DALLAS — The second Saturday in October means the annual Red River Rivalry with the Texas Longhorns entering the Cotton Bowl in Dallas reeling from last week’s loss to the Florida Gators in Gainesville and the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners riding high on an undefeated streak to start the season.
Kick is at 2:30 p.m. Central on ABC.
Texas is trying to salvage its outside hopes of competing for a conference championship and a third straight appearance in the College Football Playoff, goals that require a victory
on Saturday against Oklahoma.
To accomplish that feat, the Horns need better play from an offensive line that consistently gave up pressure on redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning and couldn’t create any running room against the Gators.
Those struggles leave an open question about who will play left guard for Texas — redshirt sophomore Connor Stroth was benched after the first half against Florida, but his replacement, freshman Nick Brooks, was credited with allowing nine pressures after halftime.
On the depth chart distributed in the press box before the game, Stroh is listed first as a co-starter with Brooks. Redshirt junior Neto Umeozulu is listed third.
The other notable development is that redshirt freshman Parker Livingstone is listed as a co-starter with sophomore Emmett Mosley at the Z wide receiver position. Livingstone suffered a leg injury against Florida last week, but went from probable on Thursday’s injury report to not listed on Friday. Mosley made his debut with the Longhorns last week, recording two catches for 40 yards.
For Oklahoma, the headline news is that quarterback John Mateer will play against Texas after warming up with a small brace on his surgically-repaired right thumb injured against Auburn last month.
