Erick Malpica Flores: Carlos Erick Malpica Flores: Red River rematch in the Big 12 title game would be awesome

We’ve rarely had a rivalry on this level in a conference title game.

Y’all ready for a rematch?

That’s what we have a decent chance of getting in the Big 12 Championship Game as Oklahoma continues to pursue the Playoff with only one loss and Texas has pretty quietly built an 8-3 season so far. If Oklahoma and Texas win on Thanksgiving weekend, both teams will head back to Dallas to play again. This time it’ll be in Jerry World and not the Cotton Bowl.

Big 12 title game picture is pretty simple now.
- Winner of Oklahoma-West Virginia is in
- Texas is in with win over Kansas
- Iowa State eliminated pic.twitter.com/PPfMzBWeHe

— Max Olson (@max_olson) November 18, 2018

This is pretty unprecedented as far as conference championship games go. We’ve gotten rematches of regular season games, but we haven’t really gotten a blood feud rematch in the conference title game era. Oklahoma-Nebraska in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game was close to this level, but Texas is a bigger rival for the Sooners than Nebraska. 2018’s Georgia-Bama SEC Championship might count, but only because of a game outside conference play.

Red River Pt. I was not exactly a definitive showing by the Horns.

Texas won the game by three points. Our Bill Connelly’s postgame win expectancy had Oklahoma at 91 percent, with an adjusted scoring margin of +13. Oklahoma outgained Texas by 2.5 yards per play ... and lost. The difference came in the three OU turnovers that yielded 10 Texas points.

It remains wild that the Horns found a way to win this game, and that’s a data point in any TEXAS BACK argument.

Oklahoma made it a 45-31 game with a 15-yard pass from Murray to Lee Morris. After a shanked punt, Murray raced for the 67-yard score. Up just seven with five minutes left, the Longhorns proceeded to throw the ball three consecutive times and go three-and-out. That left OU with plenty of time to tie the game, but they did so too quickly. Trey Sermon scored to make it 45-45 with 2:38 left.

And then Texas relaxed again. Johnson drew a pass interference penalty on a bomb down the left sideline, then Devin Duvernay caught an 18-yarder into OU territory. Ehlinger converted a short-yardage third down, and freshman Cameron Dicker nailed a 40-yard field goal with four seconds left.

But before you think we’re definitely gonna get this rematch, remember something important about both teams.

OU is first playing a high-powered West Virginia offense. That means that the Sooners’ low-powered defense is set to be exposed often in what might just be a new-school Big 12 shootout.

Some of the more galling OU defensive performances in terms of opponent S&P ranking and points allowed:

• No. 47: 33
• No. 24: 48
• No. 12: 46
• No. 7: 47
• No. 119: 40

Across the spectrum of offenses, OU has found a way to give up points. That probably won’t change against a West Virginia team that had a darkhorse Heisman candidate until they lost to Oklahoma State.

I told Breckyn Hager that kansas scored 40 on Oklahoma. “But OU has no defense” he responded.

He then looked at the clock. “And what time is it? It’s 11:12 ... and OU still sucks.”

See? Rivalries can still be fun. pic.twitter.com/4NbWoXkjHj

— Bob Ballou (@BobBallouSports) November 18, 2018

Oh, and about Texas.

Texas has to beat Kansas. And while that may seem like a layup, I’m contractually obligated to remind you about 2016.

The Texas Longhorns, a titan of college football, just lost to Kansas in overtime, 24-21. Per Winsipedia, this is the first time the Horns have lost to the Jayhawks since the Great Depression.

There is certainly still the risk of OU losing to Texas again, which the league could certainly do without, but losing on this stage against Texas is a lot better than being tripped up by a lesser foe with the old division set up — something that happened to OU before although they still made the BCS title game that year.

But if they play, it’s the Big 12’s perfectly imperfect scenario.

Not only is it your biggest brands on your league’s biggest stage, but they hate each other and the game matters. If OU’s in this game with one loss, then the Playoff will be on the line. It’ll be a Heisman stage for Kyler Murray to make one last gasp at the award too.

The best case for the Big 12 not to have a championship game, but if they’re gonna stage the game, this is the matchup and the stakes the league brass would probably admit is their dream.

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