It's the first Texas-Oklahoma game where both teams are undefeated since 2011, but this one's bigger than that. No. 3 Oklahoma throttled No. 11 Texas 55-17 that day, but I think Saturday is the biggest Red River game since 2008, when No. 5 Texas upset No. 1 Oklahoma 45-35.
The national championship race is wide open this season, and by 3 p.m. local time on Saturday the winner will place themselves in Lane 4.
Let's break down what a win would mean for each program and each head coach.
For Texas... For starters, Texas hasn't defeated Oklahoma in back-to-back seasons since 2008-09. While Sark obviously lost his first game, he also put up 48 points. Following a 49-point performance last season, if Texas wins while getting to, say, 31 on a Sooner defense that enters Saturday fourth nationally at 10.8 points per game, he'll gain himself a mental edge similar to what Bob Stoops enjoyed in the early 2000s.
Furthermore, if Texas wins Saturday (noon ET, ABC), they're the No. 1 team in the country at the halfway point. I don't care if Georgia or Michigan win by 900 points apiece on Saturday; if Texas beats Oklahoma by 1, they deserve to be the No. 1 team in the country on Sunday. If that happens, the Longhorns will return to a spot they haven't occupied since beating Oklahoma in 2008.
For Oklahoma... If OU wins on Saturday, it'll start to feel a whole lot like 2000 in the Sooner State.
That year, Bob Stoops rebounded from a 7-5 debut to win an out-of-nowhere national title in Year 2. That march to the title was spring-boarded by a 63-14 drubbing of Texas.
OU isn't beating Texas by 49, but a 1-point victory would bring the 2000 conversation to the forefront, and, most important, it would be the ultimate validation for Brent Venables's turnaround of the program.
Jimbo Fisher walks into the biggest game of his Texas A&M tenure. Saturday is Jimbo's 66th game at Texas A&M, and in my mind the biggest. In a year where Alabama is clearly compromised and everyone else in the SEC West already has a loss, Texas A&M's path to Atlanta is clearer than it's ever been.
And if you can get to Atlanta, you can make the Playoff.
The Aggies rank fifth in the nation in total defense, and that's even with the Miami debacle factored in.
A&M's defensive line has played to its paper in the last three games, which means the Aggies can control the line of scrimmage against the Tide in the same way Texas did.
And speaking of Texas, if a Longhorn loss was followed by an Aggies win? With the reunion looming next season, that would be a great one-two punch to the momentum building in Austin.
Or, Texas could go out and beat OU, establish itself as the No. 1 team in the country, and then watch Texas A&M lose, at home, to a team UT already beat in its own house.
BTHOBAMA 👍🏼 pic.twitter.com/honFCkQRuB
— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) October 4, 2023
As I said, it's a big game.
A big blue opportunity for Mark Stoops. The ceiling on the Kentucky job has always been that, no matter how good you get, you'll never be better than second in the SEC East. The saving grace was always that UK realized that and priced its job security accordingly.
In 30-plus years of its divisional alignment, UK has finished second twice and last or next-to-last 16 times.
But forget about finishing second. This is an opportunity for UK to win the SEC East.
After running the ball quite poorly through their first four games, the Wildcats exploded against Florida: 36 carries, 329 yards, three touchdowns, one existential crisis in Gainesville.
This Georgia defense is relatively poor against the run. After finishing first or second nationally over the past four seasons, the 2-time defending champions are down to 39th thus far. Auburn pounded out 43 carries for 219 yards in a near upset last week.
The dynamic will be different Saturday as Kentucky goes on the road and No. 1 Georgia returns home (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), but even at home Georgia has started slowly. Perhaps Kentucky can build a big enough lead and run the ball well enough to make the Bulldogs pay for their penchant for slow starts this time.
Additional Games:
-- Kansas State at Oklahoma State (7:30 p.m. ET Friday, ESPN): It seems Oklahoma State is teetering between merely a poor season and one of the worst campaigns of the Mike Gundy era. With Texas Tech and Michigan transfer Alan Bowman set to start at quarterback, might the Cowboys show some life?
-- Nebraska at Illinois (8 p.m. ET Friday, FS1): Allegedly, someone is going to win this game.
