DALLAS - Red River did not get the clean Texas coronation. It got the chaotic Oklahoma version of this rivalry instead.

The Sooners beat No. 1 Texas 27-24 on Tate Sandell’s 47-yard field goal as time expired, snapping the Longhorns’ undefeated start and giving Oklahoma its first win in the rivalry since 2023.

OU moves to 3-2 and 1-1 in the SEC. Texas fell to 4-1 the hard way, with Arch Manning’s fourth-quarter interceptions turning a favorite’s afternoon into a measuring-stick loss.

For most of the first half, this looked like the mismatch the rankings suggested. Texas led 17-7 at the break, and Oklahoma’s offense was basically nonexistent with only 69 total yards. The Sooners’ only first-half points came on special teams, when a blocked punt was recovered in the end zone.

That score mattered more than it looked at the time.

Oklahoma had not reached the end zone against Texas since 2023. Getting there in any phase was the first crack in the door.

The second half was a different game.

Oklahoma’s defense started winning downs, forcing consecutive punts, and creating the field position the offense had been unable to create for itself. Sandell drilled a 53-yard field goal. Then Lloyd Avant punched in a 2-yard touchdown, the program’s first offensive touchdown against Texas in more than 11 quarters, and the game was tied at 17-17.

Suddenly the Cotton Bowl felt less like a ranked formality and more like a rivalry again.

Peyton Bowen delivered the next blow, intercepting Manning and returning it 42 yards for a touchdown to make it 24-17. Texas answered, because teams that good usually do. Manning drove the Longhorns back down the field and tied it at 24-24 with a touchdown pass to Jermaine Bishop.

For a moment, it felt like Oklahoma had punched itself out.

Then Manning gave it back.

With the game tied and under 30 seconds left, he threw the decisive interception to Courtland Guillory.

That was the opening.

John Mateer had spent much of the day surviving pressure more than commanding the offense, finishing 14 of 21 for 155 yards with three sacks. When the season needed two throws, though, he made them.

Mateer hit Isaiah Sategna III twice in the final 19 seconds, both of them the kind of contested sideline connections that turn a field-goal chance into a real one. Sandell did the rest from 47 yards out.

Manning still finished with 260 yards and three touchdowns on 16-of-25 passing. The raw line was fine. The late mistakes were not.

Avant ran for 72 yards and the key short touchdown. Sategna had five catches for 64 yards and the two biggest receptions of Oklahoma’s season. Bowen and Guillory changed the ending with the takeaways. Sandell was perfect when the stage got biggest.

The broader truth stayed messy. Oklahoma’s offense still has questions, even if the line and Mateer looked more functional as the game went along. At 3-2, everything remains possible and nothing is secure.

UP NEXT: Kentucky is on the horizon, and the margin for error is still thin if the Sooners want the SEC championship game or the playoff in view.

None of that changes what happened in Dallas. Oklahoma beat the top team in the country, scored in all three phases, and walked out of the Cotton Bowl with the rivalry back in its hands.

Source: Yahoo Sports