College football is full of storied rivalries, but rarely are any has heated as the rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. Played every year at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, a location equidistant between both campuses, the game coincides annually with the Texas State Fair.

With such history and closeness, the game creates one of the most unique atmospheres in all of college football, a crowd split in half by its allegiances, part donning its burnt orange and part wearing its trademark crimson. It is, in so many words, the Red River Shootout.

While the games have been high scoring in recent years, the Sooners have done most of the damage, winning the last three contests by a combined score of 112-41. For head coach Mack Brown and his Texas Longhorns, Saturday’s game gives them a chance to end the Oklahoma run, a stretch that has been a glaring hole on Brown’s coaching resume. Brown has failed to find himself among the names of “big game” coaches, unlike his counterpart, Bob Stoops.

“Our guys have great pride,” Brown said Monday. “Anytime you’ve lost a game three years in a row, it really bothers you. This game is really important to the Texas fans, so it’s not something we’re proud of. We are going to play as hard as we can to try to fix it.”

Brown, however, was able to add a notch to his belt last weekend when his Longhorns defeated the Kansas State Wildcats 24-20 in Austin, a win many feel helped Texas lose the stigma of being soft, a title the team earned after a mid-September 38-28 home loss to Arkansas after preseason aspirations and predictions had set the Longhorns as national title contenders.

“This is one of the best games in college football, so this will be a fun and exciting week for us,” Brown said. “Oklahoma poses a great challenge for us, but this will be an opportunity for us to play and work to beat the best team in the country.”

A win against rival Oklahoma might send Texas back to the top of the national scene, but that’s easier said than done when facing a team that has only allowed an average of 15 points per game while averaging 453 yards and 44 points on offense.

“This is probably the best Oklahoma team I’ve seen during my time here,” Brown said. “They are number-one in the country, and it looks like they are the most dominant team in the country. They have great players, are well-coached and are playing with great confidence.”

Interestingly, a program that has prided itself on defense in the Stoops era has also become well-equipped offensively behind healthy quarterback Jason White, who missed most of last season with a knee injury.

Last weekend in the Sooners’ 53-7 win over Big 12 opponent Iowa State, White threw for 384 yards and five touchdowns, building a strong Heisman case for the signal caller for the No. 1 team in the country. On the season, White has completed 67.5 percent of his passes for 1472 yards and 16 touchdowns to only three interceptions.

The quarterback spot is a much different story for the Longhorns. Shifty freshman quarterback Vince Young came off the bench in last week’s victory over Kansas State to replace ineffective Chance Mock. Young rushed 17 times for 80 yards, giving Texas a vaunted rushing attack when combined with Cedric Benson, who was held to 54 yards on 22 carries against Oklahoma last season.

Young’s fleet feet might be a more viable option against Oklahoma, but Brown won’t reveal the starter until the Texas offense takes the field.

In any case, the Longhorns will face their toughest test of the season against the aggressive and accurate Oklahoma defense.

“They have no weaknesses on their defense,” Mack said. “No one has run well against Oklahoma. You have to be balanced in a game like this, because you can’t protect well enough against them to throw every time, and you can’t line up and just run it, because they are going to have a lot of guys around the ball. They just play really great defense.”

However dominant the Sooners may look, it is a rivalry game, and anything is possible. Just because Oklahoma has taken three straight from Texas and looks poised for a fourth, the Sooners still take it a game at a time and won’t let their rival Longhorns sneak up on them.

“We really don’t pay attention to [the streak],” Oklahoma defensive lineman Korie Klein said. “The second you start looking at trying to leave a legacy, someone’s going to sneak up and beat you. We’re just trying to prepare one game at a time. We’re just looking at how Texas is going to try to attack us.”

But the Sooners know their opponent this week, and realize the importance of a win on the stage they are at.

“There’s not a whole lot of teams that have ever beat them four years in a row — they’re such a big program,” Sooner linebacker Tommy Lehman said, who made one of the most spectacular plays in college football two years ago, intercepting a pass and scoring a touchdown against the Longhorns after former Longhorn standout Roy William laid a hit on quarterback Chris Simms on the Texas goal line.

“It would be awesome, but I don’t really think about it much right now,” Lehman reiterated. “I just want to win this game right here.”

For many of the players on both teams, Saturday’s game is on the same level as any bowl game. With so many players growing up watching the Texas-Oklahoma border battle, a chance to finally play in the game, let alone win four in a row, is an opportunity to be treasured.

“It means a lot to me. Not because I considered Texas during recruiting, but because I live there,” Oklahoma defensive end Tommy Harris said. “After the season is over with I really don’t want to have any Texas fans saying anything to me negative. Hopefully we’ll come out with a win, and I can go back home with a smile on my face.”