When Texas football enters the Cotton Bowl on Saturday for the 122nd Red River Rivalry, it will be met with overwhelmingly loud cheers \u2014 and boos.<\/p>\n
Because Dallas is three hours from both Austin and Norman, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
Neither of these fanbases could fathom the idea of a singular empty seat on their respective side of the stadium\u2019s 50-yard line. It simply wouldn\u2019t be right.<\/p>\n
While each team\u2019s players will be primarily focused on the 60 minutes of football ahead of them as they run out of the tunnel, head coach Steve Sarkisian made it clear that the pageantry of the matchup and the passion of the fans are things he doesn\u2019t take lightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the most special setting in college football,\u201d Sarkisian said in a media availability on Monday. \u201cThis thing\u2019s split at the 50, and half the game is a home game, and the other half of the game is a road game.\u201d<\/p>\n
This format differs from typical neutral site games in that most of them seat all of a team\u2019s fans behind its respective bench. Instead, half of Oklahoma\u2019s fans will sit behind Texas\u2019 sideline and vice versa.<\/p>\n
Another element of the neutral-site environment is that the noise will be consistent throughout the matchup. The usual lull that falls over a home crowd while the home team drives on offense won\u2019t exist, which could have an impact on both teams. Fifth-year defensive lineman Hero Kanu spoke to the constant volume in a media availability on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat adrenaline is staying on,\u201d Kanu said. \u201dIt\u2019s just an exciting feeling. And you just look up, see one side is burnt orange, the other one is what, crimson, or whatever. What is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kanu might have had a difficult time identifying exactly what kind of red the Sooners and their fans wear, but he understands the energy they\u2019ll bring to the table come Saturday. Having played in his first Red River Rivalry last year, Kanu will likely be in charge of helping some of his younger teammates and transfer players prepare for the environment.<\/p>\n
The veteran player\u2019s advice echoes that of Sarkisian.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Sark says it all the time \u2014 \u2018Hey, take it in,\u2019\u201d Kanu said. \u201cThat\u2019s why a lot of us walk around the stadium before the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The excitement of this rivalry can be felt inside the stadium and out of it: something Texas players and coaches are embracing instead of blocking out. The sounds, scents and scenes at the Cotton Bowl are meant to be fully experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love all of that that this thing comes with,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cI love that it\u2019s at the State Fair \u2014 the smell of corndogs, the funnel cakes and all that. It\u2019s so special. It\u2019s so unique, and I do not take it lightly, but I would not change it for anything. I think being there at the old Cotton Bowl is very, very special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Texas football enters the Cotton Bowl on Saturday for the 122nd Red River Rivalry, it will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-457697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457697","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=457697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}