2005 Oklahoma Vs. Texas Football Game - Prior To The Game

Prior To The Game

Oklahoma is the winningest program in what is widely considered the modern era of college football. OU has the most victories and best winning percentage of any team since the end of World War II. The Sooners have earned seven AP National Championships (1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000) in that span and are recognized by the NCAA for 16 titles. They have been ranked first in the AP and BCS polls more than any other team, have been ranked in the top 5 of the AP and BCS polls more than any other team, and have scored more points than any other team in the modern era. Naturally, Oklahoma had high expectations for the year. Their pre-season ranking of No. 7 in the nation and the fact they had made it to the national championship game in both 2003 and 2004 only served to support this assumption.

One of the three most victorious programs in college football history as judged by either number of wins or winning percentage, the University of Texas has traditionally been considered among the elite of college football. From 1936 to 2004, the team finished the season in the top ten 23 times, or one-third of the time, according to the Associated Press. The team that coach Mack Brown fielded in 2005 has been called one of the most memorable in college football history by College Football News.

The 2005 UT team was attempting to follow on the success of the 2004 season, in which quarterback Vince Young led the team to Mack Brown's first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game in the 2005 Rose Bowl and a top-5 finish in the polls. However, even that successful season was marred by a loss to Oklahoma, the fifth straight loss for the Horns. With the exception of Cedric Benson, Derrick Johnson, and Bo Scaife, Texas returned most of their key players from 2004–2005, including redshirt junior quarterback Vince Young.

Texas was given a pre-season No. 2 ranking (behind defending National Champions University of Southern California) by Sports Illustrated magazine and was also ranked second in the pre-season Associated Press Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll. This created anticipation that Texas might play for the national championship if they could win their road game against the Ohio State Buckeyes and if they could snap their five-game losing streak against the Sooners.

For either team to play in the national title game, that team had to end up ranked No. 1 or No. 2 at the end of the regular season. Since the Bowl Championship Series was formed in 1998, 9 of the 14 teams were unbeaten going into the championship game. The only time the national champion has not been unbeaten during that stretch was in 2003 when LSU and USC claimed a share of the title as each finished with one loss. Ohio State tackle Kirk Barton would later say "There’ll probably be two undefeated teams at the end of the road and if you’re not one of them you’re probably not going to be playing for the championship. So you’ve got to treat every game like it’s the Super Bowl. You only get one opportunity."

Further information: 2005 NCAA Division I-A football rankings Further information: 2005 Texas Longhorn football team#Rankings