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Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian let out a chuckle as he sat before reporters last week, recalling the boos raining down upon him inside what used to be called Cougar Stadium.
Sarkisian, the starting quarterback at BYU in 1995, threw four interceptions in his first real taste of rivalry football against Utah, the Cougars’ bitter in-state foe. BYU lost that edition of the rivalry game known as the Holy War 34-17.
“They were booing me so bad, my mom left the stadium at halftime,” Sarkisian said.
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A year later, Sarkisian and the Cougars took on the Utes and the elements. He passed just 12 times due to inclement weather, and BYU won 37-17 on its way to a Cotton Bowl title.
Those games didn’t give Sarkisian any signature moments. But they did contribute to his long-standing opinion that rivalry games help make college football great.
“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s so special.”
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Oklahoma beat Texas 34-30 last October in their final Red River Rivalry matchup as Big 12 schools. They are now SEC rivals as they prepare for Saturday’s game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
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The Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma feeds Sarkisian’s football soul. In a coaching world occupied by goal-driven obsessives with little time and a need for results, Sarkisian is willing to take in the sights and sounds.
“I love the energy of the crowd,” he said. “I love the smell of the popcorn — all that stuff. And there’s nothing like this game when you pull into the State Fair, and you see fans from both sides and they’re intermixed, and both teams’ buses pull up and we’re in the same tunnel.
“You come out and here’s…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/where-does-red-river-rivalry-140128430.html
Author : Austin American-Statesman
Publish date : 2024-10-07 14:01:28
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