DALLAS — The Oklahoma Sooners and fifth-year head coach Brent Venables really needed this win.
Getting it against top-ranked Texas in their Red River Rivalry football game and donning the Golden Hat trophy at the State Fair of Texas just made it that much better.
While the Sooners still a have a long way to go on offense, Tate Sandell kicked a 47-yard field goal on the game’s final play for a 27-24 win at Cotton Bowl Stadium after they scored touchdowns on special teams and defense in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference border battle.
“I want these guys to experience victory,” Venables said. “Certainly in this game, (it) was incredibly important.”
The Sooners (3-2, 1-1) beat a No. 1 team for the first time since a 38-17 win over Missouri in 2007, before either of those teams had moved from the Big 12 to the SEC. They had been 0-4-1 when facing a top-ranked Texas team.
Dakoda Fields recovered a blocked punt in the end zone, and Peyton Bowen returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown for Oklahoma, a College Football Playoff team last season that in its previous game two weeks ago lost 41-13 at No. 2 Georgia.
“People questioning the commitment, and (saying) the coaches can’t coach and the players stink, it comes with the arena,” Venables said. “But at the same time, sometimes that fuels you.”
John Mateer, who threw three interceptions against the Longhorns last year and has struggled this season, had two big throws after Oklahoma picked off Arch Manning again with 19 seconds left and didn’t settle for going to overtime.
“I thought about this game for 365 days,” Mateer said. “I think that was the longest fourth quarter I’ve ever been a part of. It was awesome, and I’ll never forget it, but I knew, 19 seconds left, that this was the time.”
The Sooners avoided a third consecutive loss in the series and still haven’t lost three in a row to Texas since 1997-99.
Manning threw three touchdowns for the Longhorns (4-1, 1-1), but both of his picks proved costly.
Texas had two late chances, but Gianni Spetic was wide right on a 53-yard field goal attempt with 1:55 left. After the Sooners went three-and-out for the seventh time in the game, Manning’s last pass was intercepted by Courtland Guillory with 19 seconds left.
“It’s obviously a level of disappointment, there’s a level of anger and frustration because we know we have issues that need to be fixed and we’re working on those issues and trying to get them fixed,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
After the late pick had the Sooners at their 39, Mateer completed passes of 13 and 20 yards to Isaiah Sategna on opposite sides of the field, and both were upheld on replay review. Oklahoma then ran a play to set up the kick by Sandell, who earlier made a 53-yarder and missed another from the same distance.
Bowen’s interception return for a touchdown came after Manning was scrambling away from pressure and throwing toward Cam Coleman, who had a touchdown earlier in the game, but the ball instead went to the Oklahoma safety, whose return with 10:07 left put the Sooners up 24-17.
Manning, who finished 19-of-31 passing for 260 yards, then had a tying 15-yard touchdown to Jermaine Bishop Jr. The mistakes stood out more.
“I think we’ve got to do a better job, especially me, not getting loose with the ball,” Manning said. “I think we beat ourselves a lot tonight.”
Mateer completed 18 of 26 passes for 155 yards. The Sooners had only 238 total yards, well below their average of 321 coming into the game that was already last in the SEC.
Texas didn’t have a first down on its first four drives, and it wasn’t until the first play after a short punt that Coleman made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone for a 41-yard score.
Danny Okoye had the blocked punt for the Sooners at the start of the second quarter, appearing to get his hands on the ball even before it got to the punter’s foot. Fields fell on the ball in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
That was the Sooners’ first touchdown against Texas since Dillon Gabriel’s 3-yard pass to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds left in the 2023 meeting for a 34-30 victory.
Oklahoma only offensive touchdown Saturday was Lloyd Avant’s 2-yard run that tied the game a 17 only 12 seconds into the fourth quarter after a defensive pass interference penalty on third down.
The Longhorns had won seven games in a row, four against ranked teams, and they have been atop the AP Top 25 since the day after their big comeback to beat then-No. 1 Ohio State of the Big Ten on Sept. 12, but their inconsistency raised questions about if they still deserved to be. The loss answered that, and they will find out Sunday how far they drop in the new poll.
“The competitive spirit is what gives me confidence,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll get up off the mat.”