This special edition highlights the history of the Red River Rivalry. After being dominated by a 1-3 Florida team yesterday, Texas now faces the undefeated 5-0 Sooners. It's time for all Longhorns to "TEXAS FIGHT" and turn around the momentum of the 2025 Longhorn football team. WE CAN DO IT! Just follow Tommy Lucas's figurative lead (no violence please), and the Sooners' arrogance will fade away.

After nine years of researching Longhorn Sports, exploring the history of the Red River Rivalry has been a special part of this fascinating journey. I have my personal reasons for disliking O.U. sports, but I’ll leave those aside and let you delve into the Texas-OU rivalry to form your own opinions about Oklahoma teams filled with Texans and an Oklahoma fan base often labeled as rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.

The History of the Texas-O.U. football series, and a River Runs through It.

Please visit the minutes 1:43 to 2:30 in the Youtube link below

https://youtu.be/UPG3Ul9G7UA

I believe that "under the rocks of time" of the Red River, the message still echoes:

O.U. sucks.

This TLSN newsletter highlights three topics tied to the Red River Rivalry.

1) The first football game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns took place in 1900. At that time, neither team had their current nicknames—Texas was often called "Varsity." The game was considered more of a "practice match," and Texas won decisively, 28–2. This marked the beginning of what would evolve into one of college football’s most legendary rivalries. This edition of the TLSN newsletter provides a detailed year-by-year history of the Texas-O.U. rivalry up to 2009.

2) Billy Schott’s article captures the surreal experience of walking down the Cotton Bowl tunnel and stepping into the stadium. His storytelling vividly brings the moment to life. Having personally made that walk three times to play against O.U., I can confidently say Schott’s piece is among the finest works in Longhorn sports history.

3) TLSN celebrates the decades-long tradition started by Ken Capps: on the Thursday before the Texas-O.U. football game, he opens the "Hook’em Hut," a two-story building dedicated to Longhorn sports history. This event honors the burnt orange photographic legacy of Longhorn athletics, showcasing sports history dating back to the 1960s. I’ve visited the "Hut," and while some photos I took are featured in the link, there are many more not included. https://texaslsn.org/ken-capps-home/

Below is your invitation to attend Ken's party

Before well intended lawyers removed the word "cheat" from the NCAA Lexicon, “The Oklahoma Sooners were cheaters. …. It was in their nature. Sooners were settlers who cheated to claim the good land.

“The O.U. football team was caught more times than the Hamburglar. " The first official reprimand from the NCAA came all the way back in 1955. Seems some players were getting their bills paid by the school…… It didn't stop at the players, either. Their families were getting money, too. Oklahoma received probation for the infractions.

Here are the top 3 teams with the most infractions, according to the NCAA.

SMU, 10

Arizona State, 9

Oklahoma, 8 Four of these were in 1955, 1960, 1973, and 1988

Texas is way down the list with minor NCAA infractions.

Major Applewhite wearing the symbol of a Longhorn victory over the Sooners

Video below is the "Guys of Texas"

https://youtu.be/rpOMrQ5ucPo

Above photo -2005 Rodrique Wright 67 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown against the Sooners

Ken Capps' Hook'em Hut is a vibrant tribute to his love for all things burnt orange and his steadfast support for the Longhorns. He's inviting Longhorns everywhere to his family's 29th Annual Texas-OU Party on Thursday, Oct. 9, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

Ken proudly shares, "The 'Hut' is a reflection of my lifelong love for the Longhorns, growing up in Austin, sitting in the Knothole Section in the late '60s and early '70s, and attending The University from 1978 to 1982, where I earned a journalism degree."

Ken's party is the ultimate kickoff for the weekend Longhorn celebrations of the Red River Rivalry. It includes Smokey the Cannon firing in the front yard (a hit with the neighbors!) and a performance by the Longhorn Alumni Band.

A highlight is visiting Ken's "Hook'em Hut," a two-story house in the backyard that stands as a true shrine to UT football, filled with memorabilia from members dating back to the early 1960s.

Smokey and the Band

The Tunnel

https://youtu.be/KJ9Y8p-eMcI

Longhorn author Jenna McEachern says the Cotton Bowl tunnel is the “last mile” of college football—a dark, narrow tunnel leading players toward daylight, frenzy, and the moment of truth. Billy Schott's agrees.

The tunnel walk is in the link below

https://x.com/TexasFootball/status/1579460872334086145

Bill Little, Texas Media Relations says,
"It hasn't changed. The fabled "tunnel" from whence the players and coaches enter remains the same, as if waiting for the entrance of the gladiators into the coliseum."

The players, however, will remember the tunnel, the arena, and the unequalled atmosphere. …..They know that in practice you can "run it again." But in this game, you do not get "do-overs." It is an extended moment in time, where the re-runs come on television, and the memories stay for a life time.

David McWilliams says that “running down the ramp at the Cotton Bowl, that’s a larger-than-life experience that sticks with every player evet to take part in the border war.” McWilliams continues “when you walk onto that field there is a force field of electricity.” “You actually visualize streams of electrical current coming of the field. You feel like you’re walking a foot off the ground. “

“Billy Schott, BS ‘83, a former Longhorn placekicker and wide receiver, remembers his final journey through the Cotton Bowl tunnel as a player. Alcalde magazine October 9th, 2014 reprinted his memories of the “Tunnel”.

His article is profound but too long to publish in this bullet point newsletter so here are Billy's first 6 paragraphs to article on the "tunnel".

"When you’re given the final word from the TV guy to leave the locker room and head down the short flight of steps to the top of the tunnel, you step out into a surreal, confusing world of childish taunts and many an inverted Hook ’em being hurled from the walkway above. Stadium security personnel in cheap windbreakers and several members of the Dallas Police Department man the long, tarp-covered gate behind you. You recognize a couple of the motorcycle cops that led the police escort through the streets of Dallas a couple of hours ago; an officer smiles as he gives you a quick salute and a Hook ’em. You return the salute and mouth a quick “Thank you” to the officer.

The TV guy tells you to wait at the top of the ramp. There’s no breeze—it’s hot.

Someone steps out of a black limo just outside the gate and is quickly escorted by Texas DPS troopers through the gathering and hurried down the ramp. Must be the governor or a senator or Willie—you can’t really see over the glare of all the glistening white helmets shining in the October sunshine.

The smell of diesel fumes, horse crap, and fried food wafts through the air, mingling with the sulfur smell of residue from the RUF/NEKS’ shotguns and Smokey’s pregame cannon shots. You can always smell the State Fair.

The ticketless, orange-clad well-wishers behind the chainlink gate, trying to get a quick look from a player or coach, are the only friendly voices you hear at that end of the Cotton Bowl.

“Get after ’em, Darrell!”

“Go Horns!”

“Anybody got a ticket?!”

“Can I have your chinstrap?”

The link to the rest of Billy's article is at the link

https://texaslsn.org/cotton-bowl-ramp/

THIS IS THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER!

HORNS UP FROM BILLY SCHOTT, KEN CAPPS, AND FROM ALL THE LONGHORN FOOTBALL PLAYERS SINCE 1900 WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS GAME - HOOK'EM HORNS!!

THE RED RIVER RIVALRY - AND A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT