OU rallies, but Texas has the last word

DALLAS — Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger flashed the “Hook ‘Em Horns” sign to the ecstatic burnt orange end of the stadium after his third rushing touchdown, and soon after that threw his second scoring pass.

A year after briefly putting the Longhorns ahead late in their Red River rivalry game against Oklahoma when he started as a freshman, Ehlinger had Texas ahead by three touchdowns going to the fourth quarter Saturday.

But Ehlinger needed one more drive to win the game, and delivered, setting up freshman Cameron Dicker’s 40yard field goal with nine seconds left to give 19th-ranked Texas (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) a 48-45 victory over the No. 7 Sooners (5-1, 2-1) after Kyler Murray had rallied them with three TDs in a six-minute span.

“For him to go shut the door, with his teammates, that says a lot about his grit,” Texas coach Tom Herman said of Ehlinger, who was 24of-35 passing for 314 yards, and ran 19 times for 72 yards.

Ehlinger converted a thirdand-3 on Texas’ final drive with a 4-yard keeper and his 8-yard draw to the middle of the field set up the winning kick in the highest-scoring game in the 113-game series.

The Longhorns have their first five-game winning streak since 2013 after winning the annual meeting at the State Fair of Texas, where the crowd of 92,300 at the Cotton Bowl Stadium was split 50-50.

Oklahoma, the three-time defending Big 12 champion, lost to the Longhorns for the third time in six seasons — this was the first time in that span Texas was ranked.

“Obviously, it’s not a good feeling. I feel like if I didn’t turn the ball over, we’d have a better shot at winning the game,” Murray, who threw for 304 yards and four TDs, said quietly. “We knew coming into this game it would be a four-quarter game. It’s just tough.”