter), and like our page on\u00a0Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on X @Jaron Spor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 28, 2026, 11:00 a.m. CT The Allstate Red River Rivalry is one of the best in college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33,126000,126001,35,77604,44,29217,1993,3154,45,15286,40674,20207,184,39,43,46,688,37,4928,4929,27,29,28,36],"class_list":["post-354073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-accessfree","tag-sourcesooners-wire","tag-sstssportscollegesoonersfootball","tag-sstsnfootball","tag-tagallstate","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbrent-venables","tag-tagcollege-football","tag-tagcollege-football-playoff","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagoklahoma","tag-tagoklahoma-sooners","tag-tagoklahoma-sooners-football","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagsec-conference-football","tag-tagsec-hub","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtexas","tag-tagtexas-am-aggies-football","tag-tagtexas-longhorns","tag-tagtexas-longhorns-football","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}