I was privileged to attend four Shootouts, though they weren't called that then, during my college years in the 1970's. The excitement in the Cotton Bowl defies description. All of Dallas becomes one huge party for the weekend, and classes at both schools are typically let out early on Friday, and cancelled for Monday.
This page is my tribute to this wonderful tradition of meeting at a so-called neutral site, with the stadium half crimson & cream, half burnt orange & white, with a sizable allocation of tickets to students from both schools.
The game moved to Dallas in 1914, and would be played there every time since. In 1915, the teams were founding members of the new Southwest Conference. The game moved to a new stadium on the Texas State Fairgrounds, Both teams came in not only unbeaten, but also unscored upon, played for a record-setting 11,000 fans. The Sooners did give up points, but few enough to leave with a 14-13 victory, and went on to win the inaugural, and their only, Southwest Conference championship.
Between 1918 and 1929, there were several years the teams did not meet. In 1918, the influenza epidemic caused the game to be cancelled. Oklahoma left the Southwest conference in 1920 to join the Big Eight so the teams no longer automatically played every year. Texas started a series with the Vanderbilt Commodores, and played at the fairgrounds every year, but the Commodores withdrew after the 1928 game.
The Oklahoma-Texas series picked up in 1929, when according to then-Texas athletic director Theo Bellmont "We couldn't get anyone else", and will have its 78th consecutive clash at the Texas State Fairgrounds in 2006.
The big losers with switching to a home and away series would be the students. 190 miles is much easier than 380 to travel. Also, there would likely be no provision for anywhere near as many visiting students seats as the Cotton Bowl reserves for both teams. Neither Austin nor Oklahoma has the hotel and restaurant capacity of the DFW area.
One proposal would keep the game in the Metroplex, but move it to the future home of the Dallas Cowboys. That would preserve the neutral site concept, and hopefully, the ability of students from both schools to attend, but the ambience of the Texas State Fairgrounds, and the nation's largest State Fair will be lost.
The important thing, though, in the long run is that the best rivalry in college football keeps going, and that eventually, Oklahoma catches Texas and evens up the series, now standing at 57-39-5. (Oops, so much for neutrality!)
