2007 Texas Vs. Oklahoma State Football Game - Before The Game

Before The Game

Through 2006, Texas had played the OSU Cowboys football program 21 times and held a 19–2–0 record from 1916 through 2006. Texas came into the 2007 game with a nine game active winning streak against OSU. The Cowboys' only two victories occurred in 1944 and 1997. In the 1997 game, the OSU fans took down their own goal posts after the Cowboys pulled off a 42–16 win over the defending Big 12 Conference Champion Texas.

Since then, Texas had won every game, but most have been close-fought contests. The Horns won the 1998 game 37–34 on a Kris Stockton field goal with 3 seconds left. In 2000, Texas trailed 7–3 before scoring 39 unanswered points. In 2001, Texas trailed by 10 points in the first quarter but ultimately won 45–17. Texas made an interception to preserve a 17–15 win in 2002.

In three of the previous four meetings, the Longhorns needed come-from-behind rallies in order to win. The 2003 Longhorns fell behind by 10 points in the first quarter but won 55–16. In 2004 the Cowboys led 35–7 in the second quarter, but the Longhorns scored 49 unanswered points to win 56–35. In the 2005 game UT trailed 28–9 but rallied to win 47–28. Over the three meetings from 2003–2005, the Longhorns outscored the Cowboys by a combined second-half score of 118–0. Texas won the 2006 game 36–10 in a game the Austin American-Statesman called "the only snoozer in a decade". Texas never trailed in that game; they outscored OSU 20–3 in the first half and 16–7 in the second.

The day before the 2007 game, Las Vegas casinos favored Texas to win by 3 points. The pre-game festivities included an appearance by Challenger, the first Bald Eagle ever trained to free-fly into sports stadiums, and a fly-over by four F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 138th Fighter Wing piloted by Oklahoma State alumni.