Red River Rivalry - Atmosphere

Atmosphere

A unique attribute is that ticket sales for the game are equally divided between the two schools, and the Sooner and Longhorn fans are split on the 50-yard line. This creates extraordinary game dynamics, because half of the stadium crowd is happy and the other half unhappy, depending on which team is in the lead.

There are three Red River Shootout trophies exchanged based on the outcome of the game. The best known of these is the Golden Hat, which is, appropriately, a gold ten-gallon hat, formerly of bronze. The trophy is kept by the winning school's athletic department until the next year. A newer trophy, the Red River Rivalry trophy, has been exchanged between the two student governments since 2003. The governor of Texas and governor of Oklahoma also exchange the Governors' trophy and often place a bet on the game such as the losing governor having to present a side of beef to the winning governor, who then typically donates the winnings to charity.

Another annual tradition is the running of game balls by the schools' Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs. Each school's ROTC program uses a relay running system to run one game ball all the way from their respective campus to Dallas. Once there, they participate against each other in a football scrimmage, with the winner taking home a rivalry trophy and bragging rights. For both teams, the rivalry is bitterly emotional and territorial in nature relating to the two states' close proximity, past border disputes and economic and cultural differences. Though some feel that Oklahoma recruits heavily in the larger state of Texas, four of their five Heisman winners are from the state of Oklahoma (not to mention Oklahoma resident Troy Aikman who transferred after breaking a leg and also became a Heisman winner).