-- Maryland at No. 4 Ohio State (noon ET, Fox): What's the record for highest debut in the AP poll? Maryland might set it Sunday if the 5-0 Terps manage to win in Columbus. A big if, though. Ohio State is 8-0 against Maryland all-time, averaging 57.4 points per contest with a low of 43 while topping 60 four times.
-- No. 23 LSU at No. 21 Missouri (noon ET, ESPN): Safe to say this is the biggest LSU-Mizzou game of all-time. (It's only the fourth LSU-Mizzou game of all-time.) Mizzou has dipped into some gamesmanship ahead of the Tigers' visit, and if Eliah Drinkwitz can dial up some pain for a bad LSU defense, he'll send the purple-and-gold Tigers' season into a complete tailspin. Missouri last started 6-0 in 2013.
-- Marshall at NC State (2 p.m. ET, CW Network): At 20-10 overall and 4-0 this season, this is a showcase game for 40-year-old Charles Huff, whose name is gathering steam for the oncoming coaching carousel. Although he'll have to wait until a Gilmore Girls re-run to end first.
-- Virginia Tech at No. 5 Florida State (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Virginia Tech can either start ACC play at 2-0 and stunningly move into first place in the conference, or suffer their second consecutive 2-4 start to the season.
-- Syracuse at No. 14 North Carolina (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): North Carolina seeks its first 5-0 start since 1997, while Syracuse seeks to avoid following its own 4-0 non-conference season with a 2-game losing streak.
-- Purdue at Iowa (3:30 p.m. ET, Peacock): The FCC has ruled that Iowa's offense is no longer suitable to air on an over-the-air network.
-- North Texas at Navy (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network): Movable object meets resistible force, as the nation's 117th-ranked scoring offense meets the 133rd-ranked scoring defense. UNT has strung together two straight wins while surrendering 37 and 31 to Louisiana Tech and Abilene Christian, and now looks to continue the streak in its first AAC game.
-- South Florida at UAB (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2): One of the surprise stories of this still-young season, USF looks to maintain its lead in the AAC after a 2-0 start to conference play.
-- Tulsa at Florida Atlantic (6 p.m. ET, ESPN+): It's Game 2 of Tulsa's Parliament Season. After defeating the Temple Owls last week, Tulsa faces the FAU Owls on Saturday before hosing the Rice Owls on Oct. 19. (A parliament is a group of owls, for those wondering. You're welcome.)
-- Colorado at Arizona State (6:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Networks): If a Deion coached-Colorado team plays a game and there's not a national hoopla around it, did it even happen? I guess we'll find out as the Buffaloes look to snap their 2-game losing streak before a television audience of hundreds at Sun Devil Stadium.
-- No. 2 Michigan at Minnesota (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC): Michigan leads the nation in scoring defense at six points per game. To get there, the Wolverines have faced the nation's No. 30 scoring offense in UNLV, plus No. 60 Rutgers, No. 100 Bowling Green, No. 108 East Carolina, and No. 123 Nebraska. Minnesota ranks 97th, and Michigan's next two opponents -- Indiana and Michigan State -- rank 112th and 105th. Good gosh.
-- No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 25 Louisville (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC): This is effectively Jeff Brohm's debut at his alma mater. Louisville's offense did not look good against NC State last week, but the Cardinals catch the Irish in a good spot after two straight prime time slugfests against Ohio State and Duke.
-- Arkansas at No. 16 Ole Miss (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network): Arkansas's season is in full free fall, having dropped three straight with a trip to Bryant-Denny next week. Ole Miss needs to build on last week's thriller over LSU. I don't know what the over is, but take it.
-- No. 24 Fresno State at Wyoming (8 p.m. ET, Fox): There's plenty of competition in this time slot, but put this game in your clicker rotation. Wyoming games are great viewing experiences, and this game could be a Mountain West championship preview. Fresno State takes the nation's second-longest winning streak to 7,220 feet above sea level.
-- Texas Tech at Baylor (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2): An important game for both teams. Texas Tech is 1-6 on the road under Joey McGuire, but McLane Stadium should feel like home for a Tech staff that has 11 former Bears. Baylor needs to build on last week's Miracle at the Bounce House, and Dave Aranda needs to avoid his team falling behind his former assistant's.
-- Arizona at No. 9 USC (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Smart programming by ESPN to put USC on After Dark. There's no way the Trojan defense will allow any of us to go to bed early.