SI:AM | The Best Texas-Oklahoma Matchup in Years

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Congratulations to the Bears for finally looking like a competent NFL team.

In today’s SI:AM:

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All eyes on the Cotton Bowl

Tomorrow marks the end of an era for one of the best rivalries in college football. Saturday afternoon’s Texas-Oklahoma game will be the final one played under the Big 12 banner, with both schools set to join the SEC next year. It’s also their most high-profile regular-season meeting in more than a decade. (They also met in the 2018 Big 12 title game.) The Longhorns are ranked No. 3, while the Sooners are No. 12. Their combined ranking of 15 is the highest since they were a combined 14 in their ’11 meeting.

Tomorrow’s game could very well be the first of two UT-OU games this season. The Longhorns and Sooners are the only two nationally ranked teams in the new-look Big 12 (which added BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston this year). The winner will have a clear path to the conference championship game, while the loser should still have a good chance of advancing to the title game. But it’s still early in the season, so tomorrow afternoon will tell us a lot about both teams, Richard Johnson writes:

We’ve seen Texas on a big stage this season, but we’re yet to see Oklahoma play an opponent at a similar talent level. This Texas team certainly seems for real, but is it actually? Or is this all another September Longhorns smoke and mirrors operation? That’s what it’s time to find out in Dallas.

While Texas currently boasts the superior résumé (highlighted by a win over Alabama), the two teams match up exceptionally well. They both have high-powered offenses and stingy defenses. Oklahoma enters averaging 47.4 points per game, third-best in the nation, while Texas is averaging 36 (31st-best). On defense, the Sooners have allowed just 10.8 points per game (fifth-best nationally), and the Longhorns have allowed 12.8 (13th). It’s anybody’s guess how the game will play out, but it probably won’t be a repeat of last year’s 49–0 Texas beatdown.

Other games of note

This is actually a pretty good week on the college football schedule, with three other games between ranked opponents, the most interesting of which might be No. 21 Missouri vs. No. 23 LSU. Mizzou is undefeated at 5–0 and ranked in the AP poll for the first time since 2019. Its signature win is a 30–27 victory at home over No. 15 Kansas State that came on a 61-yard field goal as time expired. LSU entered the season ranked No. 5 but has slipped after falling to Florida State in the opener and Ole Miss last week. LSU is the road favorite here (-4.5), but don’t sleep on Mizzou, which is led by two of the nation’s most dynamic offensive players. Wide receiver Luther Burden III leads the FBS with 644 receiving yards, and quarterback Brady Cook has completed 74.5% of his passes, with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions.

In other SEC action, Alabama will travel to College Station for a game against Texas A&M. While the Aggies are unranked, oddsmakers believe this will be a tight one (the Tide are -2.5 at SI Sportsbook). No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 20 Kentucky is also worth paying attention to after the Wildcats thumped Florida last week.

On the other side of the country, No. 13 Washington State will look to keep its impressive season on track against a strong UCLA team in Pasadena. The Cougars have played like a team on a mission after being left out in the cold amid this summer’s conference reshuffling. They picked up a huge win over Oregon State last week behind a flawless performance from quarterback Cameron Ward (28-for-34 passing for 404 yards and four touchdowns), who can strengthen his Heisman case by helping Wazzu remain undefeated against the Bruins.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Pat Forde breaks down the Big Ten’s new football schedules for its upcoming 18-team alignment.
• Here are Forde’s and Richard Johnson’s picks for the biggest college football games of the week.
• Matt Verderame previews the best matchups of Week 5 in the NFL.
• The Bears put their terrible start behind them and played a freer style of football in their win over the Commanders, Gilberto Manzano writes.
• This excerpt from Jean-Jacques Taylor’s new book, COACH PRIME: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men, focuses on Sanders’s last year at Jackson State and first days as coach of Colorado.
• The WNBA Finals will get underway Sunday with a matchup fans have been waiting all year to see: Liberty vs. Aces. Here are our experts’ predictions for the series.
• The WNBA is adding its first expansion team since 2008.
• Former Mets general manager Billy Eppler, who resigned abruptly yesterday, is reportedly being investigated by MLB.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Jaxson Hayes’s reaction to LeBron James’s acrobatic dunk.

4. Sam Howell’s pinpoint touchdown pass to Logan Thomas.

3. Liberty defensive back Kobe Singleton’s game-sealing pass breakup.

2. Western Kentucky receiver Malachi Corley running through a tackle for a long touchdown.

1. Bears receiver DJ Moore’s big game (eight catches for 230 yards and three touchdowns).

SIQ

Tomorrow’s final Big 12 edition of the Red River Rivalry is a doozy. Texas enters the game ranked No. 3 in the country, while Oklahoma is No. 11. Who was the quarterback of the winning team the last time either school was ranked as high as the Longhorns are in this one?

• Baker Mayfield
• Chris Simms
• Colt McCoy
• Landry Jones

Yesterday’s SIQ: The Cubs beat the Braves in Game 5 of the NLDS on Oct. 5, 2003, to advance to the NLCS against the Marlins. Before then, when was the last time the Cubs won a playoff series?

• 1998
• 1969
• 1945
• 1908

Answer: 1908. The Cubs really earned that “lovable losers” reputation, didn’t they? Until 2003, Chicago had won only two playoff series in its history: the 1907 and ’08 World Series. At one point, the franchise went nearly 40 years between postseason appearances (’45 to ’84). The 2003 season was only their fourth playoff appearance since the end of World War II. Sure, the Cubs famously choked away that NLCS, but at least they broke their long postseason losing streak.