Texas leads the Red River Rivalry 65 to 51 with five ties across 121 games, a margin built mostly before 1950. Oklahoma has been the better program for much of the time since, winning 17 of 26 meetings between 2000 and 2025, which is why the Longhorns’ two straight wins carry more weight than a two game streak normally would.
| All time series | Texas 65, Oklahoma 51, 5 ties |
| First meeting | October 10, 1900, Texas 28 to 2 |
| Most recent | October 11, 2025, Texas 23 to 6 |
| Since 2000 | Oklahoma 17, Texas 9 |
| Largest margin | Oklahoma 65 to 13, 2003 |
| Longest streak | Texas, eight, done twice: 1940 to 1947 and 1958 to 1965 |
| Venue | Cotton Bowl, Dallas, every year since 1932 |
| Next meeting | October 10, 2026, 2:30 p.m. CT |
The Cotton Bowl
The game has been played in Dallas since 1912 and at the Cotton Bowl since 1932, during the State Fair of Texas, with the stadium split precisely down the 50 yard line: burnt orange on one side, crimson on the other. Neither school hosts. It is the only major rivalry in the sport played annually at a neutral site with an even ticket split, and the arrangement has survived every conference realignment, including both schools moving to the SEC in 2024.
The winner receives the Golden Hat, a gold plated cowboy hat on a wooden base, awarded since 1941. The governors of the two states exchange the Governor’s Cup separately.
How Texas Built the Lead
Texas won 20 of the first 25 meetings, and its two eight game winning streaks, one either side of the Second World War, are the longest by either side. Oklahoma won six straight and nine of ten going into Darrell Royal’s first season in 1958, and then Texas won eight in a row again. Royal, who had played quarterback for Oklahoma under Bud Wilkinson, went 12 and 7 with a tie against his old school.
The Modern Era Belongs to Oklahoma
Since 2000 the Sooners have won 17 of 26, including a 63 to 14 result in 2000 and the 65 to 13 game in 2003 that remains the largest margin in the series. Bob Stoops went 10 and 8 against Texas; Mack Brown went 7 and 9 against Oklahoma across 16 seasons, and the eight Big 12 titles Oklahoma won in that span against Texas’s two are most of the reason Brown’s tenure ended when it did.
The 2018 season produced two meetings. Texas won the October game 48 to 45, and Oklahoma won the Big 12 championship game 39 to 27 in Arlington, the only time the rivalry has been played anywhere other than the Cotton Bowl since 1932.
The 2025 Game
Texas, unranked at 4 and 2, held No. 6 Oklahoma without a touchdown in a 23 to 6 win, the first time the Longhorns had done that to a top ten opponent since 1979. The defence intercepted John Mateer three times and Ryan Niblett returned a punt 75 yards for a score. It drew 8.7 million viewers, the largest audience in the history of the game.
The Games That Defined It
1963. No. 1 Oklahoma against No. 2 Texas. Texas won 28 to 7 and went on to its first national championship.
1984. A 15 to 15 tie between two top ten teams, one of five ties in the series and the last.
2008. Texas beat top ranked Oklahoma 45 to 35 in the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s history, then lost the Big 12 South tiebreaker to the Sooners anyway. Sam Bradford beat Colt McCoy for the Heisman two months later.
2018. Texas 48, Oklahoma 45, decided by a field goal with nine seconds left after Kyler Murray had brought Oklahoma back from 21 down.
The Bottom Line
Texas leads Oklahoma 65 to 51 with five ties across 121 games, but Oklahoma is 17 and 9 since 2000. The game has been played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas every year since 1932 with the crowd split at midfield. Texas won 23 to 6 in 2025 for its second straight, and the two meet again on October 10, 2026. Our Texas all time record page covers the wider picture.