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00:00One of the oldest rivalries in college football, under the watchful eye of Big Tex at the Texas
00:09State Fair, but now as SEC foes.
00:12It's the 120th all-time meeting of the Red River Rivalry between number one Texas and
00:19a team in Oklahoma that checks in at 18th in a three-way tie for 18th this week in the
00:26AP Top 25 alongside Indiana and Kansas State.
00:30But Joe, the spread for this rivalry game, bitter and often close between these two programs,
00:37does not seem to be that.
00:39It's a two-touchdown number in favor of the Longhorns, 14-and-a-half in favor of the number
00:45one team in the country who was thankful to not play a weekend ago.
00:50They were off, both teams off, to avoid the chaos of the opening Saturday in October.
00:56But Joe, we know how closely this rivalry is contested.
00:59Is a two-touchdown spread in the Red River Rivalry a little bit too rich for your blood?
01:05No, I like Oklahoma here.
01:06I'm going to take the points in regards to the rivalry aspect.
01:10I understand that Quinours potentially is back on their center and Texas has those playmakers
01:15on the outside and their defense has stepped up just the way it did last year, Ben, holding
01:19opposing offenses to less than three-and-a-half yards per rush.
01:23Back end only giving up around 145 passing yards per game.
01:27It's going to be difficult potentially for Michael Hawkins, the freshman in terms of
01:31this matchup, to move the football.
01:33But I'll just say this.
01:34I like what I see out of Michael Hawkins in regards to the start a couple weeks ago against
01:38Auburn.
01:39And more importantly, Kev, I liked its defense of Oklahoma.
01:42They shut down Tennessee in the second half.
01:44They make adjustments.
01:46They're plus eight in turnover margin.
01:48They've won the turnover battle in every game this year except the loss to Tennessee.
01:53And they're holding opposing offenses to 30% on third-down conversions.
01:57I think they make it ugly.
01:58I don't know if they win it outright, but I'll take the two touchdowns with the spread.
02:02So I'm also on Oklahoma, but this could very well be a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do type of
02:09game.
02:10I went through.
02:11You look at it right now.
02:12Ten of the last 11 have been within two touchdowns and nine of the last 11 are within one possession.
02:17Okay.
02:18That's great.
02:19But historically, this is a rarity of a number.
02:22The last time we saw a number like this was when Vince Young was playing for Texas.
02:26And guess what?
02:27It covered that number.
02:29In fact, since 2000, we have seen this go 17 and eight in Oklahoma's direction, yet
02:37they have the same amount of wins by more than two touchdowns.
02:40In eight of the wins by Texas, half of them have been covering this number.
02:46And I don't really think Oklahoma pulls off the upset.
02:49Now again, I'm still on Oklahoma despite that.
02:52I'm worried.
02:53I get to OU because of the bye week.
02:57It is a rarity, at least in the recent editions of this rivalry, that these teams are taking
03:03off heading into this game.
03:05We have seen these teams usually play this game, beat one another up, grab a week of
03:11rest, come back still pretty beat up, not cover a big number against a bad Big 12 team
03:16eek out a four point win.
03:18And that's kind of how the story goes.
03:20Since both of these teams are off by, I now look towards Venables, who I look, Sark's
03:26incredible.
03:27Sark's clearly proven to be one of the best in the country.
03:29I think that Venables is very good.
03:30I think he's done a really nice job with what he's at.
03:33He give him a lot of credit, man.
03:34Filling in for Lincoln Riley is not easy.
03:37Flipping Oklahoma's identity on its head.
03:39You got it there.
03:40Their offense is not good.
03:42The defense's is absolutely legit.
03:45And because of that, I think they can hang around the two touchdown number where they
03:49have been giving everything they have into this rivalry game, Ben, to prepare and hang
03:55within two scores.