Brent Venables Avoids Unenviable Streak as Oklahoma Finds Victory at the Cotton Bowl

DALLAS — Losing three in a row to the University of Texas is rarely tolerated at Oklahoma.

Since the end of World War II, there's not many instances where the Sooners have found themselves leaving the State Fair of Texas as losers of three consecutive games in the historic series.

The last time OU lost three in a row to Texas was 1997-1999. John Blake won his initial Red River Rivalry — a 30-27 upset. He lost his final two games to the Longhorns before Bob Stoops took over in 1999 and dropped his first rivalry contest.

Brent Venables, who has preached sermon after sermon at the alter of the Oklahoma football program, has avoided that unenviable streak with an improbable and inspiring victory over the No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns.

"I would be lying if I said your confidence could get shaken if you’re not having success as a player, a unit, a team," Venables said after the game.

He's right. Venables has been dealing with a level of criticism that not even he experienced during the six-win seasons of 2022 and 2024. Potentially losing to Texas for a third-straight year after dropping two marquee games in September may have made the voices of negativity too much to bear.

"All the (noise). Guys spewing all kinds of incredibly repulsive things about people, coaches, players, all that. It comes with the arena. But at the same time, sometimes that fuels you. I don’t think you look for that to fuel you, but I do think it brought us closer inside our building," Venables said.

With the improbable win, Venables and his team have course corrected their season. While it's still difficult to imagine this OU team with such a flawed offense to go on a run, they did it last year. All they did was give themselves a chance.

For Venables, he eluded uneven ground.

The previous OU coach to lose three in a row to UT was Gary Gibbs from 1989 to 1991. Gibbs lost four in a row before his lone win in 1993. Gibbs' 1-4 record against the Sooners' chief rivals played a large part of why his tenure was seen as a failure.

Stoops avoided that negative streak. Lincoln Riley only dropped one to the Longhorns. But the Bootlegger's Boy himself found himself with a Texas-sized program once the 1970s concluded.

Barry Switzer lost three straight at the Cotton Bowl form 1979-1981. That streak was in the middle of Oklahoma losing five of seven from 1977 to 1983. Of course, Switzer had won two national titles by that period and was dangerously close to winning another in 1977.

Gibbs' 1-4 mark against Texas is matched by another former OU coach — Chuck Fairbanks.

Following the death of head coach Jim Mackenzie in 1967, Fairbanks led the program through the tail end of Darrell Royal's glorious run for the burnt orange. The Sooners were building but Texas was a few steps ahead.

It wasn't until OU switched to the wishbone against Texas in 1970 (the Sooners lost 41-9) that the tide began to turn. From there Fairbanks won his final two games against the 'Horns to finish 2-4 in the Red River Rivalry.

Venables and his 2026 Sooners' heroics helped him avoid a space many former coaches have wandered into failure. His 2-3 record helps keep Texas' seemingly more well-positioned program at arms' length from Venables' still-growing Oklahoma program.

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