When the ‘Horns have the ball …

Look for Texas to methodically move the ball down the field. The Longhorns don’t have burners at the wide receiver positions, but Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley run precise routes and Colt McCoy usually finds them with accuracy. Also, look out for Chris Ogbonnaya, supposedly UT’s third-string running back. He totaled 187 yards (116 receiving, 71 rushing) last week vs. Colorado.

When the Sooners have the ball …

The debate may continue for the majority of the season as to who’s the best quarterback in the Big 12 Conference, or which team’s spread offense packs the most exciting punch.

There’s little debate, though, when considering the most heated, intense and passionate rivalry in the 12-year history of the conference.

Unless Big 12 fans have been waking up on another planet the last 12 years, they know the Texas-Oklahoma Red River Rivalry is historically the most coveted ticket to any game in the conference.

Saturday’s 11 a.m. matchup at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas will mark the fourth time in 12 years No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 5 Texas have been ranked in the top 5 before the game. Big 12 championship implications are on the line. National championship implications are on the line.

Welcome to Texas vs. Oklahoma, 2008.

“I think it’s the biggest game in the country,” Iowa State coach Gene Chizik said on Monday’s Big 12 teleconference. “A down year with those teams is winning nine or 10 games, which is crazy. It’s what makes college football great. It’s a phenomenal rivalry, second to none.”

Oklahoma owns a 7-5 advantage in the 12 years of the conference’s existence, and the Sooners have won six of the past eight contests, including a 28-21 triumph last season. Texas protects a 57-40-5 lead in the all-time series.

Few teams possess the coaching stability of Texas’ Mack Brown, in his 11th year in Austin, or Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, in his 10th year in Norman.

“It’s unusual because so many coaches get fired now,” Brown said. “It’s hard to imagine a coach making it 10 years, especially in two high-profile programs like Texas and OU.”

So just how heated does the rivalry get? Pretty heated, but only on the field, according to coaches and players who have been around both programs.

“People think Bob and I sit around and fight all the time, but we really don’t,” said Brown, who owns a 108-25 career record at UT. “Bob’s done as good a job at Oklahoma as anyone who’s been there and you’re talking about Bud Wilkinson (1947-1963, 145-29-4 record) and Barry Switzer (1973-1988, 157-29-4 record).”

Stoops, at 102-22, has the third-highest winning percentage in OU history, behind Switzer and Wilkinson. The feeling of respect for UT in Norman is mutual.

“When I was at OU, I never sensed there was a rivalry between Mack and Bob,” said KU coach Mark Mangino, who was an assistant coach at OU from 1999-2001. “Mack’s name was never mentioned in a negative way around the office. Bob doesn’t get into that stuff, believe me. As far as animosity or anything, I never saw it.”

Nowadays, nothing’s much of a defensive battle anymore in the Big 12, where teams are averaging 39.4 points per game through six weeks. But Texas and Oklahoma are the top two teams in the conference in scoring defense, giving up 11.4 and 13.8 points per game, respectively. Both defenses will focus their attention on stopping a pair of Heisman Trophy candidates in Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Texas’ Colt McCoy.

“We obviously know Bradford’s a great quarterback,” Texas senior defensive end Brian Orakpo said. “It’s very important for the defense to create havoc in the backfield. If you have a quarterback sitting there all day, it will be a long day for the secondary. So you have to put pressure and do your best up front and the sacks will eventually come.”